About Ascenda
Mental health support that works between the sessions
Ascenda gives employers and clinicians visibility into what is building in the 99% of life that happens outside the therapy room — so support can reach people before they reach a crisis.
Where the idea came from
“The sessions felt disconnected from what was actually happening in my life — not because of the psychologist, but because the system had almost no visibility into what was building between sessions.”
Ascenda's co-founder Nathan had a heart attack. Young, fit, healthy — and with no clear answer for why. As part of recovery he was given access to psychological support. On paper, it should have been the most useful part.
It wasn't. Not because the psychologist wasn't skilled, but because the system had no visibility into what was building between sessions. Stress. Workload. Behavioural patterns. The signals that were actually the root cause — invisible to the people who were supposed to help.
With more than twenty years of designing and building software systems, Nathan saw the problem differently. This wasn't a therapy problem. It was a systems problem.
That insight became the starting point for Ascenda.
The problem
The real issues don't happen inside the session
They build quietly in the days and weeks between them. That is where the system has no visibility — and where early intervention makes the biggest difference.
No visibility
Employers fund mental health support but have almost no signal into what is actually happening until someone leaves or breaks down.
Always reactive
By the time someone books a session, the problem has often been building for years. Support that begins at crisis point is far too late.
Generic support
A paramedic and a corporate lawyer face fundamentally different pressures. One-size-fits-all programs treat them the same — and both disengage.
The team
We see the problem from three sides
The person under pressure. The clinician providing care. And the systems responsible for supporting both. Building Ascenda requires all three perspectives.
Nathan Challen
Co-founder & CEO
Twenty years designing and building software systems — from products to infrastructure — particularly in industries where human expertise and operational pressure collide.
Nathan experienced the gap between sessions firsthand. That personal lens, combined with a systems-design background, shaped the architecture behind Ascenda.
Hamada Els
Co-founder & Clinical Lead
Clinical psychologist and practice owner. Sees every day where the traditional therapy model works and where it breaks — and has long questioned whether the 50-minute session model is the right unit of care.
Hamada brings the clinical depth that keeps Ascenda honest. His oversight ensures the system augments good care rather than replacing it.
“We both agreed the real work happens between sessions, and aligned on the belief that prevention is better than treatment. That alignment happened in the first meeting.”
How we built this
250+ hours of listening before a line of code
Before committing to a direction, we spent hundreds of hours in conversation with patients, clinicians, operators, and HR leaders across healthcare, legal, and other high-strain industries.
Those conversations challenged assumptions. They sharpened where the real pain sits — not in the therapy room, but in the system that surrounds it. What emerged was a clear finding: organisations already carry much of the responsibility for their people's mental health. Work is where we spend most of our lives. It's where most of the pressure accumulates.
That made the workplace the fastest place to improve how the system works — and the right place to start.
“When HR leaders hear the concept, they recognise the gap immediately.”
The most consistent response from senior operators: they've already seen the consequences of the system it replaces.
We'd like to connect with people who see the same gap
HR leaders who believe support should go beyond compliance. Clinicians who want better continuity. Organisations willing to run a pilot in a high-strain environment.