presents
Where psychology meets innovation—live and in action.
The digital mental health challenges are clear. What it takes to move forward isn’t.
Inside the Lab is a cross-sector working event that brings together founders, psychologists, investors, healthcare systems, payers, and decision-makers from across digital mental and behavioral health to examine the tensions, decisions, and tradeoffs that shape real-world progress — and to work through what it would actually take to move the field forward.
dates
October 14–15, 2026
Location
Brazos Hall, Austin, TX
Hosted by
APA Labs
World-class attendee score
NPS 85
The Field agrees on the challenges.
Inside the lab examines why progress remains difficult.
Inside the Lab brings together founders, psychologists, investors, healthcare systems, payers, and decision-makers in the same room and ask not just "what's possible?" but "what's actually getting in the way of progress?"
The field agrees on the challenges. What's missing is honest examination of why promising solutions still stall, why pilots struggle to scale, and why stakeholders with shared goals reach different conclusions about what to do next.
Inside the Lab is where that examination happens — and where it leads to better decisions, clearer priorities, and collaboration that actually holds.
This isn't an event you attend to stay current. It's where you come to do the work.
invest in innovation
category
early bird
Ends July 31st
standard
Aug 1–Oct 10
All attendees
$795
$995
Startup / Founder
$676
$846
Clinicians
$557
$697
The agenda
Two days of doing, not just listening.
Active programming, cross-sector working sessions, and structured dialogue — all designed to produce real understanding and move things forward.
Most Valued
Collab Labs
90-minute cross-sector working sessions where participants examine a specific tension or decision together. The goal is genuine understanding — not a deliverable. In 2025, 60% of participants called this the most valuable part of the experience.
Startup Pitch Showcase
Early-Stage Visibility
A curated pitch format giving early-stage founders direct exposure to investors, clinicians, and health system partners. In 2025, several founders left with scheduled VC meetings.
Panels & AMAs
Expert-Led Sessions
Expert panels, fireside chats, and audience-driven AMAs designed for candid dialogue — not polished talking points. Stakeholders who rarely examine problems together, in direct conversation.
Activations & Networking
Structured Connection
Facilitated sessions and demo spaces designed to turn introductions into working relationships — across the sectors that too rarely share the same room.
Day 1 | October 14, 2026
8:00 - 9:00 AM
Registration & Breakfast
Arrive, grab breakfast, and start connecting through interactive activities that surface who’s in the room and the perspectives they bring.
9:00 - 9:30 AM
Opening Experience: A Realistic Future
What does the future of mental and behavioral health look like, and what will it take to get there? Table discussions explore possible futures for the field — and the forces that could accelerate or stall real progress.
9:30 - 9:40 AM
Welcome & Framing - Tanya Carlson, Managing Director of APA Labs
9:40 - 10:10 AM
Evidence vs. Speed
How much evidence is enough to act?
Mental health needs are urgent, but real innovation depends on knowing what works. Leaders across research, healthcare, funding, and innovation weigh rigorous validation against the pressure to move fast — and what different stakeholders need to see before adoption.
10:15 - 10:45 AM
Scale vs. Personalization
Can solutions grow without losing what makes them effective?
Real-world examples of the tradeoffs organizations face as they balance scale, personalization, and engagement without losing sight of the people they serve.
10:45 - 11:00 AM
Break
11:00 - 11:30 AM
Innovation vs. Trust
What does it take for innovation to earn trust?
Leaders across clinical care, ethics, regulation, funding, and reimbursement examine what moves a new technology or care model from promising idea to widespread adoption — and what holds it back.
11:35 - 12:05 PM
Access vs. Quality
How do we expand access while ensuring meaningful care? Through personal stories and stakeholder perspectives, this session examines one of the field's most persistent challenges.
12:05 - 1:15 PM
Lunch
1:15 - 2:45 PM
Collab Labs: Putting the Tensions to Work
Five scenario-based working sessions, running at once. Each takes on a real challenge from multiple stakeholder perspectives — surfacing the assumptions and incentives behind what moves forward and what stalls.
2:45 - 3:00 PM
break
3:00 - 3:45 PM
Collab Lab Share-Out
Facilitators bring the room back together to surface what emerged — where groups aligned, where they diverged, and what’s worth carrying forward.
3:45 - 4:15 PM
Spark Sessions, Round 1
Fast-paced talks introducing new ideas and emerging approaches across digital mental and behavioral health — built to spark new thinking and connections.
4:15 - 4:30 PM
Closing: The Question You’re Sleeping On
Reflect on what challenged your thinking today, name the question you want to keep exploring, then see what the rest of the room is carrying into Day 2.
4:30 - 5:15 PM
Exploration
Product exploration, a live podcast recording, and conversation zones built to help you find a partner, offer expertise, or understand a part of the ecosystem you don’t work in.
5:15 - 6:15 PM
Happy Hour
Wind down after a full day of working sessions with drinks and conversation, open to all attendees.
Day 2 | October 15, 2026
8:30 - 9:00 AM
Breakfast
Reconnect with what emerged from Day 1 as we shift from understanding the tensions to navigating them.
9:00 - 9:20 AM
Digital Mental & Behavioral Health: The Landscape We Are Navigating
A fast-paced look at the forces shaping the field — AI, youth mental health, workforce, funding, regulation, reimbursement. Together, we weigh what’s most urgent, most actionable, and still least understood.
9:25 - 10:10 AM
Stakeholder Fishbowl
What do you need to see before moving forward? Candid perspectives from across the ecosystem on how decisions actually get made — and what it takes to reach yes.
10:10 - 10:25 AM
break
10:25 - 11:10 AM
When Progress Happens: What Successful Navigators Have in Common
Case studies from organizations that navigated real complexity: the tension they faced, the tradeoff they made, the partnership that mattered, and what unlocked progress.
11:10 - 11:30 AM
Mini Synthesis: What Unlocks Progress?
Stepping back from the morning to find the patterns across very different examples — and what they suggest for what comes next.
11:30 - 12:00 PM
Spark Sessions, Round 2
Five ideas, five minutes each. Emerging work and fresh perspectives worth exploring beyond the session.
12:00 - 1:15 PM
lunch
1:15 - 2:45 PM
Building Bridges: From Individual Perspectives to Collective Progress
What challenges can no stakeholder solve alone? A four-part working session on where progress stalls, what relationships are needed to navigate the field’s biggest tensions, and where cross-sector collaboration could matter most.
2:45 - 3:00 PM
Break
3:00 - 3:15 PM
Building Bridges Share-Out
Where the room landed — collective priorities and where attention should focus next.
3:15 - 3:45 PM
The Innovation Compass
Live polling and discussion on the priorities, investment gaps, and barriers most likely to shape the field over the next five years.
3:45 - 4:45 PM
Founder Showcase: What Would Move This Forward?
Founders present solutions to the field’s most pressing challenges — what makes their approach different, who needs to be involved, and what would accelerate adoption and impact.
4:45 - 5:00 PM
Closing Commitment
A final commitment exchange to carry the work forward: what comes next, for you.
2026 Topic Themes
Ethical AI in Mental Health
FDA / FTC Regulatory Pathways
Reimbursement & Payor Strategy
Measurement-Based Care
Scaling Evidence-Based Interventions
Founder-Clinician Partnerships
Health Equity & Access
Youth Mental Health
Investment Landscape 2026
Who’s in the room?
Whether you're building solutions, funding them, implementing them, evaluating them, or governing them — your perspective belongs in this room.
Decision-makers actively building, funding, and evaluating mental and behavioral health technologies — committed to ethical innovation across every sector and career stage.
If you’re building, funding, buying, or influencing the future of mental health...
this is the room you need to be in.
2025 By the Numbers
NPS 85
World-Class Attendee Score
92%
Felt Better Connected to Industry Leaders
81%
Rated Experience
"Extremely Satisfying"
Most other meetings in this space are either science-focused with few digital sessions, or broad healthtech with only a few mental health programs. Inside the Lab is different — rigorous enough for researchers, practical enough for founders, and intimate enough for genuine collaboration.”
2025 Attendee
2025 Attendee
Great people doing great things. Folks I want to know working on things that matter — creating patient-centered solutions informed by workflow and community needs.”
Want to be part of the program?
Founder Showcase
Are you an early-stage founder building in digital mental or behavioral health?
The Inside the Lab Founder Showcase puts your work in front of the clinicians, payers, investors, and health system leaders who will determine whether solutions like yours succeed.
Spark Sessions
Have a perspective, emerging idea, or lesson from the field worth sharing?
Inside the Lab Spark Sessions are rapid 5-minute talks selected from an open call — your chance to contribute to the conversation.
Sponsorship
Be part of the working experience where digital mental and behavioral health leaders examine what actually moves the field forward.
Work with APA Labs to engage directly with leaders shaping digital mental and behavioral health. All sponsors must align with APA Labs’ values around ethical innovation, data transparency, and psychological science.
dates
October 14–15, 2026
Location
Austin, TX
Hosted by
APA Labs
Contact
apalabs@apa.org
Registration
Inside the Lab 2026 — Register Now.
October 14–15, 2026 · Austin, TX · Spaces are limited
Secure your spot at Inside the Lab 2026.
Spaces are limited — register now to be part of the most consequential gathering in digital mental health this year.
Invest in Innovation
All Attendees
Early Bird
Ends July 31!
standard
Aug 1–Oct 10
Healthcare Systems, Insurer/Payer, Benefits Provider, Growth & Enterprise Health Tech, Startup/Founder, Investor/Funder, Strategic advisor/Operator, Clinician, Researcher, Educator, Other
$795
$995
Startup/founders receive a 15% off discount
Clinicians receive a 30% off discount
To learn more about our comprehensive meeting policies including cancellation terms, health protocols, and code of conduct guidelines click here.