1

What was happening in your business that made this the right time to pursue the Digital Badge?

Before we applied, the challenge I kept coming back to was trust. Digital mental health is a crowded space right now, and clinicians don't have time to dig through every platform's data practices, clinical grounding, and safety claims before deciding whether to use it with a client. My background is in Standards, I co-authored Canada's first National Standard for Mental Health and Well-being of Post-Secondary Students, and that work taught me what independent evaluation actually does for trust. It lets a clinician look at a badge or a certification and know a product holds up, without having to become an expert in AI safety or data privacy themselves. The evidence is still there if they want to go looking, but they shouldn't have to. 

That's the question we kept hearing, in one form or another, from clinicians and partners: how do we know PlaySpace is safe, secure, and effective, when there are so many apps out there making similar promises? We knew the answer couldn't just be "trust us." We wanted it to be something independently verified. 



We'd also just come through a similar evaluation with the Mental Health Commission of Canada, and passed. That told us the platform was ready. PlaySpace is genuinely novel in how it delivers care, and we wanted a rigorous, well-respected process to put that to the test. The APA Labs Digital Badge was the natural next step, as it was a way to give buyers and clinicians in the US the same signal we'd already earned at home, so they could trust PlaySpace without needing to audit us themselves. 

2

What stood out most about your experience?

What surprised me most was how much information we already had. We'd written so many policies and guidelines that were driving our work at PlaySpace, and it just hadn't occurred to us to make some of these public. As part of the audit, we ended up making those guiding documents public facing. Documents such as our AI policy and how we handle some data. We were already doing the work; the evaluation just made us rethink how we were sharing it. It wasn't about changing our practices, it was about making it absolutely clear to users and buyers that we're following best practices in every part of our business. 

APA Labs was also learning alongside us, which I really appreciated. We were one of the first companies to go through this, so there was collaboration and back-and-forth at every step. We'd flag what we felt was critical, they'd tell us what they needed, and it came together from there. One example that stands out is the AI category got added to our evaluation near the end of the process. It was a category we felt strongly about, so honestly, we were happy to see it added. PlaySpace uses AI to help clinicians customize and personalize therapeutic content for their clients, and we knew we were doing that safely, ethically, and transparently. Especially in this climate, with everything going on around AI, we wanted to signal to clinicians that they could trust how we're using it. 

3

How has the Digital Badge influenced your business or your conversations with customers and partners?

The badge has opened up doors we didn't have before, including new collaborations, opportunities to present to new customers, conversations we might not have had otherwise. It's given us more confidence going into those conversations too, knowing we have an independent evaluation behind us instead of just our own word. 

But the real value, as I mentioned earlier, is the signal. In a crowded digital health space, that badge tells users and buyers, especially clinicians, that we're building something that holds up against rigorous, independent evaluation. They don't need to know every detail of what went into it to trust that it's there. For that alone, it was absolutely worth the time and effort that went into earning it. 

4

What advice would you give another founder who’s considering applying?

If you're a founder considering the Digital Badge, my advice is this: start by auditing what you already have. Before you assume you're not ready, or that you'd need to build something new to pass, go look at your own policies and documentation. We were surprised to find we already had almost everything we needed. Chances are you have more than you think. I'd also have a conversation with APA Labs before you commit. This is a long process and a real investment, so be honest with yourself about where your business actually is before you start. It took nearly every part of our team to get through it, including engineering, customer service, and our clinical team, because the criteria touch so much of the business. Make sure you actually have the time and people to give it before you begin. 



The other thing I'd say is this is a trust investment, not a marketing checkbox. My background is in Standards and that work taught me what independent evaluation actually does. Founders who can show, not just claim, that they're building safely and transparently are going to have an easier time earning that trust. The Digital Badge gave us a real way to do that, and it was absolutely worth the effort it took to get there.