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This patient perspective piece presents an important case at the intersection of mobile health technology, mental health, and innovation. The potential of digital technologies to advance mental health is well known, although the challenges are being increasingly recognized. Making mobile health work for mental health will require broad collaborations. We already know that those who experience mental illness are excited by the potential technology, with many actively engaged in research, fundraising, advocacy, and entrepreneurial ventures. But we don’t always hear their voice as often as others. There is a clear advantage for their voice to be heard: so we can all learn from their experiences at the direct intersection of mental health and technology innovation. The case is cowritten with an individual with schizophrenia, who openly shares his name and personal experience with mental health technology in order to educate and inspire others. This paper is the first in JMIR Mental Health’s patient perspective series, and we welcome future contributions from those with lived experience.

This patient perspective highlights the role of patients in the innovation and codesign of digital mental health technology. Though digital mental health apps have evolved and become highly functional, many still act as data collection silos without adequate support for patients to understand and investigate potentially meaningful inferences in their own data. Few digital health platforms respect the patient’s agency and curiosity, allowing the individual to wear the hat of researcher and data scientist and share their experiences and insight with their clinicians. This case is cowritten with an individual with lived experiences of schizophrenia who has decided to openly share their name and experiences to share with others the methods and results of their curiosity and encourage and inspire others to follow their curiosity as well.

UNSTRUCTURED This patient perspective highlights the role of patients in the innovation and codesign of digital mental health technology. Though digital mental health apps have evolved and become highly functional, many still act as data collection silos without adequate support for patients to understand and investigate potentially meaningful inferences in their own data. Few digital health platforms respect the patient’s agency and curiosity, allowing the individual to wear the hat of researcher and data scientist and share their experiences and insight with their clinicians. This case is cowritten with an individual with lived experiences of schizophrenia who has decided to openly share their name and experiences to share with others the methods and results of their curiosity and encourage and inspire others to follow their curiosity as well.