Headspace has entered the chat.
What’s happening: The meditation app turned mental health company launched 1:1 coaching for stress management, healthy relationships, and emotional resilience.
A personal trainer for day-to-day stress and anxiety, the chat-based sessions are available as a membership add-on but aren’t meant to replace traditional therapy.
Of note, Headspace intends to roll out DTC therapy services later this year.
How we got here: DTC coaching and counseling is a sum of many parts.
- 2021: Headspace merged with DTC mental health provider Ginger.
- 2022: It acquired culturally sensitive therapy platform Shine and unified its mindfulness and therapy services under one workplace app.
- 2023: Thinking clinically, it refocused its brand around lifelong mental health care.
Its relatively slow progression from rollup to rollout could be an important measure for quality control, especially in the wake of Cerebral’s $7M FTC fine. Headspace claims its coaches have already completed 2M sessions to date in the B2B setting.
Therapy lite. Tagging in certified health and wellness coaches, Headspace is catering to those who don’t require full-on therapy.
As we pointed out in Issue No. 275, the ability to triage users on needs-based spectrum of care is crucial.
Punchline: Headspace is bridging the gap between mediation and treatment, providing wellness chats as a precursor to clinical sessions.
