Digital mental health company Headspace announced it will offer direct-to-consumer mental health coaching to its subscribers, with therapy offerings becoming available later this year. 

U.S. subscribers will have access to a mental health coach within the company's app for issues that may not require a therapist, such as getting better sleep, handling everyday stress or enhancing one's emotional resilience. 

The mental health coaches will have completed the National Board for Health and Wellness Coaching training program or earned a Master's degree in a psychology-related field. 

Coaches must also have two years of experience, participate in Headspace's weekly continuing education training through the company's training program and have more than 200 hours of supervised training.  

The company said it would also ensure that its mental health coaches culturally match the makeup of its member population. 

Consumers can obtain three 30-minute coaching sessions for $99.99 per month as of this month. 

Headspace also announced it would offer therapy services later this year, but did not specify which type of services would be available.  

"By bringing mental health services to consumers, we’re advancing our mission of providing every person with lifelong mental health support. We believe coaching is a lower-cost and more accessible level of care than therapy that can help the majority of our members stay on track with health and wellness goals and feel supported," Dr. Jenna Glover, chief clinical officer of Headspace, said in a statement. 

THE LARGER TREND

The direct-to-consumer mindfulness company has offered mental health coaching through employers and health plans since its merger with digital mental health giant Ginger in 2021. 

In August 2022, Headspace and Amazon announced the tech giant would add behavioral health services to its Amazon Care offering through Ginger, which would serve as an add-on service for employers purchasing Amazon Care. 

That same month, a publicly disclosed email from Neil Lindsay, senior vice president of Amazon Health Services, stated that Amazon Care would officially shut down at the end of 2022. 

Last year, Headspace announced an extended partnership with employer health tech company Virgin Pulse, which will give Virgin's members full access to Headspace within its AI-enabled health and wellbeing platform.

Headspace would be fully integrated into Virgin Pulse's Homebase for Health platform to provide Virgin's employer, health-plan and health system members access to Headspace's psychiatry, therapy, clinical care, self-guided care, behavioral-health coaching and employee assistance program services.

The digital mental health platform also partnered with Intermountain Health’s value-based care subsidiary Castell to provide on-demand behavioral health services to select insurance plan members in Utah.

Through the collaboration, Headspace would be integrated into Castell's care model, and providers in the value-based care company can directly refer members to Headspace for behavioral health coaching and therapy.