Digital mental health company Headspace announced last month that it was partnering with Spring Fertility, a network of fertility clinics, to create “Support For Your Fertility Journey,” content collection features that provide guided meditations and mindfulness exercises to individuals navigating the fertility journey as well as audio conversations and a docu-style video series. 

Dr. Jenna Glover, chief clinical officer at Headspace, sat down with MobiHealthNews to discuss the partnership and the company's stance on access to reproductive rights in the ever-changing political landscape. 

MobiHealthNews: Tell me about the partnership between Headspace and Spring Fertility.

Dr. Jenna Glover: Headspace has launched a fertility collection, and we've done this in partnership with Spring Fertility as a resource for people who are on a fertility journey. We know that no fertility journey is the same, and essentially, there can be a lot of challenges that people experience on that journey. Through this partnership, we've identified how we can create resources for some of the most common challenges that people experience.

Through this partnership, we've tapped three experts on our team who not only have expertise in this area, but personal experience, and so they're speaking from, I think, two really important lenses. What we've essentially done is create content with audio segments, we have meditation, we have mindfulness that covers different areas. So, you know, things like how to cope with isolation, how to deal with grief and loss, how to best care for oneself and listen to one's body. And so there's this whole, wonderful collection that can help people on a variety of parts of their fertility journey. So, that's the first part of the partnership.

The second part of the partnership is we know that Infertility can be very expensive, so we have partnered with Spring Fertility through their grant program to cover the cost of up to one cycle of IVF for a member of this community. We're going to share more details soon about that, but these are some of the ways that we're trying to let people know that we know that you're there, we know that you're having this journey, and we're here to support you.

MHN: What are the differences between Headspace's usual offerings as opposed to those focused on fertility?

Glover: It's having a very specific and direct conversation about fertility in a very differentiated way. We have content around acceptance, around uncertainty, but I think there's something really different–we have content around you're about to go into a procedure so here's a meditation specific to going into a procedure for the first time. You've just experienced a miscarriage; here is mindfulness meditation content to help you through that experience. 

And so it is so specific to the actual experiences that people are having to say, look, we know this is part of this journey, and you deserve specific resources that speak to that. Our general content library is speaking more broadly to these things, but this is curated for those on that journey.

MHN: Why did Headspace move into the fertility space?

Glover: One of the things we know is this is a widespread problem. One in eight couples reports having difficulty conceiving. Forty-two percent of people have identified essentially that they have either had fertility treatments themselves or they know someone who has. So, we know it's a widespread problem. 

And one of the things we've increasingly heard from both our members and clients (our employers and health plans) is that there are not enough resources in this space, so we need something to support people. 

We work with so many businesses, and one of the things I think is really important to highlight is that … 56% of employees say that they do not feel comfortable talking to their manager about asking for time off for fertility treatments.

We're trying to start a different conversation to say this happens, resources should be available and people should be able to openly talk about it. 

So, we decided we saw the need, we saw the stigma, and we said this impacts people's mental health, so we're going to step into the space and meet the need.

MHN: Some states in the U.S. are denying access to fertility treatments or considering doing so. What is Headspace's response to that?

Glover: One of the things we want to say loud and clear is that people's mental health is on the line, and we know that we're going through a very stressful election cycle where reproductive rights are front and center, and we believe that mental health is supported by supporting people's reproductive rights.

This is something that is going to continue to be stressful for families, for a lot of different individuals, and we need to make sure that they have access to the resources that they need so they can plan families, they can have the families that they want, and when they're unable to have those outcomes, that they have the resources they need. 

Our stance is this impacts people's mental health, and as a tech-enabled mental healthcare company, we're committed to supporting mental health by saying people need to have access to reproductive healthcare and to resources to support their mental health and their fertility journey.

MHN: Is there anything else you want to add?

Glover: The only thing I'll add is I'm a member of the LGBTQ+ community, and one of the things I'll say is that this is such an important space to make inclusive.

One of the things that Headspace is trying to do is to change people's approaches to know that there are a lot of different types of families, a lot of types of people who are planning for families, and their mental health matters too. And so I think that's our approach. Let's support all people. Let's recognize that this impacts lots of different people, and let's meet them in this moment. 

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