Ginger + Headspace: Democratizing Mental Healthcare

I’m thrilled to share that today Ginger has taken a giant next step in our journey to bring affordable mental health care to everyone. Ginger has agreed to merge with Headspace to form Headspace Health, the world’s most accessible and comprehensive digital mental health and wellbeing platform. The combined entity will reach nearly 100 million lives across 190+ countries, and support 2,700+ enterprises and health plan partners around the globe.

Ginger’s origins: Preventative mental healthcare

Solving the massive imbalance of mental healthcare providers to meet surging demand is one of the defining challenges of our time. There are nearly 1 billion people worldwide with a mental health need, yet 75% of them receive no treatment.?

The key to Ginger’s mission has always been prevention: to catch issues early and often by capturing insights through behavioral and data science, and using them to deliver personalized support through coaching and clinical intervention. In recent months, we’ve cleared many of the obstacles that have long stood between people and the mental healthcare they need. We became the first provider to gain national, in-network coverage for behavioral health coaching; expanded access to our services to 50+ countries worldwide; launched our Ginger for Teens offering; and began addressing underserved populations through AmeriHealth Caritas DC’s Medicaid program.

Ginger + Headspace: The next leg of our journey

To create systemic change on a global scale requires the three Cs of mental health: Coaching, Clinical and Content. Ginger built two out of three. But we knew that in order to scale the third “C” - content - we needed a partner who had nearly perfected the creation and delivery of that content in a way that would take us years to build. Joining forces with Headspace unlocks access to effective and engaging experiences and scalable technology for nearly 100 million lives, and in doing so, will allow our combined company to continue to destigmatize mental health and promote wellbeing.

Creating Headspace Health combines the best of both companies with the potential to create a seamless experience. We are bringing together Headspace’s beloved and proven mindfulness and meditation approach with Ginger’s high-quality and affordable team-based care model.

Headspace Health: Never a more critical moment

I’ve now been on this journey for over 10 years, and the mental health crisis has only escalated through the pandemic - to levels that need swift attention from all of us. I’ve personally developed a strong mindfulness and meditation practice that’s helped me to become comfortable with impermanence -- because on high growth teams in mission-critical businesses, nothing is constant.

We can’t afford to wait any longer, and to address this crisis head-on with the Headspace team is nothing short of incredible. I’ve enjoyed getting to know Rich, Andy, and their stellar team who embody our shared mission, vision, and values. In particular, I’m thrilled to launch this next stage of impact with CeCe and Russ at the helm.

Together, we will democratize global mental healthcare so that it’s comprehensive, affordable, and accessible to anyone. A truly heartfelt thanks to the Ginger and Headspace teams that got us here. I can’t wait to continue this journey together!