Headspace, a global leader in mindfulness and meditation, and Ginger, a leader in on-demand mental healthcare, announced they have entered into a definitive agreement to merge. The combined entity, Headspace Health, will offer the world’s most accessible and comprehensive digital mental health and wellbeing platform. By coming together at a critical moment of global need, Headspace Health will democratize mental healthcare to provide the full spectrum of affordable and comprehensive support for everyone.

Why does it matter?

As a combined entity, Headspace Health will serve consumers, employers, and health plans. Its expertise in consumer brand, evidence-based interventions, and technology will help improve resilience, reduce stress, and provide treatment to the millions of people experiencing mental health symptoms, from anxiety to depression to more complex diagnoses.

Since their beginnings, Headspace and Ginger have relied on research and evidence to drive the development of their products and services to deliver tools and interventions rooted in behavioral science.

• In 25+ studies published in leading mindfulness peer-reviewed journals, Headspace has been shown to produce favorable outcomes of interventions, including reduced stress, improved focus, increased resilience, and reduced burnout. A randomized controlled trial showed that people who engaged in mindfulness meditation through Headspace daily for 30 days reported reducing their stress levels by a third.
• A published study conducted at Google and Roche showed that eight weeks of Headspace resulted in a 31% decrease in anxiety symptoms and a 46% decrease in depressive symptoms among healthy adults.
• Ginger’s on-demand, team-based care model, which includes behavioral health coaching, therapy, and psychiatry, has been shown to produce an average of 59% improvement in anxiety and 70% improvement in depression.
• Ginger has built one of the world’s largest mental health data sets through its Mood Matters study, having conducted research with eight of the top 10 academic medical centers in the U.S. and over 40 medical institutions nationwide. This data, combined with Ginger’s internal studies and data-driven quality assurance program, help Ginger to continually improve the high standard of care they deliver, at scale.

Some of the world’s most admired companies trust Ginger and Headspace to care for their employees. ViacomCBS, Delta Air Lines, Sephora, and nearly 700 other leading employers rely on Ginger to provide on-demand mental healthcare to their employees. On the other hand, Starbucks, Adobe, Hyatt, and Unilever are some of more than 2,100 employers that trust Headspace to provide mindfulness and mental training to their employees through Headspace for Work.

Upon merging, the combined company will use technology to scale affordable, accessible care to people around the world, reaching nearly 100 million lives across all 50 U.S. states and in 190+ countries worldwide.

Upon close of the merger, Russell Glass, CEO of Ginger, will take on the role of CEO of Headspace Health. CeCe Morken will remain CEO of Headspace and take on the additional role of President for the combined entity. This transaction is subject to regulatory approval and customary closing conditions and is expected to close in the last quarter of 2021. Terms of the transaction were not disclosed.

On the record

“We are witnessing a mental health crisis unlike anything we’ve experienced in our lifetimes, yet the majority of mental healthcare today is neither broadly accessible nor affordable,” said CeCe Morken, CEO of Headspace. “Together, as Headspace Health, we will address the systemic challenges of access and affordability in a fundamentally different way by creating the world’s most holistic, scalable, and effective mental health and wellbeing company.”

“Headspace and Ginger have a shared recognition that the mental health crisis can’t be solved by simply hiring more therapists or moving care online,” said Russell Glass, CEO of Ginger. “Through this merger, we can uniquely tackle the full spectrum of mental health needs – from prevention to clinical care – all from one integrated platform.”

The context

According to the World Health Organization, close to 1 billion people worldwide live with a mental disorder, and more than 75% of people worldwide with mental, neurological, and substance use disorders receive no treatment for their condition at all. In a recent study, nearly half of adults in the U.S. reported symptoms of depression or anxiety during the pandemic. In the workplace, both employees and their employers pay the price: Research from the American Psychiatric Association shows that employees with unresolved depression experience a 35% reduction in productivity, resulting in a $210 billion annual economic loss in the U.S. due to absenteeism, reduced productivity, and medical costs.