Headspace Announces New Efforts to Help Consumers and Healthcare Providers Curb Rising Stress and Anxiety

Santa Monica, CA - Today, Headspace, a global leader in mindfulness and meditation, announced that it will be providing free Headspace Plus subscriptions to healthcare professionals working in public health settings in the US through 2020 to address rising levels of stress and burnout. Headspace will also be unlocking the free, specially-curated "Weathering the storm" collection of meditation and mindfulness content for consumers in English, French, German, Spanish, and Portuguese.

"Against the current public health and geopolitical backdrop – with social distancing, travel restrictions, 24/7 news alerts, and financial stressors – this shifting landscape is affecting everyone," said Rich Pierson, co-founder and CEO of Headspace. "To help people around the world deal with these unprecedented levels of stress, we are working hard to expand access to our meditation content to help folks manage anxious thoughts, build mental resilience and navigate through this uncertainty."

Beginning today, any US-based healthcare professional working in a public health setting can get a free subscription to Headspace Plus by visiting https://www.headspace.com/health-covid-19 and enroll using their National Provider Identifier (NPI). All subscribers will get free access to all 1200+ hours of meditation and mindfulness content through December 31, 2020. While currently only accessible to US-based healthcare providers, Headspace is actively working with global NGOs, health systems and government officials to quickly establish ways to uniquely identify healthcare providers in countries around the world.

"Healthcare providers are on the front lines of this public health crisis, making sure our communities receive necessary and critical care," said Dr. Megan Jones Bell, Chief Science Officer for Headspace. "That's why it's crucial for us to find ways to support their mental health and provide them with tools for managing the very real personal toll this crisis takes on them in particular."

Physician burnout has been identified as a public health crisis for its adverse impacts for both doctors and patients. Research shows mindfulness meditation can positively impact many of the factors related to burnout, including stress and depression. Headspace research specifically shows 14% reduction in burnout after only four sessions among health care professionals and 12% reduction in stress for medical students after 30 days.

In addition to its efforts to help healthcare workers, Headspace has also unlocked a free "Weathering the storm" collection in-app, a free selection of meditation, sleep and other experiences designed to support consumers around the world during the COVID-19 outbreak. The collection is available in the "Explore" tab starting today worldwide.

If you are a healthcare professional outside of the US and would like access to Headspace Plus, please reach out to health@headspace.com.

About Headspace

Headspace was created with one mission in mind: to improve the health and happiness of the world. Reaching more than 62 million users in 190 countries, Headspace was one of the first meditation apps in the world and remains a leader in mindfulness and mental training. Headspace is committed to advancing the field of mindfulness through clinically-validated research, having one of the largest research pipelines of any digital health and wellness company. Headspace operates a B2B business (Headspace for Work) to offer its mindfulness products and services to more than 600 companies, such as Starbucks, Adobe, GE, Hyatt and Unilever, to help them build healthier, more productive cultures and higher performing organizations. Headspace partners with many of the world's most-recognizable brands, including Apple, Amazon and more. Headspace also partners with brands like Nike, NBA and the U.S. Women's National Soccer Team to offer sport and movement content. In 2018, Headspace launched Headspace Health, a digital health subsidiary pioneering new ways to incorporate the Headspace mindfulness experience into digital medicine. Headspace has been recognized by Fast Company as one of the World's Most Innovative Companies, Apple's Best of 2018, Samsung's Best of 2019 and one of CB Insights' top digital health companies, along with being selected for five Webby Awards in health and fitness between 2018 and 2019.