The last four years have highlighted not only the importance of mental health support for our society, but also the inadequacies of today’s mental health system.

Many existing mental health programs focus on crisis management or acute needs.Yet, these programs are ineffective at addressing underlying issues that leave more than half of Americans from getting mental health treatment – provider shortages, wait times, stigma, difficulty navigating the system, and cost.

As the mental health crisis and demand for support have grown, health plans and employers alike have been searching for more cost effective ways to increase access and remove barriers to care. 

What’s needed is a mindset shift to understand that mental healthcare encompasses a broad spectrum of members' needs, and that mental health ebbs and flows throughout a member’s life. A McKinsey study demonstrated what we’ve always known to be true about mental health at Headspace: not everyone needs the same level of care, but everyone needs support. 

‍In a given population of 100 employees, 1 will need intensive treatment, 24 will need therapy, and 75 will need well-being support. It’s not to be taken lightly that serious mental illness plagues a growing number of individuals. In fact, 1 in 20 U.S. adults has experienced serious mental illness. But as with most healthcare scenarios, getting members to the right type of care for their needs instead of funneling people into one type of care regardless of the true need state, is critical to long-term success.

Over the past two decades, it’s become commonplace for a person to see a nurse practitioner or a physician assistant who can support people with lower acuity needs well within their scope of practice.  This means that physicians can work at the top of their licenses with patients who need higher levels of care. This has allowed medical practices to scale and open up their services to more people. It’s time for this to be more widely adopted in mental health.  

The future of mental health care is layered‍

By weaving together different disciplines of care, we can create a system where supply matches demand, providing mental health support for a greater number of people. A layered system provides a comprehensive set of mental healthcare services and resources that support diverse needs for an entire population, and prioritizes getting members to the right level of care that will deliver the best outcome for their unique needs. 

Layered care is not only helpful to get more people to take steps to improve their mental health. It’s more cost effective for health plans and employers because it reduces over-expensing and over-treating people that could be supported by more efficient, yet effective care. And by bringing together these layers  of care into one convenient, confidential, and easy-to-use solution, members can find and engage in care that drives meaningful outcomes.

The Headspace approach to layered care

At Headspace, our objective is to provide mental health resources for all while delivering care with greater efficiency for those who need it. Our system leverages five levels of care to deliver a personalized combination of support for each member’s needs, using measurement-based care and data to drive decisions on the appropriate care plan. Let’s look at each layer in more detail. 

Skill-building exercises

Increasing access to preventative, proactive mental health resources is fundamental to improving well-being for all. Headspace is known for its world-class mindfulness, meditation, and expert guidance to teach people how to be kind to their minds and prevent mental health issues from arising. Health plans and employers can provide free, unlimited access to Headspace’s 3,000+ mindfulness, meditation, and sleep exercises, expert advice, and guided courses to help members stress less, focus more, stay active, and sleep better. By incorporating these practices into daily life, individuals can build routines that drive resilience and help them maintain a healthy mind.

Coaching

Headspace offers members unlimited access to certified mental health coaches, available in 2 minutes or less 24/7 or through scheduled sessions via discrete text-based chat. Our team of coaches provides immediate support for daily stress, anxiety, and personal challenges, using clinically-validated tools to help members navigate everyday emotions effectively and provide guidance, motivation, and accountability to help individuals achieve their goals. Coaching is ideal for those who aren’t struggling with mental illness, but who value ongoing support. 

Our members have unlimited access to in-the-moment or ongoing scheduled sessions with their coach. Providing coaching access for a large number of members whose needs align with this level of care keeps costs low while still producing meaningful impact. 

Therapy

For those requiring more intensive support, Headspace members can quickly connect to high-quality  care from licensed therapists in ~2 days. Whether through video-based therapy or in-person sessions, our therapists provide the necessary treatment to address mental health conditions through a breadth of evidence based treatments, such as CBT, ACT, and Unified Protocol, and expertise in  25+ speciality areas. 

Psychiatry and complex care

Headspace helps individuals with complex needs and serious mental illnesses get better access to board-certified psychiatrists and speciality providers for the extra support they need to address their symptoms. Our clinicians offer diagnostic assessments and create a care plan combining lifestyle modifications, evidence-based therapeutic techniques, and medications for a variety of conditions including anxiety and depression, bipolar disorder, substance use disorder, suicidality, obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD), and more.

Work-life services

As part of Headspace EAP, we connect members to local, vetted resources to navigate life's challenges, ensuring that their basic needs – like housing, transportation, and access to food – are met. Members can access a wide range of resources online or speak to a phone counselor who can guide them to finding essential services such as elder care, childcare, and financial or legal assistance.

24/7 access to support & care navigation

Mental health needs don't follow a schedule. That's why we offer 24/7 phone access to speak to a counselor to guide individuals to the appropriate care – including virtual or in-person care, work life-services, and more – or support them with an in-the-moment session. This accessibility from dedicated providers ensures that support is available whenever it's needed, without the frustration of navigating a complex system.

The power of integrated care

While each layer of care – from evidence-based mindfulness exercises to clinical care – offers value individually, members receive greater benefit when these services work in harmony. Our data reveals that 65% of Headspace members engage with two or more care modalities, underscoring the benefits of having multiple services at their fingertips.

Headspace uses a team-based care approach that brings coaches, therapists, and psychiatrists under one virtual roof to collaborate as members move through their care plan. Each member in our care system not only benefits from the expertise of their individual care team members, but how their providers work together using our proprietary EHR to collaborate and ensure the member receives the best outcomes from their time in care. Members can seamlessly transition between various services and adjust their care as their needs change – stepping up to higher levels of care in harder times or down to ongoing maintenance upon completing treatment. A team-based care model ensures a continuous experience and creates a robust support system that adapts as members’ needs change. 

A day in the life using Headspace’s integrated care

Let’s look at how a member may be supported by integrated care.

Meet Sarah.

Sarah has been feeling overwhelmed between the stress of her job and taking care of her elderly father. When she discovered her employer offered Headspace as a benefit, she decided to try some mindfulness and meditation exercises to find moments of calm amidst the chaos. While she benefited from those moments, she knew she needed some more strategies to manage her stress and overwhelm.  She decided to engage with a coach who provided her with personalized strategies and accountability to take care of herself while she’s caregiving for her father, as well as some resources for elder care in her area. 

Sarah’s coach reviewed her PHQ-9/GAD-7 assessment scores following a setback with Sarah’s dad and recommended she meet with a therapist. Sarah’s coach fills in the therapist with what Sarah’s been experiencing and the strategies they’ve tried, and they work together to create a plan. In between therapy sessions, Sarah works with her coach to stay on track with her self-care strategies, using the meditation exercises her coach recommended. After several weeks, her therapist sees improvements in her assessment scores and suggests she’s ready to step down from therapy. Sarah agrees that she’s feeling much more in control of her stress and anxiety. 

This story illustrates what members commonly experience when they’re supported by a collaborative mental health system versus a traditionally fragmented one. Because of the collaboration between our care providers, 85% of Headspace members who engage in team-based care experienced improvement in depression symptoms and 83% experienced improvement in anxiety symptoms after 6-16 weeks.

Conclusion

The mental health crisis requires innovative solutions that address members’ diverse and shifting needs. Headspace's layered care model offers a comprehensive and effective approach to mental health support. By providing a range of services and resources, we ensure that members receive the appropriate level of care for their unique needs.

For health plans and businesses, implementing a layered care model offers numerous advantages. It reduces costs, improves outcomes, and encourages more individuals to invest in their mental health early. By adopting this approach, more people can have access to high-quality mental health support for every moment.

To learn more about how Headspace can help your organization implement a layered care model, contact us here.