Headspace (company)

Headspace, a subsidiary of Headspace Health, is an English-American healthcare company specializing in mental health. It was incorporated in May 2010 in London, England by Andy Puddicombe and Richard Pierson. It is headquartered in Santa Monica, California, with offices in San Francisco and London.

The company mainly operates through its online platform, which provides online counseling and mental health coaching services as well as guided meditation through a paid subscription service model.

History
Headspace was founded in May 2010, by Andy Puddicombe and Richard Pierson. Puddicombe is a former Buddhist monk. In 2004, he returned to the UK "to make meditation accessible, relevant, and beneficial to as many people as possible". Pierson had a background in marketing and brand development.

Headspace began as an event company, holding mindfulness talks in and around London. In 2012, Puddicombe and Pierson developed a mobile app, with the first version of the Headspace app launching in 2012. Headspace employs over 1,000 staff, working between the Los Angeles, San Francisco, and London offices.

In June 2017, Headspace hired Ross Hoffman as Chief Business Officer.

In June 2018, the company launched Headspace Health, a subsidiary aimed at developing FDA-approved meditation tools that would be prescribed to help treat a range of chronic diseases. In January 2021, Puddicombe and Pierson stepped back from leadership of the company, remaining on its Board. In June 2021, Headspace announced Dora Kamau, a meditation teacher and former psychiatric nurse, as an in-house teacher.

In August 2021, Headspace merged with online mental health platform Ginger in a deal valuing the combined company at $3 billion. In May 2022, Puddicombe announced on Twitter and Instagram that he and Pierson had left the Board, ending their engagement with the company, though Puddicombe's historical content remained on the platform.

Meditation and Mindfulness
Headspace provides guided meditation resources online, accessible to users through the company's website and via a mobile app on the iPhone and Android platforms.

In June 2014, Headspace launched version 2 of its platform. Content in version 2 of the app focused on four areas once users have completed the Foundation Stage: health, performance, relationships, and Headspace Pro. The app uses gamification to encourage users to complete and master a level of meditation before moving on to a more advanced section. Each session is about ten minutes long, usually in audio format.

In April 2022, Headspace released a Star Wars themed mindfulness series in collaboration with Lucasfilm. The series included content with characters from the Star Wars media franchise, and was guided by Headspace meditation teacher Samantha Snowden.

In September 2022, Headspace acquired Shine, a mental health and wellness platform focused on inclusive mental healthcare. The acquisition resulted in the creation of the Shine Collection, which featured a selection of original Shine content on the Headspace platform, and the discontinuation of the Shine app.

Later that month, Headspace withdrew its voice-operated apps for Google Home and Alexa smart speakers.

In September 2023, Headspace released a kids and family animated series in collaboration with Lilly Singh and YouTube TV. The series was titled The Mindful Adventures of Unicorn Island and teaches mindfulness-based emotional regulation skills guided by Kamau and Snowden.

In March 2024, Headspace launched Headspace XR, a mindfulness-based virtual reality game for the Meta Quest.

Coaching and Therapy
Headspace provides mental health coaching and therapy services online under the brand Headspace Care, accessible to users through its mobile app.

In October 2023, the Headspace-Ginger merger resulted in the combination of Ginger's mental health coaching and online therapy services under the Headspace brand.

In November 2023, Headspace introduced the first program on its platform with a clinical focus. The program, titled Finding Your Best Sleep, used principles of Cognitive Behavorial Therapy for Insomnia (CBT-I) and was guided by Headspace psychologist Eric Prather and Kamau.

In January 2024, Headspace combined the company’s guided meditation content with its clinical coaching and therapy services.

Research
Headspace has been used in several of clinical trials investigating the effects of mindfulness training. In one such study, researchers from UCL, funded by the British Heart Foundation, examined the impact of mindfulness on workplace stress in two major multinational corporations, using the Headspace app as the intervention. The study found a significant increase in well-being, reductions in anxiety and depressive symptoms, significant reductions in diastolic blood pressures, significant increases in perceived job control, as well as a significant reduction in sleeping problems.

Publications
Three books by Headspace founder Andy Puddicombe are published by Hodder & Stoughton.
 * Get Some Headspace (2011)
 * The Headspace Diet (2013)
 * The Headspace Guide to... a Mindful Pregnancy (2015)

Netflix shows
Headspace signed a three-series deal with Netflix, with each show being produced by Vox Media. The first series, Headspace Guide to Meditation was released in January 2021 with Headspace Guide to Sleep released in April 2021. The third title, Unwind Your Mind, was released in June 2021.

Media attention
Headspace has been featured on both UK and US television, appearing on The Today Show, BBC Breakfast News, ABC News, and The Dr. Oz Show. It was also featured on the BBC Two science documentary Horizon, which tested the efficacy of mindfulness using the Headspace app over 8 weeks. The product has also been mentioned on NPR and in publications such as Martha Stewart in the US.

In November 2012, Headspace founder Andy Puddicombe gave a TED Talk, entitled "All It Takes Is 10 Mindful Minutes", outlining the benefits of taking time out each day to practice mindfulness.

Controversy
In July 2023, former Headspace therapists affected by a round of layoffs accused the company of canceling patient appointments and severing relationships with clinicians without advanced notice, potentially violating ethical standards of care.