OAKLAND, Calif., Oct. 26, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Blue Shield of
California today announced that
mindfulness and meditation app Headspace is now available to its
members through the nonprofit health plan's Wellvolution
program.
Headspace offers hundreds of tools and more than 1,000 exercises
to reduce stress and improve one's mental wellbeing. The app joins
the extensive resources offered on Blue Shield's Wellvolution, a
digitally based lifestyle medicine and health platform provided in
collaboration with Solera Health that can be personalized to each
member's individual health needs and preferences.
The addition of Headspace expands Wellvolution to now include
behavioral health support. Blue Shield members already
enjoying Wellvolution's lifestyle medicine service can now add
Headspace to their support system with no additional cost to them.
Blue Shield of California
continues to build its behavioral health program for its members
and the community that now includes expanded telehealth options and
BlueSky, the health plan's multi-year commitment to support youth
mental health throughout the
state.
"There's no question that the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic has
elevated stress levels for everyone," said Bryce Williams, vice president, Mind Body
Medicine at Blue Shield of California. "With Headspace, our
members receive a scientifically validated, clinically effective
solution to improve their mental health and wellbeing."
Headspace research has demonstrated that the app's guided
meditations can reduce stress and anxiety, improve sleep, and
increase focus, self-esteem, and resilience. The company has
found:
- 10 days of Headspace utilization resulted in 14% decrease in
stress.
- 8 weeks of using Headspace resulted in a 31% decrease in
anxiety symptoms and 46% decrease in depressive symptoms.
Almost two years after it began, the pandemic continues to
affect the lives of many Americans and stress remains present and
problematic. According to the American Psychological Association,
78% of adults say the coronavirus pandemic is a significant source
of stress in their life and 67% say they have experienced increased
stress over the course of the pandemic.
"There has been a huge spike in the need for mental health
support in the past few years and Headspace has been successful in
helping people stress less, be more resilient, and get a better
night's sleep," said Sarah Romotsky,
director, Healthcare Partnerships Solutions at
Headspace. "Through this valuable collaboration with Blue
Shield, we hope to make mindfulness easy and accessible for
all."
Wellvolution is Blue Shield's digitally based lifestyle
medicine and health platform that can be personalized for
individual health needs and preferences. Created in collaboration
with Solera Health, Wellvolution provides members guided on-demand
access to a tailored network of clinically proven apps using
lifestyle to prevent, treat, and even reverse disease. It is
available to most Blue Shield members with their benefit plan at no
additional cost and is an example of how the nonprofit health plan
is reimagining health for individuals, families, and
communities.
"We are excited to continue our collaboration with such a
forward-thinking health plan like Blue Shield of California to help meet the timely mental
health needs of their members through offering our behavioral
health network," said Mary
Langowski, CEO, Solera
Health. "There is a huge demand and need for these services,
and we are happy to work together, with our partner Headspace, to
make it easier for consumers to access mindfulness and mental
wellbeing programs."
For more information about mental health resources through Blue
Shield's Wellvolution platform, go to
wellvolution.com/mentalhealth.
About Blue Shield of California
Blue Shield of California strives to create a healthcare
system worthy of its family and friends that is sustainably
affordable. Blue Shield of California is a tax paying, nonprofit,
independent member of the Blue Shield Association with over 4.5
million members, over 7,500 employees and more than $21 billion in annual revenue. Founded in 1939 in
San Francisco and now
headquartered in Oakland, Blue
Shield of California and its
affiliates provide health, dental, vision, Medicaid, and Medicare
healthcare service plans in California. The company has contributed more
than $150 million to Blue Shield of
California Foundation in the last four years to have an impact on
California communities.
For more news about Blue Shield of California, please
visit news.blueshieldca.com.
Or follow us on LinkedIn, Twitter, or Facebook.
About Headspace
Headspace was created with one
mission in mind: to improve the health and happiness of the world.
Reaching 70 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, with 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 2,200 companies, such as Starbucks, Adobe, Hyatt, and
Unilever, to help them build healthier, more productive cultures
and higher performing organizations. Headspace supports government
entities like New York State and
the UK's National Health Service (NHS) to offer digital mental
health tools. Headspace partners with many of the world's
most-recognizable brands, including Apple, Sesame Street, Spotify,
Amazon, and Nike as well as Netflix for a three part mindfulness
series that premiered in 2021. Headspace has been recognized as
TIME100's Most Influential Companies of 2021, Fast Company's 10
most innovative social good companies of 2021 and World's Most
Innovative Companies. Other accolades include Apple's Best of 2018,
Samsung's Best of 2019 and one of CB Insights' top digital health
companies, along with being selected for seven Webby Awards in
podcasts, health and fitness. For more information, please visit us
at www.headspace.com, or follow us on Facebook, Twitter and
Instagram.
About Solera
Solera Health is committed to
changing lives by guiding people seamlessly to better health
solutions, while providing payers and employers the tools to manage
providers and outcomes across conditions. Solera's platform
provides a marketplace of curated networks of digital and community
point solutions focused on intensive, evidence-based lifestyle,
behavioral and social interventions to impact the most prevalent
and costly chronic conditions. Solera strategically matches
consumers to their best-fit solution and helps keep them engaged
for successful health outcomes.
CONTACT:
Mashi Nyssen
Blue Shield of California
510-607-2359
media@blueshieldca.com
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SOURCE Blue Shield of California