Emotional support coaching from Ginger now available

OAKLAND, Calif. — Kaiser Permanente has added emotional support coaching from Ginger, a leading on-demand mental health care solutions provider, to its growing mental health and addiction care ecosystem available to members. All eligible adult Kaiser Permanente members can now use their smartphone to connect with Ginger’s highly trained emotional support coaches 24/7 — at no cost and with no referral or appointment needed. The confidential, one-on-one texting sessions provide support in coping with common challenges such as managing stress or getting better sleep.

“Kaiser Permanente selected Ginger to help provide nonclinical emotional support coaching and expand the continuum of digital mental health tools we make available at no cost to all eligible adult members,” said Don Mordecai, MD, psychiatrist and national leader for mental health and wellness at Kaiser Permanente. “The Ginger offering sits between our self-care offerings and our clinical care, providing personalized text-based support from trained Ginger coaches to our members in the moment when they need it the most, anytime day or night.”

In early 2022, a survey conducted on behalf of the American Psychological Association found that a large percentage of Americans reported high stress levels due to the financial impacts from inflation, the continuing COVID-19 pandemic, and global uncertainty. Mental health resources like the Ginger app, used on a self-guided basis or as complements to clinical support, can help people build resilience, set goals, and take meaningful steps toward improving mental health and wellness. Kaiser Permanente members can use the Ginger app to:

• Discuss goals, share challenges, and create an action plan with their coach
• Get personalized, interactive skill-building tools from a library of more than 200 clinically validated activities and resources
• View recaps from each texting session, track their progress, and work with their coach to adjust action plans as needed

“Coaching has proven benefits to a wide variety of people who are faced with everything from day-to-day sleep struggles to more complex family, work, or relationship challenges,” said Dana Udall, PhD, chief clinical officer, Headspace Health. “We’re thrilled to now offer high-quality, on-demand coaching to the Kaiser Permanente member community.”

The new Ginger offering is the latest addition to Kaiser Permanente’s comprehensive mental health and addiction care ecosystem of clinical and nonclinical services, tools and resources. In 2020, Kaiser Permanente added the first 2 apps to its digital self-care portfolio: Calm, a leading tool for mindfulness meditation, and myStrength, designed to help people improve well-being and enhance sleep or mood. Kaiser Permanente physicians and therapists also have the ability to refer their patients to these and other evidenced-based mental health and wellness apps through the organization’s electronic health record system.

Making evidence-based mental health and wellness apps widely available is part of Kaiser Permanente’s ongoing commitment to addressing the mental health and wellness needs of its members and communities. Kaiser Permanente offers mental health care focused on early intervention, personalized treatment, patient empowerment and support, and the latest innovations in care delivery, including virtual care. Digital self-help tools are not a replacement for treatment services provided by Kaiser Permanente’s mental health care clinicians.

Kaiser Permanente members can text with a coach using the Ginger app for 90 days per year.  After the 90 days, members can continue to access the other services available on the Ginger app for the remainder of the year at no cost. All eligible adult Kaiser Permanente members can access the Ginger app by going to kp.org/selfcareapps. Members will be prompted to sign in using their kp.org user ID and password, and then will be directed to a site where they can complete their registration and begin accessing these resources. In addition, anyone can access the range of mental health and wellness resources Kaiser Permanente offers on kp.org, including articles, videos, and exercises, now also available in Spanish.

About Headspace Health

Headspace Health is the world’s leading provider of mental health and well-being solutions. Through our flagship Headspace brand, we’ve touched the lives of over 100 million people in 190 countries through mindfulness tools for managing stress, sleep, and focus. Our enterprise brands, Headspace for Work and Ginger, are distributed through over 3,700 enterprises, including Starbucks, Adobe, Delta Air Lines, and ViacomCBS; and through health plans such as Kaiser Permanente and Cigna. Our members and enterprise partners’ employees have access to mindfulness and meditation tools, CBT, coaching, therapy, and psychiatry, ultimately helping them to be healthier and more productive. To learn more about Headspace Health and our family of brands, visit headspacehealth.com.

About Kaiser Permanente

Kaiser Permanente is committed to helping shape the future of health care. We are recognized as one of America’s leading health care providers and not-for-profit health plans. Founded in 1945, Kaiser Permanente has a mission to provide high-quality, affordable health care services and to improve the health of our members and the communities we serve. We currently serve 12.6 million members in 8 states and the District of Columbia. Care for members and patients is focused on their total health and guided by their personal Permanente Medical Group physicians, specialists, and team of caregivers. Our expert and caring medical teams are empowered and supported by industry-leading technology advances and tools for health promotion, disease prevention, state-of-the-art care delivery, and world-class chronic disease management. Kaiser Permanente is dedicated to care innovations, clinical research, health education, and the support of community health.