County Behavioral Wellness Launches New Headspace Project

Source: Santa Barbara County Behavioral Wellness

The Santa Barbara County Department of Behavioral Wellness Help@Hand team joins a statewide collaborative project administered by the California Mental Health Services Authority to launch Headspace throughout the county.  Headspace is a technology application 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.

Within Behavioral Wellness, this is a five-year project funded by Mental Health Services Act Innovations funding.  The primary purpose of the project is to increase access to mental health care, support wellness, promote the early detection of mental illness and allow early intervention.

Pam Fisher, PsyD, Interim Director for Behavioral Wellness says, “We are excited to announce the launch of 5,000 Headspace licenses throughout our county, beginning October 2, 2021.”  “Headspace offers meditation and mindfulness through its app and can benefit its user’s reliefs from stress, help with increasing movement, sleep, focus and so much more,” says Fisher.

The Headspace launch will be led by consumers within the Behavioral Wellness Help@Hand team and will offer licenses at no cost to key identified populations throughout the county which at this time include: individuals discharged from a psychiatric hospitalization, recipients of crisis services, transitional age youth enrolled in colleges and universities and adults receiving services from the Behavioral Wellness system who are geographically isolated.

Help@Hand team members will assist with providing education on using Headspace and how to enroll in the application.  The team’s focus is to help provide whole person care within a digital platform to empower individuals; and to provide support for wellness and recovery efforts through technology.

For more information on the Help@Hand Headspace project, please contact Maria Arteaga at  HYPERLINK “mailto:marteaga@sbcbwell.org” marteaga@sbcbwell.org

To learn more about Santa Barbara County Department of Behavioral Wellness please visit HYPERLINK “http://countyofsb.org/behavioral-wellness” http://countyofsb.org/behavioral-wellness.  For assistance with accessing Santa Barbara County Behavioral Wellness services call the 24/7 toll free Crisis Response and Services Access Line at (888) 868-1649.