Los Angeles' mental health businesses respond to COVID‐19 crisis

Abstract

Four months into a global pandemic, Los Angeles' mental health industry is in high demand, the Los Angeles Business Journal reported July 27. The devastating economic impact of COVID‐19 and the seismic social changes buffeting the city are taking a toll on Angelenos, leading to increased activity for therapists and other self‐care businesses. Kindman & Co., a therapy group based in Highland Park, saw an increase in clients after switching to online therapy sessions, an option previously unavailable to 95% of the practice's customers. After seeing a slowdown in sessions when the office first turned to teletherapy in mid‐March — Kindman lost a third of its clientele initially — by May, the practice had taken in six times as many new patients as it received in March. “People are starting to realize that online therapy isn't going away; it's staying as the new normal,” said co‐founder Kaitlin Kindman. In April, the Didi Hirsch Mental Health Services Center in Los Angeles saw an 8,000% jump in calls to its suicide hotline, an increase of more than 1,800 calls from March. Headspace Inc., a Santa Monica–based meditation app, recently reached 62 million users and 2 million paid subscribers. The app also reported 10 times the regular number of users listening to stress meditations and 12 times the usual number of users listening to anxiety meditations.