Will Campbell, 41, has battled anxiety since he was 7 years old. Now vice president of operations for a digital media company, he says he has found two effective ways to manage his mental health: He meditates regularly, and he carves out plenty of time for pampering and self-care.

       So when he heard about the Mindplace Manicure at the JW Marriott Orlando Bonnet Creek Resort last spring, he was intrigued.

       “Any reason to get me to a spa, I’m in," Mr. Campbell says. “When I read about this one, it sounded super intense, but also like something that was going to benefit me in my mind."

       Covid-19 has wreaked havoc on our mental health. More than 42% of people surveyed by the Census Bureau in December reported symptoms of anxiety or depression, up 11% from 2019.

       This has not gone unnoticed by the global hospitality sector, which sees the potential for dollars in all that distress. As travel restarts and Americans return to hotels and resorts, an increasing number of spas are rolling out new features and programs to attend to customers’ mental health and emotional well-being.

       Miraval Resorts & Spas, which has properties in Arizona, Texas and Massachusetts, worked with the National Alliance on Mental Health to produce videos for its patrons that use soundscapes and scenery to induce relaxation. The Rose Spa at the Joseph Hotel in Nashville, Tenn., which opened in August 2020 at the height of the pandemic, offers something called the Kundalini back treatment—in which “ancient marma therapy and warm herbal poultices are massaged into the back of the body, while sound healing and chakra balancing lift away tension."

       Hong Kong-based Rosewood Hotels & Resorts, for its part, has a new wellness program at its U.S. properties dubbed “Journey to Resilience," aimed at helping guests put the negative emotions of 2020 behind them for good.

       “We’re all forever changed by our experience with Covid, and I think we will never again take our personal health for granted," says Laura Coburn, director of serenity at the recently opened spa and healing center at the Inns of Aurora, in New York’s Finger Lakes region.

       “It’s really hard for some people to give themselves permission to carve out time just for healing, or for feeling their emotions," says Ms. Coburn, who adds that she is working with a certified mental-health counselor to create a program for guests.

       A clinical psychologist helped Carmel Valley Ranch on California’s Monterey Peninsula develop a program using horses in which, the resort’s website promises, prospective guests will “learn methods for growing your awareness and improving your physical and emotional well-being."

       “The program was in some ways absolutely influenced and sped along by the impact of the pandemic," says Robert G. Magnelli, developer of the Equine Experiences program. “After the year we’ve all had, filled for many with anxiety, fearfulness, trauma and depression, the experience seems especially fitting for our guests."

       The spa at the Four Seasons in Baltimore, meanwhile, offers “sound healing," a treatment it describes as helping guests “achieve a restorative, peaceful state." At the company’s New York Downtown property, resident healer and hypnotist Nicole Hernandez, who was hired in December, says guests have sought her guidance with issues ranging from lockdown-fueled marriage troubles to phobias with wearing masks.

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       Some resorts are offering mental-health help not just to their guests, but to their own employees.

       Before it rolls out new packaged stays at its so-called Wellbeing Sanctuaries, Singapore-based Banyan Tree, which operates dozens of hotels and spas world-wide, this fall is offering the product to its employees. “We said, ‘How are we going to deliver well-being for our guests if our associates are not well?’" says founder and executive chairman Ho Kwon Ping.

       In addition to “ocean breath meditation," sleep-enhancing rituals and customized dining menus, Sanctuary Stays offer a 64-point wellness assessment and treatment, heavily focusing on stress management and emotional resilience.

       At the Marriott in Orlando, Mr. Campbell found his opportunity to book a Mindplace Manicure in late July. Once there, he says, he sat at a traditional manicure table, wearing sanitized headphones and virtual-reality goggles. As the technician buffed his nails and trimmed his cuticles, trance-like music filled his ears and synchronized colored lights flashed before his eyes.

       “I was fully immersed in the sound and the light. I shut off completely," Mr. Campbell says. “It was exactly what I needed to step away from my computer, do this immersive experience and come back with a fresh, relaxed take on everything."

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