Mental Health

Haven, a provider of virtual reality (VR) wellness solutions, has today announced that it has created a new way to assist people experiencing mental health challenges. Now, people seeking support, guidance, focus and wellbeing can utilize the company’s new immersive platform to assist them.

Haven is a global community-driven platform for mental wellbeing, leveraging spatial computing and extended reality (XR) to provide immersive experiences that foster wellness and peak performance. The immersive experience is curated to provide people with focussed sessions and courses, away from distractions where they can achieve “transformative health benefits through a variety of experiences,” according to the company.

Sessions include anxiety management, stress relief, self-love and compassion, peak performance and more. Haven launches with a seasoned team from across the XR and wellness arenas, as well as advisors including Microsoft’s Chief Medical Scientist and Peloton’s former Chief Revenue Officer.

With a wide variety of experiences available, supported by a range of guides’ voices in any language using Haven’s unique AI language capabilities, the company stated that it is “connecting up a broken wellness system and responding to a mental health support shortage of crisis proportions.” Haven added that its team is currently in the process of assembling a community of specialist guides with specialist therapeutic, cultural and traditional knowledge from across the world.

Commenting on XR’s role in helping to tackle a potential global mental health crisis, Haven Co-Founder and Chief Commercial Officer Claire Barnett stated: “Emerging research shows that virtual reality is significantly more effective for reducing anxiety than traditional video formats.

“In an already burdened healthcare system, XR allows us to integrate scalable mental health therapy into daily life for underserved communities including disabled people, older people experiencing loneliness or isolation, incarcerated people and immigrant populations. As we reach a global mental health crisis, immersive therapy could transform patient outcomes.” Barnett is also a former Executive Director of UN Women UK, wellness studio founder and McKinsey & Company management consultant.

“Immersive technology will dramatically change the wellbeing landscape in the next ten years,” said Haven Co-Founder and CEO, Gautam Murgai. “Our goal at Haven is to now make therapeutic experiences more scalable, accessible and integrable into people’s daily lives.”

Murgai comes to Haven from being Metaverse Strategist at PokerStars VR and a serial XR founder at Cerene VR Studio. He brings three years of VR and AR experience, and a background in finance including a stint at Morgan Stanley.

The company’s Chief Technology Officer, Alejandro Simón, added: “We are excited to bring market-leading visuals and an expert community of guides to the wellness space. The depth of mental health knowledge and personalisation that we are building into Haven’s platform will be transformative to the space.”

Simón was previously a Senior Engineering Manager at Unity Technologies and Skyscanner where he led 9 teams and 80 engineers, as well as spending time at PlayStation, EA, SEGA and NaturalMotion.

Joining these three to complete the team of Co-Founders is Usman Ali, Chief Strategy Officer at HodlCo and a former Partner at Mobius Capital Partners. Haven was founded with support from HodlCo, as well as backing from FOV Ventures, Europe’s go-to fund for metaverse founders.

The company stated that it will be launching soon on the Meta Quest platform, for the Quest 2, 3 and Pro headset models, before scaling via other XR platforms and brand partnerships in 2024. For more information on Haven and its immersive wellbeing solution, click here.

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Foto: Haven

Haven creates scalable access to mental health experiences using immersive technology

Virtual reality (VR) training can help upskill employees for everything from safe lifting techniques to how to respond in an active shooter situation. With VR training, learning leaders can help reinvent workplace performance, increase employee engagement and improve efficiency.

VR can also help with mental health. By incorporating meditation practices into VR training, companies can promote mental well-being, enhance customer interactions and build employee resilience. Enterprise companies are already adopting VR for training, but how can we help employees get more out of the VR experience?

The Benefits of Meditation and Mindfulness Training for Employees

Mindfulness and meditation are well-established practices that can help employees focus and perform better. Meditation is linked to reduced levels of the stress hormone cortisol, and it can improve levels of empathy and compassion, which are essential skills for customer-facing employees.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, we saw a big jump in mobile meditation apps like Calm, Insight Timer and Headspace. However, a manufacturing employee taking a 15-minute break while trying to tune out passing co-workers, moving pallets and intercom announcements, the idea of shutting down their thoughts for a few minutes can be challenging. Meditating in VR can feel much more relaxing than just sitting in a chair — it’s more like mental transportation.

How Companies Are Using VR to Improve Mental Health

In a busy workplace, a VR headset can help workers focus on their own breathing with fewer distractions. Meditating in VR can feel much more relaxing than just sitting in a chair — it’s more like mental transportation. A well-designed virtual environment can make it easier for employees to settle into a meditative state that can deliver lasting benefits.

VR training meditation can even be more effective than conventional mindfulness or mobile-based apps, according to recent research. These calming environments can truly help people let go of distracting thoughts, while reducing anxiety and improving emotional regulation.

Moving beyond meditation, an enterprise VR platform with a well-designed interface can make it easier for employees to discover other training programs. The interface can help educate employees about opportunities to learn new skills or practice challenging customer interactions. Getting employees interested in VR experiences for meditation can drive a positive flywheel as employees discover more offerings on the platform and capitalize on how VR is an effective medium to facilitate better learning and training outcomes.

Employees Are Looking for Better Mental Health Support in the Workplace

We’ve outlined the benefits of VR training and meditation in the workplace, but there’s another advantage: increasing worker retention.

An American Psychological Association study found that 81% of workers agree that how their employers support mental health is an important consideration for them when they look for their next job. In an Ernst & Young (EY) study, 29% of millennials said they’re planning to leave their company within a year because their company doesn’t match their values. These findings highlight how the next generation of workers expect new programs, policies and benefits from employers who hope to attract and retain talent.

Conclusion

We’ve just started to scratch the surface of what’s possible with immersive learning applications for employee mental health. VR training can help a wide range of employees complete training with better outcomes and improve their break-time experience with virtual meditation sessions. It can also help employers discover upskilling opportunities that can help reduce employee burnout and make the most of the VR platform.

With the evolution of the workplace and the pressures of “always being on,” producing more with less and dealing with increasing pressures from customers (for those in customer-facing roles), a short meditation break is an effective solution to helping employees stay productive and focused on the job. Employers who support employees with VR training and meditation opportunities can hope to see improved engagement, improved efficiency and a reduction in stress — and that can help everyone get through the day with a smile.

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Mindfulness Goes Virtual: How Companies Are Embracing VR for Mental Health

Discover how VR training for mental health awareness is improving the workplace environment.

The use of VR training for mental health awareness is not a new concept. This technology has become a powerful tool that enhances the professional development and overall well-being of employees in the workplace.

With Mental Health Awareness Month serving as a crucial reminder of the importance of addressing mental health concerns, we once again go through the role immersive technologies play in promoting mental health awareness and providing support.

The Prevalence of Mental Health Issues 

In the United States alone, approximately 50 million adults are experiencing a mental illness. But what’s more alarming is that over 55% of them receive no treatment. That’s 28 million individuals struggling with mental health issues on their own.

In the workplace, employees experiencing poor mental health are more likely to face absenteeism, lower job satisfaction, and burnout. The impact of these issues extends beyond individual employees, affecting overall productivity, morale, and employee retention within organizations. Fortunately, business leaders are now realizing the need to address mental health concerns in the workplace.

Harnessing Immersive Technologies for Mental Health Support

XR technologies, including VR training, have emerged as powerful tools for addressing mental health concerns and fostering a supportive workplace environment. Companies like Moth+Flame have been at the forefront, developing immersive training solutions that promote mental health in the workplace.

This month, they launched a Mental Wellness library to facilitate open conversations on mental health concerns. Through this library, individuals can engage in realistic scenarios, practice meaningful conversations, and acquire the necessary skills to provide appropriate support.

According to Kevin Cornish, founder and CEO of Moth+Flame, developing the library was a big commitment they made in support of mental health awareness. Their goal is to get more people comfortable with talking about mental health at work so that, ultimately, people know how to ask for help and how to offer help. “We believe that the more people who are trained on how to handle these conversations, the more people will ultimately get help,” says Cornish. “If one person gets the support they need by using this conversation and being prepared for a tough conversation, then we have succeeded.”

Collaborative Efforts in VR Training for Mental Health Awareness

Moth+Flame is not alone in recognizing the potential of XR technologies for mental health training. Several companies and organizations are utilizing VR to improve mental health awareness and support in the workplace.

PsyTechVR is also empowering organizations by giving them access to VR apps with guided meditations and art therapies that enhance mental wellness. The company, which launches new therapy content every two weeks, offers both self-guiding VR courses as well as courses with a specialist, where the doctor has access to user’s training in real-time and guides them through all the training.

Penumbra’s REAL Vision VR Wellness offers over 100 immersive experiences designed specifically for improving employee mental wellness. The company’s REAL i-Series is designed to offer VR-enabled tools for cognitive activation, distraction therapy, reminiscence therapy, mindfulness therapy, and relaxation therapy.

Collaborations among tech, health, and business sectors are paving the way for better VR experiences tailored to mental health. The National Institute of Mental Health for one has been funding research on virtual reality exposure therapy and other immersive applications.

The Impact of VR-Based Mental Health Training Programs

Although specific case studies on VR-based mental health training programs are still emerging, the potential impact is significant. Moth+Flame, for instance, partnered with the US Air Force to provide VR training specifically for suicide prevention, demonstrating the efficacy of immersive experiences in sensitive topics.

They have seen firsthand the transformative effect of VR in military suicide prevention training. By expanding access to these training programs and empowering more individuals to handle difficult conversations, the hope is that more people will feel comfortable seeking help and offering support.

Looking Ahead: Empowering a Supportive Work Environment

VR training for mental health awareness has the potential to revolutionize workplace well-being. As more organizations recognize the significance of addressing mental health concerns, the demand for immersive XR experiences will continue to grow.

As Mental Health Awareness Month highlights the importance of open dialogue, companies across various industries are embracing VR training as part of their mental health initiatives. By incorporating XR technologies into their employee development programs, organizations demonstrate a commitment to fostering a supportive work environment that prioritizes mental well-being.

It’s not just Moth+Flame, PsyTechVR, and Penumbra leading the way in utilizing XR technologies for mental health support. Other companies have also recognized the value of immersive experiences in promoting mental health awareness. From mindfulness apps to virtual therapy sessions, the potential applications of XR in mental health care are vast. Collaborative initiatives between industry leaders and mental health professionals further amplify the impact of XR in promoting mental health awareness.

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Expanding the Applications of VR Training for Mental Health Awareness and Wellness at Work

Paving the way for better health care and support through VR mental health.

With one out of eight people in the world living with a mental disorder, mental health has become a critical concern of global importance. However, many people are still not receiving the care they need and deserve. Fortunately, emerging technologies are becoming more affordable and accessible, offering new possibilities to transform mental health care. One such solution is mental health services in VR.

To explore the key role emerging technologies play in revolutionizing the field of mental health, we delve into the current challenges the industry faces and how new technologies can potentially address them. Terrance Williams, the founder of Meta Wellness, shares his insights on how digital and immersive technologies can augment the delivery of mental health care services.

Major Gaps in Mental Health Systems

Mental health systems worldwide are marked by significant gaps in information and research, governance, resources, and services. For instance, around half of the world’s population live in countries where the ratio of psychiatrists to people is 1 for every 200,000. In the United States alone, almost one out of four adults with mental illness reported that they were not able to receive the treatment they needed.

Virtual reality offers an accessible and affordable way to provide high-quality and timely mental health care.

The Role of VR in Mental Health Care

VR and similar technologies have the potential to provide more immersive and engaging interventions that can significantly enhance the quality and accessibility of mental health care. Terrance Williams believes that VR is the next stage toward the future of mental health. He explains that instead of telehealth services relying on zoom or a computer to host their sessions, they can now do their sessions in VR in the metaverse.

According to Williams, the effectiveness of VR has been seen in a number of ways including the treatment of acrophobia, panic disorders, schizophrenia, agoraphobia, social phobia, claustrophobia, and eating disorders.

VR simulations have also shown great promise as an effective element in therapy sessions for PTSD as they allow a person to face their trauma in a relaxed and controlled setting. Indeed, the possibilities are endless. Even in the realm of rehabilitation, VR has been seen as useful in cognitive rehabilitation in adults and children with autism spectrum disorder.

Challenges in VR Mental Health

The development and use of VR in mental health care must be carefully monitored and regulated to ensure that it benefits patients and does not create new risks or challenges. Asked about the challenges that mental health professionals face when incorporating VR into their practices, Williams says that one of the biggest things he often gets asked about is HIPAA compliance. Although he explains that this does not pose a threat as long as certain measures are in place and certain steps are taken to maintain compliance.

Another issue often raised when it comes to mental health in VR is the accessibility of equipment. Headset devices are needed to conduct sessions in VR. Since the technology is still fairly new, VR headsets are not as common as phones, tablets, or laptops. While they can now be easily bought at electronic stores, they are not yet standard items in the common household. This limits access to mental health VR services, especially in low-income families.

Incorporating VR Into Mental Health Care

For mental health professionals looking to incorporate VR into their practices, it is important to start with learning the basics of virtual reality technology and how it can be used for mental health purposes. Collaborating with companies that specialize in building VR platforms for mental health professionals, like Meta Wellness, can also help navigate the technology.

Through Meta Wellness, Williams has been helping mental health professionals, therapists, life coaches, nonprofits, and many others in the virtual reality space. The company specializes in building VR platforms for mental health professionals for telehealth purposes. Clients anywhere in the world can buy or rent virtual reality spaces to host telehealth or private group sessions. As one of the pioneers in the space, they are committed to educating, growing, and exploring the possibilities of what virtual reality can bring.

Stronger Mental Health Care With Mental Health VR

Williams believes that in the future, 90% of all mental health telehealth sessions will eventually take place in the metaverse through virtual reality. He believes that mental health VR is the next phase in this sector. As the technology grows, so will the capabilities and accessibility.

Indeed, virtual reality and other immersive technologies can play a key role in addressing the indisputable and urgent need for wide-ranging transformation toward mental health for all. They can bridge the vast gap and reduce inequities in mental health systems.

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Mental Health and VR: The Role of Emerging Technologies in Transforming Mental Health Care

For Mental Health Awareness Week, we explore the ways in which new technologies are improving mental health care.

It’s been a wild past two years for us all. After experiencing the tumults of the pandemic, unforeseen market instability and a seemingly endless chain of global and civil unrest, the prevalence of anxiety, depression and other mental health conditions has reached a staggering high. Even the World Health Organisation (WHO) has weighed in on the dangers of our mounting mental health crisis, with one scientific brief reporting a 25% increase in mental health issues since COVID-19 first hit the world.

The social isolation resulting from the pandemic was one of the biggest challenges our modern society has faced in the last century — causing unprecedented constraints on people’s relationships, work lives, communities and overall mental wellbeing. As a result, many people turned to virtual resources for work, regular communication and even medical care. It’s also for this very reason that 92% of businesses reportedly believe the pandemic has accelerated the development of metaverse technologies.

As we exit the final stages of the pandemic and look towards our first normal summer of the decade, it seems fitting that this year’s theme for Mental Health Awareness Weekwould be loneliness. In honour of this year’s event, let’s take a look at how developing technologies are looking to improve mental health treatment, decrease the effects of loneliness and provide greater access to care — especially as we see metaverse technologies increase in popularisation.

Using XR technology to combat loneliness

When we couldn’t physically meet with our colleagues, friends or family members during the pandemic, video conferencing helped us stay connected — even if it didn’t exactly replace the sensation of real-life interactions. In keeping with this year’s theme for Mental Health Awareness Week, more immersive technologies have already been suggested by experts as an even better remedy for those experiencing social isolation and loneliness. The spatial nature of VR means that interactions inside more immersive games and metaverse platforms feel much more like being around people in the real world. 

During the pandemic, VR even found an unexpected new group of users — seniors. MyndVRhas already worked with hundreds of senior living communities across the United States, seeing a significant surge in popularity within the last two years. Chris Brickler, co-founder of MyndVR, has remarked on the company’s reimagining from a youth-based gaming culture to a “very safe, secure and senior-friendly platform”. Moreover, he commented on the platform’s success during COVID: “We’re just super excited about providing this service to so many older people that are, you know, sometimes lonely, combating isolation.”

A recent study from Frontiers in Psychology has also concluded that XR technology and more immersive gaming experiences have positively affected users — particularly by “modelling the relationships between involvement, wellbeing, depression, self-esteem and social connectedness”. The study determined that, while there is a risk that VR can supplant in-person involvement, healthy social interactions within a VR environment still “benefit players by satisfying essential needs of belonging and connecting with others.”

Anna Bailie, a PhD candidate at the University of York, specialises in researching mental health cultures on social media — and she believes the future of how the metaverse will impact our mental health will improve, rather than harm our ability to connect with others. According to Bailie: “The metaverse has been sold as a place for community, sociality, making friends and maintaining relationships.” Furthermore, she believes that: “there’s no reason that can’t happen when we already see it on social media platforms like Instagram and Reddit, where people find communities which they wouldn’t have access to otherwise.”

Improvements through immersive care

As we’ve previously covered, a recent peer-reviewed study from Oxford University concluded that patients who tried VR-based therapy saw a 38% reduction in anxiety or avoidant symptoms over the course of a six-week treatment period. According to another study, patients suffering from paranoia saw a decrease in their phobias — even after undergoing just one VR session. The immersive nature of VR is now understood as a way for us to trick our brain into thinking it is reacting to a more realistic encounter — an advent that can see patients develop healthier and more effective coping strategies.

Dr. Daria Kuss, lead of the Cyberpsychology Research Group at Nottingham Trent University, has touted VR technology as an effective therapy tool: “We know that particular psychology formats, notably virtual reality exposure therapy, can be fantastic tools to help individuals affected by a variety of phobias, depression, psychosis, addiction, eating disorders — as well as post-traumatic stress disorder — by gradually exposing them to the triggering, feared, or trauma-producing stimulus in a safe space (like the virtual environment).”

University College London (UCL) has been behind a series of clinical trials using VR to treat mental health conditions. The university has partnered with Tend VR to bring mindfulness-based cognitive therapy (MBCT) — a type of face-to-face therapy that has been proven highly effective — into a virtual setting. According to Rebecca Gould, Honorary Clinical Psychologist in the Division of Psychiatry at UCL, “virtual reality-based mindfulness represents an innovative and novel approach to addressing this challenge.”

UCL also revealed a specialised VR intervention program that would substitute face-to-face therapy for depression, with the objective of helping patients increase their ability to exhibit self-compassion. Using a virtual room, patients are shown two virtual avatars — both a child and an adult. In the first segment, they enter the room as the adult — with the task of comforting the child until their stress is decreased. In the next segment, they get to play as the child — this time being comforted by the script of the adult. The compassionate script inside the module zeroes in on three key themes: validating experience, redirecting attention and activating a positive memory.

A growing body of scientific research now also supports the idea that certain psychedelics, when administered by a therapist, can support a range of mental health conditions — including depression, PTSD, addiction and various types of anxiety. Now, health experts are even looking to replicate the benefits of psychedelic-assisted therapy in the metaverse. Emotional Intelligence (EI) Ventures, a growing startup, is harnessing the power of VR to overcome geographical and economic barriers that have previously hindered people from accessing psychedelic therapies. 

After receiving a dose of a medically-prescribed psychedelic, EI users will embark on a virtual journey using their VR headsets. According to founder David Nikzad, each user’s vision will be specifically tailored to suit their unique background, personality and medical history — with the goal of delivering a “zone of comfortability”. He continues: Not everybody’s going to have the same comfort zone. I might like beaches and waterfalls, somebody else might want to be in the Swiss Alps. We can fine-tune that experience.”

Even current gaming tycoon Roblox, which has been praised for bringing users together through shared experiences, has recently launched greater initiatives to raise awareness around the importance of mental health and personal wellness. Sponsored by Alo Yoga, Roblox recently unveiled the ‘Alo Sanctuary’ in February — a metaverse island with a picturesque landscape, encompassing “three earthly elements of the brand name Alo — an acronym for ‘Air Land Ocean’.” Danny Harris, co-founder of Alo, has called “this first-of-a-kind partnership” a “longstanding commitment to supporting the mental and overall health of the global community at large.”

Providing greater access to mental health care

Many metaverse-related complaints we’ve heard within the past year have circulated around the idea that a more immersive internet will be more addictive than the one we live in now, thereby preventing us from embarking on healthy, socially-engaging lifestyles. However, the practicalities and flexibilities of VR are already proving that the metaverse will also make mental health treatment more accessible and even more plausible for people to access — giving it a very positive use case.

XR technology now makes mental health care accessible to anyone across the globe, regardless of their location or social standing. Users who have historically encountered physical barriers to mental health care can now see more affordable treatment options, all while receiving it through more immersive, lifelike and interactive channels.

Daniel Freeman, a clinical psychologist at the University of Oxford, has highlighted one problem he sees in the field of clinical psychology — that many patients are unable to attend therapy sessions due to lack of accessibility (including lack of transportation, rigid work schedules or fear of stigmatisation). As an alternative, his team has revealed gameChange — a programme entailing a six-week course, where participants can meet with a virtual coach from anywhere in the world to conquer phobias and other forms of paranoia.

Joy Ventures, a growing VC firm that is seeking the support of science-backed consumer products for wellbeing, has also pointed out the potential for VR treatment to be more personalised and adjusted to meet the personal needs of patients. Additionally, they’ve also stressed the scalability and flexibility of these technologies: “Even before the pandemic, social isolation, stress and anxiety were worsening problems — but with greater use of behavioural health technologies, people will have better and more accessible options for receiving the care they need.”

Final thoughts

While mounting research makes several clear arguments for why the metaverse will be a great therapy tool, it’s still important to note the number of potential health risks that are present. Several experts in the fields of both technology and mental health have already expressed concerns about how the immersive and potentially addictive nature of the metaverse can lead to a decline in mental health.

However, other experts argue that this issue is much more nuanced — asserting that factors like genetics, physical activity, diet or socioeconomic standing play a much bigger role in identifying mental health conditions. Nick Allen, a professor of psychology at the University of Oregon, stresses the importance of context when referring to metaverse use: “[For example], a young person who may be LGBT and who finds an online context where they can feel a sense of social support — we would predict that that would be a benefit for their mental health,” he says. “On the other hand, if using metaverse technologies replaces non-online behaviours that are healthy and supportive to mental health, like appropriate exercise, engagement in relationships in real life, healthy sleep, time spent in natural environments, then they can be harmful.”

It’s critical that both the pros and cons of emerging metaverse technologies be highlighted. Clinical psychologist Barbara Rothbaum, whose efforts in the VR space date back as far as 1995, can vouch for the timeline in which we’ve seen immersive technologies develop and transition from academia to society. We are now at a stage where we can see the efficacy of VR technology from a clinical point of view, but she still insists that there are “some barriers” to overcome.

Overall, studies seem to be trending in the right direction. XR technology appears to have reached us at a pertinent time — when mental health and the effects of isolation have never been a greater concern. As such, we should expect to see the benefits of more innovative, flexible and accessible mental health care become more commonplace over time.

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Is Metaverse Technology Improving Mental Health Treatment?