HavenA company which specializes in virtual reality (VR) wellness solutions has recently developed a unique method to aid individuals facing mental health difficulties. Through their new immersive platform, individuals can now access support, guidance, concentration, and overall well-being.
Haven is a global community-driven platform for mental well-being, 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 focused 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.
Using its AI language capabilities, Haven aims to connect individuals with a diverse range of experiences and guide voices in any language. The company is addressing the urgent need for mental health support by bridging the gaps in the existing wellness system. Currently, Haven is actively building a community of expert guides who possess specialized knowledge in therapy, culture, and tradition from various parts of the globe.
Haven Co-Founder and Chief Commercial Officer Claire Barnett commented on the role of XR in addressing a possible global mental health crisis. She mentioned that recent studies indicate virtual reality is much more successful in reducing anxiety compared to conventional 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 a 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 personalization that we are building into Haven’s platform will be transformative to the space.”
SimĂłn 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.
Usman Ali, the Chief Strategy Officer at HodlCo and a previous Partner at Mobius Capital Partners, has joined the team of Co-Founders to complete it. HodlCo provided support for the establishment of Haven, along with backing from FOV Ventures, which is known as Europe’s preferred fund for metaverse founders.
The company stated that it will be launching soon on the Meta Quest platform, for the Quest 2, Quest 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.
