Access to mental health support is a constant problem - but one Kiwi start-up is working towards a solution.
Between the shortage of qualified professionals, long delays and high costs, plenty of New Zealanders aren't getting the help they need.
oVRcome specialises in VR Exposure Therapy - and the start-up is expected to showcase the technology at Melbourne’s Digital Health Festival.
oVRcome founder Adam Hutchinson says the company is focused around delivering exposure therapy through VR technology.
"We deliver virtual reality exposure therapy - it sort of tricks the brain into thinking that you're actually in that environment. Therefore, we've been able to prove recently that we've been able to get the results."
Read more about oVRcome here.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:06):
You're listening to the Sunday Session podcast with Francesca Rudgin
from News Talks AB.
Speaker 2 (00:12):
Access to mental health support is a constant problem, whether
it be the shortage of qualified professionals, long delays, or
the high costs. Not everyone is getting the help they need.
On my podcast The Little Things, I was really interested
to learn how impressed psychologist Jackie McGuire was with some
of the tech based options for mental health support. So
looking into what was available, I came across key we
(00:35):
digital health startup Overcome. They specialize in VR exposure therapy
and this week heading to Melbourne's Digital Health Festival. Founder
of Overcome, Adam Hutchins, joins me. Now, good morning Adam.
Speaker 3 (00:49):
Good morning Francisca, and happy Mother's Day.
Speaker 2 (00:51):
Thank you very much you having to participate in Mother's
Day on behalf of children.
Speaker 3 (00:58):
Absolutely. I took my partner breakfast already, so yeah, ticked
the box early. But we've got a few things planned
for the rest of the day too.
Speaker 2 (01:05):
Wonderful. Hey talk me through V exposure therapy. What is
it and what does it involve?
Speaker 3 (01:12):
Sure? So exposure therapy is the gradual and safe exposure
to what ever it is that you're avoiding for your
anxiety disort. So, for example, if I have social anxiety,
the best way for me to overcome it is actually
by actually just throwing yourself in the deep end and
experiencing it, even though you don't want to do that.
(01:32):
It's incredibly effective. But what we know is that around
eighty percent of people that have an anxiety disort of
need exposure therapy just can't access it, and so that's
where overcome comes in. So we deliver virtual reality exposure therapy.
It sort of tricks the brain into thinking that you're
actually in that environment, and therefore we've been able to
prove recently that we've been able to get the results.
(01:54):
So a really effective way of doing that traditional exposure therapy,
but using really new and scalable technology.
Speaker 2 (02:01):
There's quite a lot of evidence behind exposure therapy, isn't there.
Speaker 3 (02:04):
Yeah, there is, and it's growing. We've actually done two
clinical trials ourselves with the University of Otago. The results
of those were for social anxiety we were able to
reduce on average by fifty percent, and for a clinical
trial across five different phobias, we were able to reduce
the symptoms by seventy five percent. We're actually about to
(02:28):
start a new clinical trial soon around quantifying how can
we reduce the demand on clinician time by people being
able to do the virtual reality exposure therapy at home
in a safeway via their smartphone. So really exciting times
for us around that sort of evidence base.
Speaker 2 (02:46):
So social anxiety, phobias, what else can it help with.
Speaker 3 (02:50):
We've got a program for panic disorder, we're starting to
get into OCD, some eating disorders. This is via our
clinician portal, so it's sort of heavily restricted to qualified
clinicians that are able to deliver it. However, there is
smartphone components, so whenever that clinician feels as though it's
right for their client to go and continue the program
(03:11):
on from home, they are able to do it. We've
also been doing some really early stage with Stanford around
using virtual reality exposure therapy as part of the mild
depression intervention as well using the outfit behavioral activation. So
there are a lot of really a lot of conditions
that do require exposure therapy as part of the intervention,
(03:32):
and that's the area that we're looking to solve with
really scalable, accessible virtual reality exposure therapy.
Speaker 2 (03:38):
So the idea would be that you would start maybe
working alongside a professional they would have done some diagnosis
work with you, and then as that treatment continues on,
there's the opportunity for you to be able to sort
of take control of that treatment and as you say,
do it at home.
Speaker 3 (03:54):
And things, Yeah, well, I mean that's exactly right. So
what we're learning in those initial sessions with a clinician,
we're able to capture things like heart rate, eye tracking,
and all of these really interesting things, and there's actually
a lot of information buried within that physiological data. We
can take that information and actually start to personalize the
rest of their treatment when they're at home, and all
(04:15):
of that data is able to come back to the
clinician so they can adjust their program remotely. So really
really interesting technology and really a good solution to sort
of try and reduce the clinician time from that data
that's coming through to the clinician. So you really interesting
application of technology I think to try and solve this
really interesting and growing problem around the shortage of clinicians.
Speaker 2 (04:39):
You've just found yourself in a unique situation with US
insurers in the NHS discovering your software what's happening there.
Speaker 3 (04:47):
Yeah, so I guess you know. We've been working on
this problem, solving this problem for five years. We're an
incredibly passionate team of ten down here in christ Church.
And as we've been working on this problem and solving it,
it's sort of started to attract the attention of organizations
like the NHS over the U where they had around
(05:07):
thirty percent of their appointments canceled as a result of
the anxiety around some of those procedures. So we've started
a pilot with them reducing the number of cancelations through
this virtual reality. And we've also got a project with
Ali Arms over in Australia where we can reduce the
time it takes to rehabilitate someone that's been in a
(05:27):
car accident by using our virtual reality exposure therapy program
that we've built for them. And then we have, yeah,
just about to start a pilot with one of the
largest US insurers, and this is around, yeah, trying to
reduce the amount and probably cost is probably a big
driver around the cost of being able to deliver and
(05:48):
achieve some of these outcomes that we've been able to
achieve through the Overcome platform. So super exciting time for us,
because what we know is that this problem is a
significant problem not only for the governments but also these
insurers and organizations that really do want to solve these
same problems that we're working on at a much lower
cost and incredibly scalable. So yes, it's a really interesting
(06:11):
time for us.
Speaker 2 (06:12):
Adam, You're off to the Digital Health Festival this week,
Matt Doocy. Of course, our Minister for Mental Health and
Associate Minister for Health is also heading to this. Do
you say that as a sign that the government's taking
digital health options seriously?
Speaker 3 (06:25):
I think so, And I think it would be very
difficult to not look at technology as being the solution
or part of the solution to how we address this
problem of growing demand but also this sort of shrinking
you know, basically team of people that are able to
treat this. So there is a massive growing gap in
the demand and capacity and I think technology is absolutely
(06:49):
the way to help sort of reduce that gap. So yeah,
I think it would definitely be on the radar of
the Minister, I think, and as we've seen with our
workover in the NHS, it's also on near radar to them.
We've been able to sort of prove there that we
have been able to significantly reduce the amount of demand
and time on the waitlist with a really accessible, low cost,
(07:11):
scalable intervention. So yeah, it'd be great to connect over
the year.
Speaker 2 (07:15):
Adam, thanks so much for your time this morning. That
was Adam Hutchinson, who's the founder of Overcome. I think
this is really interesting. You know, when we spoke to
Jackie Maguire on the little thing, she said, look, you know,
online therapy or you know, you know, virtual therapy might
not be for you if you have some deep seated
trauma and some major issues you need to work through.
(07:36):
But for a lot of people who are dealing with
some social anxiety, some anxiety, some phobias, just like what
Adam was talking about, she's really impressed with the possibilities
for the use of that alongside a professional So I
think that's pretty cool news. Great to see a New
Zealand company coming up with something so interesting.
Speaker 1 (07:55):
For more from the Sunday session with Francesca Rudkin, listen
live to News Talks it'd be from nine am Sunday,
or follow the podcast on iHeartRadio.
You're listening to the Sunday Session podcast with Francesca Rudgin
from News Talks AB.
Speaker 2 (00:12):
Access to mental health support is a constant problem, whether
it be the shortage of qualified professionals, long delays, or
the high costs. Not everyone is getting the help they need.
On my podcast The Little Things, I was really interested
to learn how impressed psychologist Jackie McGuire was with some
of the tech based options for mental health support. So
looking into what was available, I came across key we
(00:35):
digital health startup Overcome. They specialize in VR exposure therapy
and this week heading to Melbourne's Digital Health Festival. Founder
of Overcome, Adam Hutchins, joins me. Now, good morning Adam.
Speaker 3 (00:49):
Good morning Francisca, and happy Mother's Day.
Speaker 2 (00:51):
Thank you very much you having to participate in Mother's
Day on behalf of children.
Speaker 3 (00:58):
Absolutely. I took my partner breakfast already, so yeah, ticked
the box early. But we've got a few things planned
for the rest of the day too.
Speaker 2 (01:05):
Wonderful. Hey talk me through V exposure therapy. What is
it and what does it involve?
Speaker 3 (01:12):
Sure? So exposure therapy is the gradual and safe exposure
to what ever it is that you're avoiding for your
anxiety disort. So, for example, if I have social anxiety,
the best way for me to overcome it is actually
by actually just throwing yourself in the deep end and
experiencing it, even though you don't want to do that.
(01:32):
It's incredibly effective. But what we know is that around
eighty percent of people that have an anxiety disort of
need exposure therapy just can't access it, and so that's
where overcome comes in. So we deliver virtual reality exposure therapy.
It sort of tricks the brain into thinking that you're
actually in that environment, and therefore we've been able to
prove recently that we've been able to get the results.
(01:54):
So a really effective way of doing that traditional exposure therapy,
but using really new and scalable technology.
Speaker 2 (02:01):
There's quite a lot of evidence behind exposure therapy, isn't there.
Speaker 3 (02:04):
Yeah, there is, and it's growing. We've actually done two
clinical trials ourselves with the University of Otago. The results
of those were for social anxiety we were able to
reduce on average by fifty percent, and for a clinical
trial across five different phobias, we were able to reduce
the symptoms by seventy five percent. We're actually about to
(02:28):
start a new clinical trial soon around quantifying how can
we reduce the demand on clinician time by people being
able to do the virtual reality exposure therapy at home
in a safeway via their smartphone. So really exciting times
for us around that sort of evidence base.
Speaker 2 (02:46):
So social anxiety, phobias, what else can it help with.
Speaker 3 (02:50):
We've got a program for panic disorder, we're starting to
get into OCD, some eating disorders. This is via our
clinician portal, so it's sort of heavily restricted to qualified
clinicians that are able to deliver it. However, there is
smartphone components, so whenever that clinician feels as though it's
right for their client to go and continue the program
(03:11):
on from home, they are able to do it. We've
also been doing some really early stage with Stanford around
using virtual reality exposure therapy as part of the mild
depression intervention as well using the outfit behavioral activation. So
there are a lot of really a lot of conditions
that do require exposure therapy as part of the intervention,
(03:32):
and that's the area that we're looking to solve with
really scalable, accessible virtual reality exposure therapy.
Speaker 2 (03:38):
So the idea would be that you would start maybe
working alongside a professional they would have done some diagnosis
work with you, and then as that treatment continues on,
there's the opportunity for you to be able to sort
of take control of that treatment and as you say,
do it at home.
Speaker 3 (03:54):
And things, Yeah, well, I mean that's exactly right. So
what we're learning in those initial sessions with a clinician,
we're able to capture things like heart rate, eye tracking,
and all of these really interesting things, and there's actually
a lot of information buried within that physiological data. We
can take that information and actually start to personalize the
rest of their treatment when they're at home, and all
(04:15):
of that data is able to come back to the
clinician so they can adjust their program remotely. So really
really interesting technology and really a good solution to sort
of try and reduce the clinician time from that data
that's coming through to the clinician. So you really interesting
application of technology I think to try and solve this
really interesting and growing problem around the shortage of clinicians.
Speaker 2 (04:39):
You've just found yourself in a unique situation with US
insurers in the NHS discovering your software what's happening there.
Speaker 3 (04:47):
Yeah, so I guess you know. We've been working on
this problem, solving this problem for five years. We're an
incredibly passionate team of ten down here in christ Church.
And as we've been working on this problem and solving it,
it's sort of started to attract the attention of organizations
like the NHS over the U where they had around
(05:07):
thirty percent of their appointments canceled as a result of
the anxiety around some of those procedures. So we've started
a pilot with them reducing the number of cancelations through
this virtual reality. And we've also got a project with
Ali Arms over in Australia where we can reduce the
time it takes to rehabilitate someone that's been in a
(05:27):
car accident by using our virtual reality exposure therapy program
that we've built for them. And then we have, yeah,
just about to start a pilot with one of the
largest US insurers, and this is around, yeah, trying to
reduce the amount and probably cost is probably a big
driver around the cost of being able to deliver and
(05:48):
achieve some of these outcomes that we've been able to
achieve through the Overcome platform. So super exciting time for us,
because what we know is that this problem is a
significant problem not only for the governments but also these
insurers and organizations that really do want to solve these
same problems that we're working on at a much lower
cost and incredibly scalable. So yes, it's a really interesting
(06:11):
time for us.
Speaker 2 (06:12):
Adam, You're off to the Digital Health Festival this week,
Matt Doocy. Of course, our Minister for Mental Health and
Associate Minister for Health is also heading to this. Do
you say that as a sign that the government's taking
digital health options seriously?
Speaker 3 (06:25):
I think so, And I think it would be very
difficult to not look at technology as being the solution
or part of the solution to how we address this
problem of growing demand but also this sort of shrinking
you know, basically team of people that are able to
treat this. So there is a massive growing gap in
the demand and capacity and I think technology is absolutely
(06:49):
the way to help sort of reduce that gap. So yeah,
I think it would definitely be on the radar of
the Minister, I think, and as we've seen with our
workover in the NHS, it's also on near radar to them.
We've been able to sort of prove there that we
have been able to significantly reduce the amount of demand
and time on the waitlist with a really accessible, low cost,
(07:11):
scalable intervention. So yeah, it'd be great to connect over
the year.
Speaker 2 (07:15):
Adam, thanks so much for your time this morning. That
was Adam Hutchinson, who's the founder of Overcome. I think
this is really interesting. You know, when we spoke to
Jackie Maguire on the little thing, she said, look, you know,
online therapy or you know, you know, virtual therapy might
not be for you if you have some deep seated
trauma and some major issues you need to work through.
(07:36):
But for a lot of people who are dealing with
some social anxiety, some anxiety, some phobias, just like what
Adam was talking about, she's really impressed with the possibilities
for the use of that alongside a professional So I
think that's pretty cool news. Great to see a New
Zealand company coming up with something so interesting.
Speaker 1 (07:55):
For more from the Sunday session with Francesca Rudkin, listen
live to News Talks it'd be from nine am Sunday,
or follow the podcast on iHeartRadio.
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