About oVRcome
Hi! We’re oVRcome. A New Zealand based start-up from Christchurch. We use innovative technologies to improve mental wellbeing. We unite clinical expertize and cutting-edge virtual reality home technology to help people overcome their fears and anxieties.
Why oVRcome?
Our Commitment
We are committed to reducing the global treatment gap through highly effective, accessible, and affordable digital products.
Our Values
We want to make it easy for people to overcome phobias and anxieties. With oVRcome, anyone who needs help can get it with just a tap on their phone.
Our Mission
Whether you have an ongoing anxiety condition or you're going through a rough patch, our mission is to make sure that things like time, money, and worry won't stop you from getting the help you need to enjoy life.
Our goal
Research has shown that 80% of people with an anxiety disorder like a phobia or social anxiety receive no treatment at all. This is called the Treatment Gap.
The main reasons are due to cost, location, stigma and a lack of trained psychologists.
Our goal with oVRcome is to make treatment for these anxiety disorders easy and accessible for everyone who needs it around the world.
The team
Our team of clinical psychologists, health and technology experts provide the experience and ability to develop oVRcome.
Adam Hutchinson
FOUNDER
Adam is an innovative technology serial entrepreneur having founded award winning location based advertising platform GeoZone in 2013 (winner of the NZ Hi-Tech Awards 2015, NZ Innovation Award 2017) and Australasia's most popular multi-lingual camping app CamperMate in 2011 which were both acquired by the worlds largest campervan rental company Tourism Holdings in 2015. In 2011 Adam also founded the international award winning 'New Zealand Fishing Rules' smartphone app which is under contract to the New Zealand government. Adam is passionate about applying different technologies to improve accessibility to information and care.
Kathryn Harvey
CLINICAL PSYCHOLOGIST
Kathryn is an experienced Clinical Psychologist with over thirteen years experience in the field. She has worked with children, adolescents, and adults in diverse settings including specialised services for youth, mental health rehabilitation, adult community mental health, inpatient mental health units, and in private practice where she has been since 2013.
Dr. Rachel Findlay
CLINICAL PSYCHOLOGIST AND NEUROPSYCHOLGIST
Rachel is a registered Clinical Psychologist and Neuropsychologist, and a member of the New Zealand College of Clinical Psychologists (NZCCP). She has experience across a diverse range of settings involving clients across the lifespan, including mental health services for older adults, children, and youth, trauma work with frontline staff, offending assessment and rehabilitation, and neuropsychological assessment within paediatric settings and privately (involving traumatic brain injury across the lifespan). Her doctoral thesis was related to activity scheduling within CBT (Cognitive Behavioural Therapy) for depression. Her treatment approach includes components from CBT as well as other modalities, including ACT, EMDR, and Solution-Focused Therapy.
Albert “Skip” Rizzo, Ph.D.
SCIENTIFIC ADVISOR
Skip is a clinical psychologist and Director of Medical VR at the University of Southern California Institute for Creative Technologies. He is also a Research Professor with the USC Dept. of Psychiatry and School of Gerontology. Over the last 25 years, Skip has conducted research on the design, development and evaluation
of Virtual Reality systems targeting the areas of clinical assessment, treatment, and rehabilitation across the domains of psychological, cognitive and motor functioning in both healthy and clinical populations.
Prof. Mark Billinghurst Ph.D.
TECHNICAL ADVISOR
Mark is Professor at the University of South Australia in Adelaide, Australia, and at the University of Auckland, New Zealand, directing the Empathic Computing Laboratory in both places. He earned a PhD in 2002 from the University of Washington and researches how virtual and real worlds can be merged, publishing over 600 papers on Augmented Reality, remote collaboration, Empathic Computing, and related topics. In 2013 he was elected as a Fellow of the Royal Society of New Zealand in recognition of his research and commercialisation efforts in Augmented Reality.
Marcus Osborne
MARKET ADVISOR
Marcus Osborne previously served as Senior Vice President of Health Transformation at Walmart where he was focused on furthering Walmart’s goal of improving the healthcare industry in the U.S. by increasing access and affordability in the system for consumers, helping to launch Walmart Health and other key health initiatives. Prior to joining Walmart in 2007, Osborne served as the Chief Financial Officer of the Clinton Foundation Health Access Initiative, helping increase access to HIV/AIDS treatment in the developing world, and as a Senior Management Consultant for Alliance Consulting Group in Boston, Massachusetts. He attended the Harvard Business School and received his Masters in Business Administration, graduating with honors.
Catherine Gallagher
CLINICAL PSYCHOLOGIST
Catherine is a clinical psychologist who has worked over the last 20 years in both the public and private sectors with a particular focus on children and young people. She is currently the Clinical Practice Manager at START (a community based agency that supports children, youth and adults who have experienced sexual harm) alongside a private practice where she offers individual and family therapy with people of all ages, community education, and supervision.
Dr Kirsten van Kessel
CLINICAL PSYCHOLOGIST
Kirsten is a registered Clinical Psychologist and a member of the New Zealand College of Clinical Psychologists. She graduated with a Postgraduate Diploma in Clinical Psychology at Auckland University 1992 followed by a Postgraduate Diploma in Cognitive Behaviour Therapy at Massey University in 2002 and completed a PhD in Health Psychology at the University of Auckland Faculty of Medical and Health Sciences in 2007. Kirsten has nearly thirty years of clinical experience in a range of settings including adult community and in-patient mental health services, physical health settings, alcohol and drug services, a specialist cognitive behaviour therapy service and private practice.
Elizabeth Jennings
HEAD OF STRATEGIC PARTNERSHIPS
Elizabeth has worked in international commercialization of new healthcare technologies for the last decade, spanning 28 countries and all classes of complexity. She serves on the Board of Directors for the fastest-growing angel impact network in the US, SWAN Impact; is a healthtech VP with SWAN’s VC fund; leads the European Network of Research Innovation Centres and Hubs' healthcare portfolio in the US; and serves on multiple international healthcare councils, federal grant review panels, and accelerators.
Mark Hargreaves
IP AND STRATEGY ADVISOR
Mark spent 27 years working has a commercial lawyer in New Zealand, Australia and the UK. He worked in the IP and technology area, helping clients with their IP strategy and working with them to negotiate and execute a range of agreements to commercialise their technology. He spent the last 14 years at AJ Park where he lead the firm's commercial and IP strategy teams. During this time, Mark worked with a huge range of businesses from start-ups and SMEs to large corporate exporters. After finishing at AJ Park in April 2022, Mark is now working with a range of growth stage companies in New Zealand that are looking to develop their products and markets.
Dr. T Dawson Woodrum, PhD
ADVISOR
Dawson is a U.S. registered Clinical Psychologist that has also spent over 15 years working in the biotechnology, pharmaceutical and medical device industries focused on electronic data integrity, regulatory strategy, privacy. and information security.
Kasia Sadowska
CLIENT SUCCESS MANAGER
Kasia is an experienced community and support manager having supported a number of app based digital communities as well as helping customers adopt new technology into their business operations. Kasia has also been involved in a number of award winning technology projects across New Zealand and Australia.
Dr Jin Teo
HEAD OF CONTENT DEVELOPMENT
Jin has designed and developed programs, courses, and content for MedTech, FemTech, EduTech, and FinTech startups. She has extensive experience with creating content for customer conversion for allied health businesses. Her lens is equal parts academic and scientific accuracy, and consumer engagement and marketability. As an educator, she has worked with different abilities including autism spectrum disorders, ADHD, dyslexia, learning disabilities, and giftedness. Jin's research focuses on developing culturally relevant and creatively engaging behavioural interventions for neurodiverse individuals.
Matt Mischewski.
INTERMEDIATE FRONT END
Matt is a talented Virtual Reality software engineer. Within the Software Engineering and Computer Science field, his key technology interests involve both web and mobile application development, working on both frontend and backend aspects of development
Daniel Collins
SENIOR FRONT END
Daniel is an experienced game and Virtual Reality app developer based in Christchurch.
He has worked with a number of global brands bringing international games and apps to life and taught asset production as a Design Fellow in the School of Product Design at Canterbury University.
Steve Chudley
SOFTWARE ENGINEER
Steve is a developer focused on system design and usability. With experience across the full stack in both mobile and web applications, he excels at breaking down complex problems into workable solutions. In his spare time you can find him growing strawberries or tinkering on various DIY projects.
Jonathan Arndt
SOFTWARE DEVELOPER
Jonathan is a software developer with experience in large-scale marketplace products, web and mobile applications. He has a passion for technical excellence, user experience, and privacy.
Philip Arndt
CHIEF TECHNOLOGY OFFICER
Philip is an experienced developer and software engineering leader, having worked in a variety of different roles including backend, frontend, app development, and infrastructure. He is deeply integrated with the software industry in New Zealand, having co-founded the Ruby NZ society and serving in many roles there. Philip enjoys restoring native forest, travel, sunshine, and spending time with his young family.
Julie Collard
UX/GRAPHICS
Julie has extensive experience in the development of award winning user experiences. She has designed the experience behind mobile applications such as the NZ Fishing Rules app, CamperMate and the GeoZone apps and has extensive experience in the UX behind many health and wellbeing applications.
Adam Hodgson
HEAD OF POST-PRODUCTION
Adam Hodgson is a talented and enthusiastic photographer, videographer and editor based in Christchurch who specialises in filming commercial 360 videos designed for Virtual Reality experiences. Adam is also pursuing a design degree at the ARA Institute of Canterbury.
Interested in joining us?
Ready for a new Reality?
Start your journey today and lower your anxiety in 16 VR Simulations
Download the free oVRcome app now
