CE-marked medical software · MDR Class I
Avatar therapy in virtual reality.
Built for psychiatric care.
Heka VR is a CE-marked medical software platform enabling mental health professionals to deliver avatar therapy in immersive virtual reality — externalising the inner voices that drive severe mental illness and giving patients the agency to overcome them.
Trusted by leading clinical and research institutions
The complete platform
Software, hardware, training and supervision — one package.
Heka VR is delivered as an end-to-end clinical solution. CE-marked medical software at the centre, paired with validated VR hardware, structured clinician certification, and continuous supervision from senior clinical specialists. One subscription, one point of contact.
What is avatar therapy
A new generation of psychiatric treatment
Avatar therapy is a relational intervention in which patients engage in real-time dialogue with a digital representation — an avatar — of their most distressing inner voice. Working with a trained clinician, patients confront the avatar, challenge its claims, and gradually shift the power dynamic between themselves and the voice that has dominated their inner life.
Originally developed for treatment-resistant auditory hallucinations in schizophrenia and validated in multiple randomised controlled trials, avatar therapy is now being adapted for eating disorders, OCD, depression and other conditions where externalising intrusive thoughts may be therapeutically meaningful.
Heka VR provides the only complete clinical platform purpose-built for delivering avatar therapy in immersive virtual reality.
patients have received avatar therapy using our platform since 2019, across psychiatric hospitals, research institutions and clinical trials in Europe, North America and Australia.
Active research programmes
The clinician software
Shape the avatar with the patient — in minutes, not sessions.
Heka VR's clinician interface lets therapist and patient co-create the avatar's appearance, voice and presence side-by-side, then control every parameter of the session live from a single laptop.
In their own words
Voices from the CHALLENGE trial
Three patients from the CHALLENGE trial describe what it's like to live with schizophrenia and auditory hallucinations — and what changed when they tried VR-based avatar therapy.
Where to start
Three ways to engage with Heka VR
For Hospitals & Clinics
Implement avatar therapy in your service with a complete clinical solution: medical software, hardware, training, certification and ongoing supervision.
See clinical implementation →For Researchers
Partner with us on feasibility studies, RCTs and adapted indications. Our platform is in active research collaborations across nine countries.
Explore research partnerships →For Patients & Families
Learn about avatar therapy, what to expect from treatment, and how to discuss the option with your clinician.
Understand the treatment →Built on clinical evidence
Built on a strong foundation of clinical evidence
Heka VR's platform has been used in randomised controlled trials and feasibility studies published in The Lancet Psychiatry, PLOS One, the Journal of Clinical Psychology and JMIR Formative Research, with active research programmes across nine countries spanning schizophrenia, eating disorders, OCD, depression and beyond.
In the media
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Our mission
A serious player in severe mental illness
Heka VR was founded to make avatar therapy clinically accessible. We work in close partnership with the global research community defining this field, and we build to the standards expected of medical technology — CE marked, MDR Class I, and trusted by public health systems across Europe.
Talk to us
Whether you represent a clinical service, a research group, or an investment partner, we want to hear from you. Get in touch and we'll route your enquiry to the right person on our team.