An Arkansas mental health clinic is using virtual reality to help people reduce their stress levels and regulate their emotions.
PsychologyWorks PLLC, which is based in Bentonville, Northwest Arkansas, has officially partnered with Healium, a VR‑based biofeedback platform used in clinical, medical, and high‑performance settings. People will be able to experience immersive VR environments, which respond to how they are feeling using real-time physiological data like their heart rate and heart rate variability.
The clinic is the only setting in Arkansas which offers this technology, other than Veterans Affairs (VA). And PsychologyWorks will be integrating Healium into its psychotherapy for emotional regulation, trauma stabilization and neurodivergent‑affirming care.
Licensed clinical psychologist Dr Stephanie Steele-Wren is the founder and owner of PsychologyWorks and believes the technology will be highly effective in helping people deal with stress. She says: “Healium is basically a way to make your nervous system visible. You put on a VR headset and a small wearable that reads your heart rate and your HRV.
“As your physiology shifts even slightly, the VR environment shifts with you. If you settle, breathe, or ground, the scene calms with you. If your stress rises, the environment reflects that too.”
And Dr Steele-Wren, who specializes in working with neurodivergent people, says the technology is extremely helpful for those who may find it difficult to identify or describe how they are feeling.
She adds: “It takes something most people cannot feel or describe, their internal state, and turns it into something they can literally watch change in front of them. For neurodivergent clients, trauma survivors, kids, teens, and adults who do not regulate through talking alone or even at all, this is huge.”
There have been multiple published studies, including research carried out with Mayo Clinic into the value of using virtual reality to reduce stress levels and anxiety. Researchers found the technology reduced people’s stress markers, improved their HRV and helped decrease distress quickly.
Dr Steele-Wren says: “Bringing this into PsychologyWorks felt like the right move for the community I serve. Healium is backed by research and what matters to me clinically is how accessible it is. It meets people where they actually are, sensorily, visually and experientially.”
For more details on PsychologyWorks, visit www.psychologyworkspllc.com and to find out about Healium, visit www.tryhealium.com
Media Contact
Company Name: Dauntless PR
Contact Person: Luana Ribeira
Email: Send Email
Phone: 03300434102
Country: United Kingdom
Website: http://dauntlesspr.com
