Scaling Dutch Therapeutic
Science to the World
SilentHands had a decade of peer-reviewed science and a proven method that genuinely changed lives. The only thing standing between them and global reach was a delivery model built around one coach, one room, one session at a time. We built the AI that changed that.
POC Validated by Investors and Real Users - April 2026
Before the full product was built, the proof of concept alone was compelling enough to attract external investment in April 2026. Rogier Gielen has already demonstrated the platform to multiple SilentHands clients with strong reception. Full production continues from May 2026. A Dutch-built therapeutic innovation: validated by investors and real users, now on its way to global scale.
A Method That Works. A Delivery Model That Couldn't Scale.
Since 2007, Rogier Gielen has been developing the SilentHands method: a scientifically-backed approach to trauma relief, emotional regulation, and stress reduction through structured personal hand movements. The results speak for themselves. Clients resolving years of anxiety, grief, and PTSD in a single session. A growing waitlist. Peer-reviewed research supporting the method. Testimonials describing life-changing outcomes after decades of traditional therapy had failed.
But every session required a certified SilentHands coach in the room. A specific location. A booked slot. A client who could afford the session cost, travel to a practitioner, and fit therapy into a schedule. That model serves the people it can reach well, but it means the millions of people who need this therapy globally simply cannot access it.
The therapy was not the limitation. The delivery mechanism was.
Every session required a trained, available coach in person
Access effectively limited to clients near Amsterdam
Session pricing excluded the majority of the global market
No objective measurement - quality relied on self-reporting
Coach availability directly capped how many people could be helped
“I am so happy with my hand movement. It brings me back to who I essentially am. Since applying it to old traumas, I enter a peace and stillness that I have never felt so strongly before.”
“It is almost a miracle. My sleep is completely fine. I make my hand movement in my mind and then I relax and fall asleep. I feel so much better now, so much more rested.”
“After the death of my partner, I was very sad for a long time. After discovering my hand movement, I was able to feel joy again.”
Dutch Innovation Going Worldwide
The Netherlands has one of Europe's most advanced mental health research ecosystems, yet access to quality therapeutic care remains expensive, geographically constrained, and dependent on trained professional availability. SilentHands represents exactly the kind of Dutch scientific innovation that, with the right technology, can go from one practitioner's office in Amsterdam to millions of people worldwide.
By building AI infrastructure around the SilentHands method, we are not replacing the therapy. We are removing every barrier between it and the people who need it: cost, geography, scheduling, and availability. A session that required an Amsterdam address now runs from any device, in any country, at a fraction of the price, carrying a decade of Dutch therapeutic science to the world.
SilentHands coaching in action - the exact therapeutic process, now replicated autonomously
An AI System That Thinks Like a Therapist
Starting November 2025, we assembled a specialist team in Amsterdam to translate two decades of proprietary coaching methodology into a working AI system, under one strict constraint: it had to replicate the therapeutic arc of a real session, not approximate it.
The critical product decision was the 5-stage structured journey. Unlike a generic chatbot, the system guides users through a fixed therapeutic arc: memory collection, processing, integration, regulation, and real-world application, mirroring exactly how trained SilentHands coaches guide sessions in person. That structure is what makes consistent, reproducible outcomes possible without a human in the loop.
On top of that, we layered real-time AI: gesture recognition that validates movement quality frame by frame, facial analysis that measures emotional tension objectively rather than relying on self-reporting, and an AI voice avatar that delivers warm, therapeutic guidance in the tone and cadence of a live coach. For the first time, a SilentHands session generates real, measurable data.
MediaPipe skeletal tracking with a custom-trained ML classifier: 99.2% accuracy across 29 gesture classes, validated frame-by-frame in real time without a coach.
Deep facial landmark extraction measuring emotional tension objectively, replacing self-reporting with real session data for the first time in this method's history.
ElevenLabs voice synthesis + GPT-4o reasoning delivering warm, context-aware therapeutic guidance matched to the tone, pacing, and language of a trained SilentHands coach.
6 specialised LLM modules managing an 8-state workflow, achieving a 92% session completion rate across 15-20 minute autonomous sessions.
Fixed therapeutic arc mirroring how trained coaches guide sessions: the structure that makes autonomous, consistent, reproducible outcomes possible at scale.
Every session generates gesture quality scores, tension levels, and completion metrics: a feedback loop that manual sessions never produced.
Protocol codified, functional PoC built, 3-5 user tests conducted, strong enough to attract external investment.
Secure infrastructure, annotation dictionary, 15 session recordings labelled for model training.
Voice pipeline, LLM integration, avatar narration system operational.
Custom gesture classifier, full system integration, end-to-end testing and production deployment.
Lead AI/ML Engineer - gesture recognition, LLM orchestration, multi-agent system, full AI stack
Lead Software Engineer, 13+ yrs - full-stack application, infrastructure, scalable architecture
Social Designer - human-centered UX, ethical design systems, impact-driven product experience
Founder - therapeutic protocol, domain expertise, client network, and investor
Autonomous Therapy. Consistent Outcomes. Any Device, Any Location.
The proof of concept achieved what the brief required: autonomous, consistent, measurable therapeutic sessions without a coach, without a room, and without a scheduled appointment. Gesture recognition runs at 99.2% classification accuracy across 29 gesture classes. The multi-agent coaching system achieves a 92% session completion rate across 15-20 minute sessions. Emotional tension is measured objectively for the first time, creating real session data where none existed before.
The cost per session drops by 90%, making it financially accessible to people the existing model could never reach. And because the architecture is language-agnostic, the system can be localised for new markets without rebuilding from scratch.
The POC was validated by investors and real users in April 2026 before the full product was even complete. Rogier has already demonstrated the platform to multiple SilentHands clients. Full production continues from May 2026. This is Dutch therapeutic science, built in Amsterdam, ready for the world.