Innovate UK is investing over £3.6 million in business-led projects developing therapeutic extended reality (XR) solutions to provide mental healthcare services.
The funded projects are part of a targeted investment to unlock the transformative power of XR technologies, including:
- creative
- virtual reality (VR)
- augmented reality
- mixed reality
- haptics
- immersive software and audio
These technologies will be developed and trialled over 12 to 18 months, with the ambition to deliver next-generation digital therapeutics for people living with moderate to severe mental health conditions.
The challenge
Mental health services across the UK are under significant pressures with demand exceeding resources.
Over 3.7 million people received support from England’s NHS mental health services in 2023 to 2024, an increase of nearly 40% since before the pandemic.
With demand for mental health support growing faster than services can keep up, the UK faces a critical need for effective, accessible, scalable and cost-efficient solutions.
Through its Mindset XR for digital mental health programme, Innovate UK is backing pioneering projects that aim to meet this challenge by harnessing the potential of immersive technology.
The innovations
The 17 projects show strong potential for widespread impact, delivering scalable mental health solutions that could be adopted into the UK’s formal mental healthcare ecosystem.
Projects are looking to address a wide range of conditions that affect education, employment, and quality of life including:
- emotional-based school avoidance (EBSA)
- attention deficit hyperactivity disorder
- autism
- occupational stress
- treatment resistant depression and seasonal affective disorder
- generalised anxiety disorder (GAD)
- trauma and post-traumatic stress disorder
- addiction recovery
These solutions aim to treat more people, including those in remote or underserved areas, through scalable, immersive care.
They also offer further advantages in terms of reduced costs and resource pressure with real-time support and improved outcomes through personalised, engaging therapeutic experiences.
Game changing solution for EBSA
One South West based project has developed an augmented reality board game, co-produced by young people, clinical psychologists and educators, as an intervention for EBSA.
Their project will look at how to adapt the game and delivery model, particularly regarding accessibility and safeguarding, to support social reintegration for young people with EBSA.
Transforming addiction recovery
A Northern Ireland consortium is developing an innovative VR programme with a customisable virtual coach to support individuals struggling with substance use.
The project aims to leverage the power of VR and virtual coaching to deliver an interactive environment that mimics real-life therapy sessions.
Extending nature
A project led by a West Yorkshire based company combines XR tech with physical activities that help people feel more connected to nature.
The project focuses on adults living with GAD, the third biggest mental health condition in adults.
Technology transforming lives
Science Minister, Lord Vallance, said:
These projects are shining examples of how innovation can transform people’s quality of life, by helping those with severe mental health conditions to take on everyday tasks that can otherwise feel impossible.
From smart glasses helping those with debilitating depression to navigate through the day to games helping children to build their social skills, we are supporting teams across the UK to build cutting-edge tech that unlocks opportunity, supports the NHS and grows our economy.
Fit for the future
Minister for Mental Health, Baroness Merron, said:
Technology is transforming healthcare and we are putting patients at the heart of this revolution.
New tools such as smart glasses and AI filter apps show how we’re backing innovations to reach people with mental health conditions – especially in communities that often get left behind.
By embracing new tech, we’re improving lives and reducing pressure on the NHS to make healthcare fit for the future, as part of our Plan for Change.
Enhancing care, driving growth
Dr Cynthia Bullock, Director, Healthy Lives at Innovate UK, said:
Through this latest Mindset investment, we’re fostering powerful collaborations between the UK’s immersive technology sector and mental health providers, moving beyond general wellbeing tools toward innovative treatments for people with mental health conditions.
These research and development projects are designed to improve the impairment, disability and distress experienced by individuals at any stage of life across the UK.
By supporting these innovations, Innovate UK is unlocking solutions with the power to drive business growth and maximise both social and economic impact.
Further information
Industrial research projects
A new XR intervention to support people with trauma and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD)
Lead: XR Therapeutics Ltd
Integrating XR with eye movement desensitisation and reprocessing and trauma-focused cognitive behavioural therapy to support people living with PTSD and trauma.
Aerial 360 Solutions: XR Digital Therapeutics (A3S-XRDT)
Lead: Aerial Icon Ltd
Partners:
- Anglia Ruskin University
- Reneural Technologies Ltd
Developing artificial intelligence (AI)-powered VR to treat seasonal affective disorder using immersive environments that support emotional wellbeing.
BGazeVR: Eye tracking controlled VR or XR games to substantially reduce attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) core symptoms
Lead: Braingaze Ltd
Partners:
- Goldsmith’s College
- Child and Adult Neurodevelopment Assessment Ltd
BGazeVR expands gaze-controlled casual games reducing ADHD symptoms into the XR world: non-pharmaceutical therapy with proven efficacy, high engagement and objective progress tracking capabilities.
Creating an adaptive biometric feedback engine for real-time personalised PTSD and anxiety therapy
Lead: Haven Studios Ltd
Building the world’s first immersive therapy platform integrating biometrics and brainwaves to personalise experiences in real time, increasing adherence, improving outcomes, and shortening waiting lists.
CrossSense
Lead: CrossSense Ltd
An app for smart glasses to improve memory, focus, and mental wellbeing by providing emotional support and relevant information to help with daily tasks.
ELE-Stress: Adaptive XR therapy for acute occupational stress
Lead: Cineon Training Ltd
Partner: University of Bath
VR stress therapy tool that adapts in real-time to anxiety levels, helping NHS and emergency workers recover and stay in work.
Extending nature: immersive XR experiences to build therapeutic nature-connectedness for adults living with GAD
Lead: EcoGPX Ltd
Partner: Intercultural Roots for Public Health
XR-enabled interactive experiences connecting people with anxiety to their local natural spaces, relieving immediate symptoms and creating long-term benefits through nature-connectedness, place-attachment and community.
Harmony: A personalised XR therapeutic solution for moderate to severe mental health conditions
Lead: Greener Games Ltd
Revealing the relationship between mood and environment through personalised VR and behavioural tracking.
Immersive financial psychoeducation for debt-related anxiety prevention and recovery
Lead: Good With Ltd
Developing an immersive psycho-educational mobile app to tackle mental health challenges faced by the 8% of UK adults experiencing problem debt.
Investigating an augmented reality board game as an intervention for emotional-based school avoidance (EBSA)
Lead: Play Well For Life Ltd
Partner: University of the West of England
Augmented reality board game, Dragons of Afterlands, is a novel, peer-based digital mental health solution.
Our project will work with service providers to adapt the tool to support reintegration of young people unable to attend school due to their mental health.
Novel virtual reality exposure therapy for PTSD recognition and treatment
Lead: Elixi Health Ltd
Partner: Imperial College London
Developing an adaptive VR exposure therapy platform integrating biofeedback and AI to personalise PTSD treatment, reduce sessions, and improve overall therapy outcomes.
Photography based therapeutics and the PBT app
Lead: Photography Based Therapeutics (PBT) Ltd
Partner: University of Surrey
PBT helps young people express how they feel using photos, filters and XR.
A new way to share emotions, be understood and access timely healthcare.
SAFXR: Safety planning for suicide prevention XR. Advanced training and mental health support for practitioners
Lead: Care Reality Ltd
Partners:
- University of Strathclyde
- University of Glasgow
- NHS Education for Scotland
Providing an AI-supported virtual role-play experience for professionals to practice safety planning and support people in suicidal crisis.
Transforming addiction recovery with VR and interactive virtual coaching
Lead: Life Process Program Ltd
Partners:
- Queen’s University of Belfast
- EXRT Intelligent Healthcare Ltd
- Upper Springfield Development Trust Ltd
- Action on Substances Through Community Education and Related Training (ASCERT)
MindTrack 360 builds on the core ideas and successful strategies behind our web-based Life Process Program, reimagining them in a fresh, interactive format.
Using VR, it offers a more immersive experience designed to support people in overcoming addiction in a new and impactful way.
Transforming EMDR delivery: A VR-based EMDR therapy for enhanced efficiency, cost savings and improved accessibility in the UK
Lead: Reinhart Group Ltd
Partner: SyncVR Medical UK Ltd
Enhancing EMDR therapy by delivering it through virtual reality, improving accessibility, reducing costs, and increasing treatment efficiency for trauma across the UK.
Treatment resistant depression: The accessibility, acceptability and indicators of efficacy of a virtual reality mindfulness based cognitive therapy
Lead: Tend VR Ltd
Partner: Eastern Academic Health Science Network
A highly affordable and effective depression treatment, delivered at scale via virtual reality in communities, cutting patient waiting lists and preventing worsening mental health.
VIVID: Vibrotactile and immersive virtual interventions for pain and distress
Lead: Zecora Ura Theatre
Partner: University of Greenwich
VIVID is a haptic-audio XR device combining vibration, warmth, and immersive sound to support mental health recovery for people living with chronic lower back pain.