SBRI Healthcare, an Accelerated Access Collaborative (AAC) initiative, in partnership with the Health Innovation Network, has awarded more than £1.7m for the development and testing of nine digital innovations that support people with their mental health, to help them gain work, stay in work, and/or return to work.
Funded by the AAC, SBRI Healthcare 'Competition 27: Work-related digital innovations for individuals with poor mental health’ opened for applicants in October 2024 and received a high volume of bids.
The successful projects will run for up to 12 months with funding used for development, demonstrating technical and commercial feasibility, and/or generating real-world evidence.
The competition was open to single companies and organisations from the private, public, and third sectors, including large corporates, small and medium enterprises, charities, universities and NHS providers and for projects at different stages of development.
The competition specifically sought innovations that were:
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Digital interventions targeting work-related risk factors facing working age population (aged 16-64) with mental health problems in employment, that provide rapid support to individuals to help them remain in work.
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Digital interventions that specifically tackle barriers to work facing unemployed working age individuals (aged 16-64) with mental health problems, to support individuals to return to work or gain employment.
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Digital interventions targeting workplace issues/barriers facing working age population (aged 16-64) from disadvantaged communities with mental health problems, to support individuals attain, remain or return to work.
Dr James Woollard, National Specialty Advisor for Digital Mental Health, NHS England, and Consultant Child and Adolescent Psychiatrist, said:
“We need innovative, safe, effective, and inclusive solutions to meet the challenges of helping people with their mental health in the context of work and wider meaningful activity in their lives. It will be exciting to see how the selected projects develop with the support and funding planned over the next year."
Verena Stocker, Director of Innovation, Research, Life Sciences and Strategy, NHS England and Chief Executive Officer, Accelerated Access Collaborative, said:
“The SBRI Healthcare awards help the NHS to develop new technologies and solutions to address some of the biggest healthcare challenges facing society. We have selected these innovations because they have the potential to make a big difference to individuals with poor mental health and support the economy. By supporting the most promising innovations, the NHS will continue to evolve, helping to meet more patients’ needs and encouraging more innovators to come forward with innovative ideas that benefit all.”
The SBRI Healthcare 'Competition 27 – Work-related digital innovations for individuals with poor mental health' awarded projects are:
InsideOut 25 Ltd – awarded £196,071 - Using AI Avatar-led Mental Health Interventions for keeping employees in work
InsideOut empowers users to instantly access mental health support, 24/7. Using mental health evaluations (patent pending), personalised therapeutic interventions are created and delivered by Remi™, an AI Coach. Interventions are reinforced by habit-building tools to promote engagement. The project aims to explore the use of Remi™ to deliver clinical interventions for depression (CBT), insomnia (CBT-i), and relationships (IPT).
Elaros 24/7 Ltd – awarded £190,943 - Adjustments by Open-OH: Work Related Mental Health Interventions for People with Long Term Conditions
Adjustments by Open-OH is a digital tool building upon the core Open-OH app for people with Long Term Conditions that supports workplace mental health for people with long-term conditions by helping them initiate, evaluate, and refine adjustments with employers, reducing workplace barriers and promoting wellbeing through co-designed, evidence-based interventions.
Affiniti AI – awarded £194,852 - Enhancing Therapy Engagement for NHS Healthcare Workers with Personalised AI – A Feasibility and Acceptability Study
Affiniti AI is a personalised mental health co-therapist that supports patients between therapy sessions. The project aims to improve engagement, reduce symptoms of stress and anxiety, and enhance wellbeing through AI-assisted support and therapist-assigned CBT techniques, adapted for use in NHS mental health services.
Tend VR Ltd – awarded £191,213 - Mental health in the agricultural workplace: The accessibility, acceptability and efficacy of Virtual Reality Mindfulness Based Cognitive Therapy
Tend VR is a pioneering virtual reality platform delivering Mindfulness Based Cognitive Therapy (MBCT) for depression and anxiety. It provides an immersive, clinically validated intervention that reliably reduces symptom severity, thereby enhancing mental health outcomes.
Wellmind Health – awarded £192,134 - The development of a digital mindfulness-based cognitive therapy programme supporting disabled individuals with poor mental health to enter the workforce
Be Mindful Workplace is a digital mindfulness-based cognitive therapy (MBCT) platform designed to support disabled individuals seeking employment. The project aims to enhance mental health, resilience, and job readiness through an accessible, co-designed intervention, integrating employment-specific mindfulness support with input from disabled job seekers, employers, and NHS stakeholders.
Brain In Hand – awarded £197,805 - Reducing anxiety and managing overwhelm in the workplace: developing, implementing and evaluating a digital hybrid for neurodivergent employees
Brain in Hand coaches autistic and ADHD people to manage overwhelm, reduce anxiety, and stay organised to achieve more. Brain in Hand’s personalised, practical coaching blends human support with technology for better results. Backed by science and real-world impact, Brain in Hand helps individuals thrive with seamless, timely & effective support.
MeeToo Education Ltd (t/a Tellmi) – awarded £199,974 - A needs-matched personalised digital support solution that addresses specific work-related challenges faced by individuals with poor mental health
The Tellmi digital mental health app offers anonymous, pre-moderated and age-banded peer support, preemptive counselling, text-based therapy, and a directory of resources and services. The project will develop a needs-matched personalised digital solution to support people with poor mental health to overcome their challenges and gain employment.
South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust – awarded £194,987 - Work Well by Maudsley - a digital support tool to foster workplace wellness and community resilience
Work Well by Maudsley is a digital support tool for employers and will provide 24/7 'anywhere, anytime’ access for line managers to improve and support work-related outcomes for people with mental illness.
Science & Engineering Applications Ltd – awarded £199,260 - Personalised “in the moment” mental health support for the young workforce, upskilling individuals and their support network, building workplace resilience
A digital app that connects young adults (16-24) with family, friends, employers, and support services. It provides bite-sized, personalized training to manage mental health challenges. The app fosters open communication and shared understanding, ensuring users get the right real-time support when needed to stay resilient and engaged at work.
About SBRI Healthcare
SBRI (Small Business Research Initiative) Healthcare provides funding and support to innovators to develop solutions that tackle existing unmet needs faced by the NHS. The programme aims to improve patient care, increase efficiency in the NHS, and support the UK economy. The programme provides funding and support to early-stage projects enabling testing for business feasibility and technology development, as well as to more mature products to support real world implementation studies. SBRI Healthcare is funded by the AAC and delivered in partnership with the Health Innovation Network.
About the Accelerated Access Collaborative
The Accelerated Access Collaborative is a unique partnership between patient groups, government bodies, industry and the NHS. It delivers ambitious programmes to ensure the NHS is in the best place to improve patient outcomes and reduce health inequalities through research and innovation. It does this by identifying the best new medicines, medical devices, diagnostics and digital products. It supports providers and integrated care systems to make them available to patients as quickly as possible.
About the Health Innovation Network
There are 15 health innovation networks across England, established by NHS England in 2013 to spread innovation at pace and scale – improving health and generating economic growth. Each health innovation network works across a distinct geography serving a different population in each region. As the only bodies that connect NHS and academic organisations, local authorities, the third sector and industry, health innovation networks are catalysts that create the right conditions to facilitate change across whole health and social care economies, with a clear focus on improving outcomes for patients.