Immersive technologies represent the next generation of precision medicine and patient-centred care, with opportunities to deliver personalised, participatory, data-driven experiences (MindTech, 2021).
Long-standing innovation partners, the University of Manchester and Greater Manchester Mental Health NHS Foundation Trust (GMMH) want to drive the integration of immersive technologies in mental health treatment.
Find out more about The Growing Value of XR in Healthcare in the United Kingdom here.
Digital Futures at the University of Manchester and Research & Innovation at GMMH invite you to the first XR in Mental Health Ecosystem event as a valued participant and potential collaborator. The all-day workshop will be held at CityLabs 1.0 on Thursday, 15th February 2024 between 9:30 and 16:00, with lunch and refreshments provided.
The purpose of this workshop is to go beyond awareness raising, and facilitate new collaborations, develop research ideas, and build partnerships to generate new evidence, and strengthen existing evidence to bring life-enhancing, XR-enabled treatments to more people more quickly.
The event will showcase developed XR Mental Health interventions currently in use in the NHS or close to real-world implementation, with an opportunity to experience these innovative technologies first-hand.
It will include:
A strong service user presence - as researchers, PPIE contributors, XR facilitators and recipients of XR interventions
Discussions on existing XR research, regulatory, and governance frameworks and gaps
Demos and first-hand experience of XR interventions
Use-case presentations where XR may work but the evidence or interventions have not been developed, applied or tested
A ‘world café’ where attendees can mix with health ecosystem members from academia, health and industry to explore new applications of XR in mental health
An opportunity to continue this collaboration with further workshops and research support for projects emerging from this event
Agenda
09:00 - 09:30 | Arrivals and Tea/Coffee
09:30 - 09:45 | Welcome | Professor Chris Taylor (Digital Futures Director) | Professor Tony Warne (Chair of GMMH NHS Foundation Trust Board)
09:45 - 10:00 | Introduction to Health Ecosystem | Professor Panos Constantinides (Manchester Business School)
10:00 - 10:25 | Treating anxiety and phobias for people with ASC & LD | Jeremy Parr (Newcastle University), Billy Webber (XR Therapeutics)
10:25 - 10:45 | Discussion of XR research generation: Round Table 1 | Aislinn Gómez Bergin (MindTech, Nottingham University)
10:45 - 11:00 | Tea/Coffee Break
11:00 - 11:30 |AVATAR Therapy: Extended reality therapy for auditory hallucinations | Dr Thomas Ward, AVATAR Therapy Co-ordinator (Kings College London)
11:30 - 12:15 | GameChange VR: Exposure therapy for people with psychosis and agoraphobia | Sinead Lamb (Oxford VR), Heather Peel (GMMH Service User Researcher), Kate Kelly (GMMH Peer Mentor), Kichau Ramlaul (GMMH Peer Mentor), John Sainsbury (GMMH)
12:15 - 12:45 | Discussion of XR research generation: Round Table 2
12:45 - 13:30 | Lunch
13:30 - 14:30 | XR Demonstration (breakout)
· GameChange
· AVATAR
· XR Therapeutics
· Paul Warren – The Decision Bridge
· Data visualisation suite – Robotic home help.
14:30 - 14:50 | The possibilities and challenges of XR in Mental Health | Aislinn Gómez Bergin (MindTech, Nottingham University) & Jane Guest (Innovate UK, UKRI)
14:50 - 15:05 | Tea/Coffee Break
15:05 - 15:25 | Discussion of XR research generation: Round Table 3
15:25 - 15:45 | Panel Discussion | Chair - Aislinn, Tom Ward, Jeremy Parr, Jane Guest
15:45 - 16:00 | Closing Remarks and Next Steps
16:00 | Evaluation and Feedback
