"Extending Nature: immersive XR experiences to build therapeutic nature-connectedness for adults living with GAD (Generalised Anxiety Disorder)"
What is XN?
Our eXtended Reality XR-enabled interactive experiences connect people with anxiety to their local natural spaces, relieving immediate symptoms and creating long-term therapeutic benefits through nature-connectedness, place-attachment and community.
Extending Nature uses cutting-edge XR (extended reality) to deliver affordable, place-based therapeutic support via the Places by EcoGPX® mobile app for people experiencing anxiety. It empowers participants to engage in immersive ecosomatic practices—such as breathwork, grounding, and nature visualisation—through spatialised sound, 360° video, and AR/VR guidance. Developed with diverse artists and individuals with lived experience of anxiety, the app turns everyday green and blue spaces into restorative environments. Individuals can explore personalised journeys, access pre-recorded sessions from expert international ecosomatic practitioners, and leave their own geolocated responses—transforming local landscapes into shared, therapeutic digital ecosystems.
XN is developing a Digital Enabled Therapeutic (DET) to benefit mental health
The project addresses the widespread impact of Generalised Anxiety Disorder (GAD), which affects over 3 million UK adults and contributes to £100 billion in annual economic losses—including £45 billion from stress-related workplace absence alone. Traditional therapeutic access is often limited and costly, with sessions averaging £60/hour, and many individuals never receive treatment.
GAD is one of the most common mental health conditions in the UK. In England specifically, roughly 6 in every 100 adults meet the diagnostic criteria for GAD in any given week. This corresponds to a point prevalence of about 5.9% of adults for GAD.
What are the potential Impacts and outcomes of XN ?
As we are currently developing the innovation, we don’t have impact and outcomes to share as yet, though the impact of previous related projects is charted in our evaluation reports. For instance, our Innovate UK funded EcoGPX® Launchpad Coventry and Warwickshire project (2024) forged new connections between people living in Coventry and their local places, particularly green and blue spaces, prompting valuable nature-connectedness in the city. It also combated individuals’ feelings of isolation, through the establishment of a creative community, helping them to feel more emplaced in and positively connected to the city of Coventry. The project activities and connections helped those participating in the project to develop new conceptions of themselves as creative people, new confidence in their creative abilities and new networks of creative solidarity in the city, which extend across diverse communities. Overall, it positively affected individuals’ perspectives of themselves and the city where they live.
EcoGPX® Launchpad Coventry and Warwickshire
How did XN come about ?
Extending Nature emerged from the vision of Dr Alex Boyd, founder of Intercultural Roots for Public Health (IRPH) and its charity spinout, EcoGPX Ltd. With a background in Chinese embodied culture and systems engineering, Dr Boyd has long connected traditional practices with digital innovation. In 2015, he conceived and co-founded the IFTR Embodied Research Working Group with Prof Lynette Hunter, Dr Ben Spatz, Dr Ian Kenvyn , Peter Lichtenfels and others. With administrative support from Wendy Van der Haagen-Boyd, he later, in 2017, established IRPH as a UK-based charity working across arts, education, health, social and ecological change.
Together Artistic Director Dr Andrea Maciel, Wendy and Alex with the wider IRPH community co-led a series of ecosomatic initiatives through IRPH – including Health & WELLth, Creative Labs, Ripples and Constellations (2019 - 2022) see Projects) – culminating in a series of Human-Nature Connect residencies (2022-23). These projects built an international community of ecosomatic practitioners, including artists with disabilities and chronic health conditions (see Arts Disability Network). Key collaborators in the foundational EcoGPX® work include Dr John Zibell (Creative Director EcoGPX® 2023-24), Dr Ben Spatz (Creative Director, EcoGPX® from 2024), Dr Jo Scott (Senior XR Research Lead from 2025), and Maryam Safe (Regenerative and Holistic Design Lead) and Basma Darouich (Digital PR, Marketing & Promotion Specialist) and Peter Awosiyan (Full Stack Developer). The new Extending Nature project additionally welcomes: Meg Fozzard (XR Specialist & Disability Access Advisor) with Access Work - Joel Le Clercq, Al Kennedy (Regenerative Design Lead), Emmanuelle Henry-Cottrell (EDI & Diversity Access Lead), Will Crawford (Mindfulness as Music Lead - quietnote), Derek Lawrence (Digital Reality Capture Specialist - Twindl) and Dr Emilios Lemoniatis (Clinical Psychiatrist - Medical Creatives).
TEAM
Extending Nature (XN) Project
Alex Boyd – Project Director Ben Spatz – Creative Director EcoGPX Jo Scott – Senior XR Research Lead Wendy van der Haagen-Boyd – Finance Director Meg Fozzard – XR Specialist & Disability Access Advisor Joel Le Clercq – Access Support Worker Emmanuelle Henry-Cottrell – EDI & Diversity Access Worker Basma Darouich – CCO/PR, Marketing & Promotion Specialist Peter Awosiyan – Full Stack Developer (Aidcore Technologies Ltd) Will Crawford – Sound and Music Lead (Quietnote Ltd)
EcoGPX Limited
Alex Boyd – Founding Director Ben Spatz – Creative Director Wendy van der Haagen Boyd – Chief Operating Officer Peter Awosiyan – Chief Technology Officer Basma Darouich – Chief Communications Officer
Advisors
Daniel Abdelmassih – Innovate UK Business Growth Advisor Will Abramson – Trustee, Youth Media Group Harriet Beattie – Legal Counsel, Visa Legal via LawWorks Joe Churchill — Trustee, Primary Films Lois Liao – Trustee, Intercultural Roots Andrea Maciel – Trustee, Intercultural Roots
About our funder: Innovate UK
Innovate UK, part of UK Research and Innovation, is creating a better future by inspiring, involving and investing in businesses developing life-changing innovations.
We provide targeted sectors with expertise, facilities and funding to test, demonstrate and evolve their ideas, driving UK productivity and economic growth. Join our network and communities of innovators to realise the potential of your ideas and accelerate business growth. Innovate UK: inspiring business innovation.
