“West Northants isn’t just where Virtual Reality Therapies is based — it’s where our values were reflected back to us. This is a region that understands innovation doesn’t have to be impersonal, and that community wellbeing is everyone’s responsibility. From care homes and schools to the Council and university partners, people here were willing to ask ‘what if?’ — and because of that, lives have genuinely been changed.”

Rebecca Gill, Founder, VR Therapies

About Virtual Reality Therapies:

Virtual Reality Therapies blends immersive technology, clinical insight, and creative facilitation to break down barriers to wellbeing. Through gamified virtual reality therapy and multisensory immersive experiences, they deliver personalised, community-based support that empowers people of all ages and abilities to regulate, reconnect, heal, and thrive — often where traditional services cannot reach.

From autism to Alzheimer’s, from couches to classrooms, the team support people living with dementia, learning disabilities, mental health challenges, brain injuries and more. Rather than asking people to fit into rigid systems or long waiting lists, VR Therapies bring therapeutic experiences directly into the places where life is already happening: care homes, schools, community spaces and people’s own homes.

At its heart, this work isn’t about technology. It’s about people. It’s about restoring a sense of agency, joy, safety, and self-expression in moments where those things can feel lost.

Ongoing Growth:

Virtual Reality Therapies began almost a decade ago with a simple belief: healing should meet people where they are. Since then, the work has grown organically through community trust and partnership. They have delivered thousands of immersive sessions across West Northants and beyond — from supporting people with dementia to reconnect with memories and identity, to helping young people with autism regulate and build confidence, to offering moments of calm, joy, and escapism for people at the end of life.
Alongside this grassroots impact, the work has received national and international recognition, including BBC features and awards from the United Nations, ITU, and Innovation & Excellence.

Why West Northants?

Virtual Reality Therapies says West Northants has been instrumental to everything they’ve built.

This is a region that values collaboration, community wellbeing, and innovation rooted in compassion. Local care homes, schools, councils, and services were willing to explore immersive therapy not because it was fashionable, but because it centred dignity, inclusion, and real-world impact.
The partnership with the University of Northampton — not only the games designers creating a therapeutic dolphin experience but the care home research pilot funded by West Northamptonshire Council — has been a defining moment. It enabled Virtual Reality Therapies to validate immersive VR therapy within a public care setting and create a model that is now informing wider adoption across health and social care.

West Northants has shown what’s possible when councils, academics, clinicians, and social enterprises work together to try something genuinely new.

Future Growth Plans:

The future of wellbeing is personalised, preventative, and community-based. Virtual Reality Therapies’ next phase focuses on:

• Expanding immersive therapy access across care homes and community settings in West Northants
• Supporting NHS and Adult Social Care teams through preventative and rehabilitative VR programmes
• Delivering immersive wellbeing and regulation support in schools, women’s centres, and probation services
• Training professionals to use immersive technology therapeutically themselves, decentralising support and building local capacity through our new frameworks

This approach strengthens existing services, reduces pressure on overstretched systems, and offers meaningful support earlier — before crisis point.