The story of VR Therapies - part 2: With a little help from some friends

In the second of a three-part story, Rebecca Gill (founder and CEO of the Northampton-based social enterprise VR Therapies) explains the help she received from the local digital and business community.

The Business and IP Centre were the very first people who motivated me. I went to their Start-Up Day at the Central Library in Northampton and that was one of the first times when I genuinely thought I could go and do this myself.

They told me that in order to start up a social enterprise or charity of any kind, I needed to have a bit of a business mindset - I needed to do my market research, work out my running costs, find out if it was sustainable.

To start with, I had a chat with them about different business ideas and what the local community could benefit from. Part of me felt I couldn't carry on in healthcare in the traditional sense but when I told them about my VR therapy idea, they said it sounded so amazing that I had to do it and that really motivated me.

They arranged some meetings for me with local people who could help in different ways. Marie-Louise O’Neill from Lovely Evolution gave me brilliant advice on how to make very first business cards and helped me look at branding.

I got a place on the NatWest Entrepreneur Accelerator programme largely because of the support I received from people in Northampton. I met people through Digital Northants who helped with all kinds of things.

Stephen Westley from Iris IoT helped with the research and development of the underwater VR, which wasn't an easy thing. It's a world first so we couldn't just copy how someone else had done it.

University of Northampton students were a big help too. Gaming students put together the prototype for the dolphin simulation. Georgia Haines, an Illustration student at the university, created a video to help tell our story.

Age UK Northamptonshire helped with early focus groups looking at the benefits for older people. They were open to new ways of helping people with dementia and Alzheimer's. That work had some of the most profound impacts we've seen so far.

Tom Cliffe at Track NN gave me great advice and helped me believe I could do it.

Tom “The Dude Designs” Hodge designed our leaflets and posters which look incredible. They really show what we’re all about and reflect the variety and excitement of what we can offer through VR.

The School for Social Entrepreneurs were also fantastic in helping me get started. When I thought of entrepreneurs, it was all about making businesses, selling them on and making money.

But being on their programme opened my eyes to the fact there are a lot of passionate people out there who are fed up with the status quo and want to make a difference. And they're doing it - setting up small businesses, charities and social enterprises.

And it wouldn't happen without people making it happen, so I knew that's what I had to do. I went out, I bought some VR headsets and I started showing people what it was all about.

I started assembling a fantastic team. We’ve got Matt Fishlock, who’s our tech expert. He’s developed accessible technology which helps bridge the gap for children with special needs and adults with disabilities to be able to use the exciting tech we have at the centre.

Ros Stone has been an expert in the special needs sector for almost 30 years, with a background in teaching and working with young adults with learning disabilities, autism, mental health issues, anxiety and low self-esteem.

Cristina Nemes is a psychologist, psychotherapist and clinical hypnotherapist. She’s researched the use of VR to overcome phobias such as fear of heights. She’s worked with people with disorders and addictions and has a huge amount of expertise to offer.

Dineen Anderson is an amazing artist who created the artwork you can see on the walls at the centre. Her vision has helped to bring augmented reality art to life. She’s training as a VR therapist, specialising in art therapy and play therapy.

And Jonathan Kaye, who sadly passed away earlier this year, was a huge influence for us as a board member, helping us to design experiences for people with disabilities.

The team have made a massive contribution to get us to where we are today and I think they’re all brilliant.

David Bevan