Researchers have received £4.9 million to develop and evaluate an AI-supported intervention for cognitive difficulties in young people with psychosis and depression.
For people with mental health conditions, cognitive difficulties affecting memory, information processing and decision-making are often a barrier to achieving recovery and independence.
Cognitive Remediation is an evidence-based psychological intervention which improves cognition and functioning. This is the basis for CIRCuiTSTM, a platform developed at King's College London which delivers Cognitive Remediation and has been shown to benefit young people with psychosis.
With the new funding, researchers at the Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology & Neuroscience, led by Professor Matteo Cella with co-investigators Professor Dame Til Wykes, Professor Richard Emsley and Dr Huajie (Lily) Jin, will develop and evaluate an artificial intelligence (AI) chatbot which supports therapists in delivering safe, effective and efficient Cognitive Remediation using CIRCuiTSTM.
They will co-develop the AI-supported intervention with people with lived experience and evaluate it in a trial involving young people aged 16 -35 from UK NHS Trusts experiencing early psychosis and depression.
Despite robust evidence for Cognitive Remediation, there are major challenges in implementing this intervention in a clinical setting due to the amount of therapist input needed. With this Wellcome Mental Health Award, we can address this gap by developing an AI chatbot, which will not only alleviate clinical resource constraints, but also provide the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence with evidence for broader implementation of both Cognitive Remediation and digital therapeutics in health services.
Professor Matteo Cella, Professor of Clinical Psychology at King's College London and Clinical Psychologist at South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust
The team will collaborate with lived experience advisors from the mental health charity, McPin Foundation, and AI experts from the project industry partner, HelloSelf, who will support the technology and scalability of the intervention.
The research programme is part of the Wellcome Mental Health Award 'Accelerating scalable digital mental health interventions'. It will begin in 2026 and take place over the next five years.
