Immersive Online Reading for Mental Wellbeing

This project designs a scalable online bibliotherapy intervention for mental health

The project is funded in partnership with the OU in Northern Ireland, FASS, the Verbal Arts Centre, and Belfast Metropolitan College. Led by researchers Alessio Antonini and Imelda Haran, the project will run between November 2024 and October 2025.

Building on a previous collaboration, the project sims to expand the reach of Verbal’s successful in-person reading programmes, which have shown positive impacts on mental health. Due to resource limitations, these programmes can only be delivered in small, local groups. This project will address this by designing a scalable online version of the bibliotherapy intervention, allowing people to access mental health support remotely.

Through an interactive digital platform, the new online intervention will offer reading sessions and structured discussions, designed to reach individuals who may face barriers to in-person participation. This innovative approach could transform bibliotherapy by making it widely accessible, helping tackle the mental health crisis across the UK and beyond.

Partners

• Verbal Arts Centre
• Belfast Met