An ambitious, multidisciplinary project has been developing between Connected Experiences Lab (CXL) and with Fashion and Electronics, each within the Design School at Northumbria University.

The exploratory research investigates a gap in wearable technology with application and functionality in mental healthcare and proposes a prototype design called: The Intuitive Jacket.

The initial concept is based on the work of Tor Alexander Bruce who a doctoral researcher at NU. His research involves the design and prototyping of a digital therapeutic intervention called: The Timeline, situated in an immersive interactive virtual reality (VR) room at

Coach Lane Campus; also recently trialled at James Cook University Hospital in Teeside.

Up until this point, participants visiting the immersive room had opportunity to close down a VR door representing their deep past (in a trauma mental healthcare context) by touching the interactive wall with their hand, i.e. the room contains 270 degree wraparound, virtual walls.

Expanding on this was an idea that instead of a participant touching one of the walls, they could incorporate their own body as the interface, offering a more personalized approach that could be significant in

a trauma context. The Intuitive Jacket provides this level of autonomy.