IPC4MH - Immersive Prevention Center for Mental Health


IPC4MH (Immersive Prevention Centers for Mental Health) is a European research and innovation project that aims to design, deploy, and evaluate virtual prevention centers using social virtual reality (VR) to enhance access to mental health screening and early interventions.


By combining immersive group sessions, individualized exercises, and interoperable digital infrastructures, IPC4MH seeks to extend clinical capacity, improve accessibility for vulnerable populations, and generate robust evidence on acceptability, usability, and clinical impact across multiple European contexts.

At a glance

Duration

36 months

Countries

Switzerland • France • Poland

Sites

Sierre (CH), Nantes (FR), Warsaw (PL)

Populations

Junior (NDD) • Senior (depressive/cognitive frailty)

Work Packages

WP1–WP6

Public Deliverables

Open PDFs & DOIs

Why IPCs?

Health systems face long waiting times and fragmented access to mental-health services. Immersive Prevention Centers (IPCs) extend clinical capacity by combining supervised group sessions in social VR with guided home exercises. IPC4MH focuses on safety, accessibility, and evidence—integrating with established care pathways rather than replacing them.

Core Partners

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Roles & Responsibilities

The IPC4MH consortium brings together clinical, academic, and industrial partners with complementary expertise to ensure rigorous research, ethical deployment, and sustainable impact.

  • HES-SO Valais-Wallis (Switzerland) — Coordinator: Overall project governance, data protection oversight, dissemination, impact, and scale-up activities.
  • Nantes Université — LS2N (France) — WP2 Lead: Co-design and requirements engineering; user research and interoperability standards.
  • CHU Nantes (France) — WP4 Co-Lead: Clinical content packaging, safety protocols, facilitator training, and evaluation for the senior archetype.
  • Institute of Psychology, Polish Academy of Sciences (Poland) — WP5 Lead: Junior pilot leadership, mixed-methods evaluation, and methodological guidance.
  • C2Care (France) — WP3 Lead: Platform development, XR content integration, identity/session services, interoperability adapters.
  • DiverSSity SA (Switzerland) — SME Partner: Dissemination, communication, and technology transfer for educational and therapeutic settings.

Each partner leads specific Work Packages (WPs) while contributing to cross-cutting activities such as ethics, dissemination, and pilot evaluations.

Funding


Supported under the THCS Partnership; views expressed are those of the authors.