Mindful Bia

Mindful Bia is a virtual reality exposure therapy tool designed to help patients with eating disorders and food allergies.
About Mindful Bia

Mindful Bia is a virtual reality exposure therapy tool designed to help patients with eating disorders and food allergies. Mindful Bia was my final year project, in the Cork Institute of Technology. The project consisted of a virtual reality environment and mobile application.  My main responsibilities were designing/building the virtual reality environment, testing the environment with the Cork Eating Disorder Centre and project management.

I used Maya for 3D modelling, Substance Painter for texturing and Unreal Engine for building the environment. With exposure therapy, the patient is exposed to their fears in small, controlled doses and over time, they gain control over their anxiety towards their fear. The idea behind Mindful Bia is that the patient would immerse themselves into the virtual reality environment and face their issues of food in a safe, controlled way. The VR environment is a kitchen that has been set up for a small party. The patient would talk out loud with the therapist, about how they feel throughout the VR simulation and help them understand why they feel anxious towards food in social situations. 

During the project, I carried out user testing with the Cork Eating disorder Centre and received feedback from their psychotherapist and head counsellor. I researched academic papers and case studies on virtual reality being used in exposure therapy, eating disorders and the benefits of cognitive behavioural therapy and exposure therapy. 

Project Achivements
  • Our project was shortlist for the 2019 Prize for Innovation in Cork Institute of Technology. We won "Best Exhibition Stand". 
  • Our project was shortlist for 2019 Ireland's Best Young Entrepeneur, "Best Business Idea" category in South Cork.

Below is a video I made with my partner for the 2019 Prize for Innovation competition in Cork Institute of Technology.

© Copyright Katie Whelan Media