NASHVILLE (CelebrityAccess) – The mental health platform Innerworld announced Tuesday (February 21) that multi-platinum, Grammy-nominated singer/songwriter Jewel as the Co-Founder and Chief Strategy Officer (CSO). The longtime mental health advocate joins Innerworld’s Founder and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Noah Robinson to focus on building the largest community in the metaverse for mental health support.
Innerworld offers peer-to-peer support groups with expert guides trained in Cognitive Behavioral Immersion™ (CBI) providing evidence-based tools during live groups in social virtual worlds. For the first time, peer-to-peer support is accessible on demand in immersive, social virtual worlds where people can interact as anonymous avatars. During special live group sessions, Jewel will teach her life-changing tools as an avatar inside of Innerworld. Innerworld’s freemium platform hosts over 100 weekly events that can be accessed from any device including the Meta Quest or on Mac, PC, iPad, and iPhone.
Robinson developed CBI during his clinical psychology Ph.D. research at Vanderbilt University, as a protege of the creator of Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT), Dr. Aaron Beck. Innerworld’s CBI combines immersive technology with the proven principles of CBT. Clinical outcome data suggests CBI may decrease symptoms of depression, anxiety, and other mental health issues. Innerworld’s anonymous avatars remove stigma and allow people to form meaningful connections with others. The Internet-based peer support model makes mental health more accessible than ever before. CBI was developed during three years of beta testing with over 10,000 people.
Robinson shares, “When I was 13, I realized I was gay and the idea of coming out was very overwhelming, which caused me to become severely depressed and anxious. I went to therapy but it didn’t help. What did help was an anonymous, online game where I became an avatar. This game was designed for me to escape, and I spent my teenage years avoiding reality. But I also found a community and eventually came out to them. The acceptance I experienced empowered me to come out in the real world, and I wondered if we could build a virtual world that was designed to help people with their mental health issues from the start. I pursued a Ph.D. at Vanderbilt University and founded Innerworld to build this idea into a scalable platform. When I met Jewel, I was blown away by the peer support program she’d developed over the past 21 years. With Jewel as our Chief Strategy Officer, I believe Innerworld can help millions of people.”
“When I found Innerworld, I knew it was an incredible solution to our mental health crisis. We need millions of more therapists in the world to help everyone who needs it. It’s simply not possible and with today’s mental health crisis, we are beyond the luxury of merely raising awareness around mental health,” says Jewel. “We must turn to safe, affordable, scalable, and proven tools to help everyone who needs it. The time for talking about the problem is over–we need solutions. That’s why I am a proud Co-Founder of Innerworld.”
“We did not rush into this,” says Robinson, who developed the technology under the guidance of world-renowned CBT expert, Dr. Steven Hollon. “We conducted three years of clinical research with over 20,000 hours in Innerworld’s beta before launching, and additionally, it’s based on decades of research in the field of psychology validating cognitive behavioral tools. Since our launch, we’ve measured significant reductions in self-reported symptoms of depression and anxiety, and have submitted our results to a peer-reviewed journal for publication. We are building towards the future of mental health 3.0, where everyone can access mental health help.”
