The Turning Institute

Jun 4, 2013

Digit Games creating 40 immediate jobs following Scopely partnership announcement   A start-up company focused on mental health, The Turning Institute, has secured €300,000 in funding for an online venture called ChangePanda.com, which is focused on providing a solution for eating disorders. The funding came from the Bank of Ireland Start-Up and Emerging Sectors Fund 2010 and Enterprise Ireland in a deal managed by Delta Partners. Devised by The Turning Institute founder and psychotherapist Emma Murphy, ChangePanda’s ‘Feeling Focused’ solution is based on a on a 12-week, video-based online programme for sufferers of bulimia and binge eating disorder. She identified the opportunity through her work with clients and recognising how hard it was to engage clients in recovery from disordered eating. “About two years ago, I had a male client and a female client start therapy with me at around the same time. Hearing, not for the first time, how they had struggled in secret for over 20 years, prompted me to design a programme that could be accessed safely and confidentially online so sufferers could access help sooner rather than later,” she said. The Turning Institute attracted the interest of Delta Partners, managers of the Bank of Ireland Startup and Emerging Sectors Fund 2010, because of its strong links with US-based eating disorder support organisations. “There are over 30 million American adults, female and male, struggling with an eating disorder, so the potential market for this type of product is significant,” said Alan O’Neill, co-founder, the Turning Institute. “We’ve exhibited at a couple of conferences in the US and there is phenomenal interest in what we are doing over there.”  ChangePanda.com is the online portal to the programme. Designed by co-founder Vinny Reynolds, the platform and programme are now the subjects of a clinical trial being run in collaboration with Dublin City University School of Communications. Sorcha Corcoran