Case Study: Good With – XR immersive learning tackling debt-related anxiety

The healthcare challenge

In the UK, financial vulnerability is reaching critical levels. As of 2024, 20.3 million adults are considered financially vulnerable, with 7.4 million struggling to make debt repayments and 14.2 million classified as over-indebted (Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), 2024).

The financial services sector absorb £4–10 billion in annual bad-debt write-offs, while individuals face a more personal toll: 84% of those in problem debt report a direct negative impact on their mental health (StepChange, 2024).

This creates a vicious cycle – debt fuels anxiety, which can lead to reduced income, further borrowing, and deepening financial and emotional distress. The broader economic impact includes reduced productivity, increased NHS mental health service demand, and rising costs for financial institutions.

The solution: FinIQ™ and immersive learning

Supported by the Mindset-XR Innovation Support Programme, Good With Ltd, is tackling this challenge with FinIQ™ — a smart, tech-powered approach that combines psychology, behavioural science, and user-friendly design.

FinIQ™ is a personalised framework that helps people build financial skills and feel less anxious about money.

Designed with accessibility and scale in mind, the FinIQ​TM​ leverages tools from clinical and behavioural psychology to support all aspects of financial stress, including presentations of financial anxiety and dysregulation in conditions such as Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) and Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD/ADD).

Building on this foundation, the team is developing immersive learning pathways specifically targeting debt-related stress and trauma. These pathways aim to:

1. Prevent financial and mental health crises by intervening early.
2. Support individuals already in unmanageable debt through recovery-focused tools
3. Provide a clinical-grade, scalable intervention suitable for integration with NHS Talking Therapies and social prescribing

The experience uses XR extended reality and an AI-powered guide to help people track their progress, take positive actions, and build a healthier relationship with money.

Impact and outcomes

Good With Ltd ran two studies with Health Innovation South West to see how well FinIQ™ works:

• Study 1 (around 100 users): Showed a clear trend toward better financial wellbeing, with the most vulnerable users benefiting the most.

• Study 2 (around 350 users): Found significant drops in financial anxiety (p < .01) and boosts in confidence (p = .01) and overall financial wellbeing (p < .01).

These results show FinIQ™ is a powerful tool for improving both financial education and mental health.

One user, Sarah, 25, said:  

“There’s a caring feel that’s different from other money apps.”

Another user, Harry, 22, said: 

“I feel like I’m finally drawing the connection between my stress and my money.”

Good With are current running two pilots with N-Brown Group and Fair4All Finance. Findings will be published later in 2026.

Business model and social mission

Banks and financial institutions are the primary customers, offering FinIQ™ to support their clients’ financial wellbeing while helping meet FCA Consumer Duty requirements. For users, the platform is free, engaging, and designed to deliver meaningful, measurable benefits.

At its core, FinIQ™ is driven by a social mission to improve financial wellbeing and promote greater financial inclusion. A key focus is supporting people affected by the “poverty premium” by helping them build confidence, make informed financial decisions, and reduce the additional costs often faced by those on lower incomes.

Built from lived experience

Founded by a team of passionate female entrepreneurs with lived experience of debt and inadequate support including CEO, Gabriela Isas, and CSO, Dr. Ellie Kallis, Good With Ltd began with a SMART grant and angel investment.

Their multidisciplinary team spanning clinical psychology, behavioural data science, design, and development has built a solution from first principles, grounded in science and empathy.

Their work is already gaining traction with banks and lenders who see FinIQ™ as a way to:

• Assess creditworthiness beyond traditional scores
• Support vulnerable customers
• Improve lending outcomes

Looking ahead

The next phase of development includes two tailored learning pathways:

• Debt anxiety prevention

• Debt trauma recovery

Good With are building an immersive, gamified space that uses techniques like behavioural activation, exposure therapy, and thought-challenging to help people practice and strengthen their financial coping skills in a safe environment.

Get involved

Good With is looking for partners such as charities, NHS trusts, and mental health organisations to help pilot and validate the solution.

Good With has already started a pilot with a mental health company and are ambitious to scale across the NHS, Mind, and global mental health networks.

You can contact them on gabriela@goodwith.co and ellie@goodwith.co