NVP Minds is an app that’s being developed as part of a Ripple Scale Challenge cohort.
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NVP Minds

Severe pregnancy sickness is devastating and widely misunderstood. NVP Minds addresses what the health system leaves behind.

Hyperemesis gravidarum (HG), a severe form of pregnancy sickness that goes far beyond morning nausea, can render people housebound or hospitalised for months. Frequently minimised by clinicians, the condition carries serious and long-lasting mental health consequences. Women and birthing people with HG are several times more likely to experience depression, anxiety, and post-traumatic stress disorder. A quarter report suicidal thoughts. Half consider ending the pregnancy as a result of the condition. Psychological support for this group remains severely underprovided.

Developed by Associate Professor Fiona Challacombe from University of Oxford and her team, NVP Minds is an app built specifically for women and birthing people experiencing severe nausea and vomiting in pregnancy and HG. Resources are designed for the multi-sensory difficulties associated with the condition, available in video, audio, and text formats with adjustable settings, because accessibility matters when you can barely look at a screen.

“Several of the health experts building this intervention with me have lived experience of hyperemesis gravidarum (severe pregnancy sickness) themselves, and bring the clinical reality as well as the first-hand understanding of the condition. We want effective psychological support to become a recognised part of care for women and birthing people experiencing this debilitating condition.”

The app includes NVP and mental health symptom recording, psychoeducational content, pregnancy tracking with push notifications, shareable summaries for healthcare professionals, structured intervention content for depression and anxiety, and journaling.

NVP Minds is the first digital mental health tool designed around the specific and complex experience of HG. At least 30,000 people are affected each year in the UK alone, and most receive no psychological support during or after pregnancy. This app addresses that gap directly.

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FOUNDER

Associate Professor Fiona Challacombe
Associate Professor of Clinical Psychology | University of Oxford

Fiona Challacombe leads the Oxford Perinatal Psychology Lab and co-chairs the mental health stream of the NIHR Women's Health Collaboration. Her research focuses on interventions for mental health problems in pregnancy and postpartum, with a key focus on pregnancy complications including HG. She is joined by Dr Suzanne Blythin, a Clinical Psychologist with lived experience of HG across four pregnancies and expertise in digital mental health platforms, and Dr Claudia Hallett, a highly specialist Clinical Psychologist at the Maudsley who has also published on HG from personal experience and Dr Rosie Gilderthorp, a Clinical Psychologist in private practice and podcaster who has spoken widely about her lived experience as well as Rachael Buabeng, founder of charity Mummy’s Day Out who has written about the experience of HG as a BAME mother. Pregnancy Sickness Support, the UK national charity, is a core collaborating partner.