Company: Orli Health
Co-Founders: Dr Mark Cox and Euan Bell
Website: https://www.orli.health/
About Orli Health
Orli is redefining the future of children’s mental health by doing something the traditional system has never quite managed: actually meeting families where they are. Built by an NHS doctor and an assistant psychologist who were tired of watching children deteriorate while stuck on endless waiting lists, Orli blends behavioural science, gaming, and AI to make emotional support accessible, engaging and immediate. It exists because the current system doesn’t work for the two million families in the UK navigating childhood anxiety, school avoidance, and emotional dysregulation. Instead of waiting years for help, parents and children can start getting support today.
At the heart of Orli is a simple insight: children regulate better when they’re engaged, not lectured. The platform uses a customisable Orli avatar to help children externalise and understand their emotions, supported by sensory-based mini-games designed to build emotional regulation and confidence. These tools are grounded in science but delivered through play, making mental health support feel more like a favourite game than a clinical intervention. Parents receive their own companion app that offers personalised insights, clear next steps, and guidance tailored to their child’s profile. This approach transforms a typically confusing process into something structured, hopeful and actionable.
Orli’s mission is not just to reduce distress, but to unlock every child’s potential. The platform supports four developmental areas, mind, body, social connection and learning, giving families a holistic framework rather than another isolated mental health app. Future real-world pathways will link children to opportunities in sport, creativity, technology and more, ensuring wellbeing is tied to purpose and growth, not just crisis management.
The company’s journey reflects both rapid progress and a stubborn refusal to accept the status quo. After winning Innovate UK funding, the team has been piloting AI-powered models with NHS partners and multi-academy trusts, running school-based workshops, and testing its MVP with families across the North East. Early insights show exactly why Orli is needed: in a major study led by the company, 83 percent of parents and professionals said it was not easy to access mental health support, and only 13 percent of parents felt they could trust the system to help their child. Families described the waiting period as overwhelming, frightening, and impossible to navigate without better tools. Orli is building those tools.
Now backed by new funding and growing partnerships, Orli is developing its next generation child-focused app, expanding its school programmes, and preparing for broader rollout. Where the mental health system is fragmented, inaccessible and reactive, Orli offers something the sector has been missing: early intervention that is personalised, playful and genuinely scalable. In a space saturated with crisis-driven products, Orli stands out by designing for growth, resilience and long-term human development.
If the future of youth mental health is going to be better than its present, it will be because organisations like Orli built it first.
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