At ThirdAgeTx our mission is to enable healthy ageing and the healthspan by optimising psychological health and wellbeing. We tackle the epidemics of loneliness, ill health and all the problems these cause.  We will make effective treatment & prevention available to all.

The challenge of healthy psychological ageing:

People now live longer lives and problems such as loneliness and depression are some of the most common sources of ill health and threats to quality of life.  Loneliness is associated with increased risks of heart attack and stroke, and increased rates of dementia. The World Health Organisation identifies loneliness as a major threat to public health.  There is an urgent need to ensure effective strategies and treatments are made available.  Older people are too often not able to access care or support to tackle depression and loneliness.  For those with parents or relatives at risk of loneliness or depression, it is difficult to access services.  At the ThirdAgeTx we have made a step change in promoting health ageing by tacking loneliness and depression at scale. 

What we believe:

At ThirdAgeTx we believe that effective and efficient psychological treatments should be available to all.  We believe that solutions need to be evidence based and scalable if we are to optimise the mental health older people.  We harness behavioural science to improve the lives of older people and to ensure health ageing.  We believe that an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure. 

What we do:

At ThirdAgeTx we have developed effective and efficient behavioural approaches to promote healthy ageing and prevent depression, anxiety and loneliness. 

We harnessed behavioural science to tackle problems like loneliness and long term health problems before and during the COVID pandemic.  We have delivered some of the largest trials every undertaken to optimise mental health in the third age.  The research that underpins our strategy is published in some of the world’s leading scientific journals.  Read some recent coverage of our work in Forbes magazine from 2024.  Listen to some of the people who have taken part in our trials here. 

A bit about our science behind ThirdAgeTx

Behavioural science has been harnessed for over 50 years to design effective strategies to promote mental health and tackle problems such as depression and anxiety.  At ThirdAgeTx we have translated behavioural treatments from the laboratory into the real world; in the UK and across the globe.  We have done this by combining psychological science with clinical epidemiology, data science and health economics. 

The effectiveness the ThridAgeTx services have been tested in rigorous scientific experiments in the form of randomised controlled trials.  We also use advanced analytic approaches, such as machine learning and artificial intelligence.  This helps us to target and optimise interventions to ensure psychological therapy is personalised. 

Who funds our work?

The research that underpins the ThirdAgeTx services has funded by the National Institute for Health Research and we work in partnership with Age UK.  Our scientific research is hosted by the BTxLab at the University of York and we work closely with Health Innovation [Yorkshire & Humber].  The ThirdAgeTx startup was incubated by the Northern Accelerator Programme.  We are proud to be part of the 2024 cohort of Propel@YH Founders & Digital Innovators to 'turbo-charge' scalable solutions addressing NHS priorities.