OSI
Scaling digital support for child anxiety
OSI, Online Support and Intervention for Child Anxiety, is a parent-led, therapist-supported digital programme designed to help children overcome problems with fears, worries and anxiety.
Bitjam works closely with the TOPIC Research Group as a long-term technical and implementation partner, supporting the OSI platform from research and clinical use through to wider scaling, internationalisation and commercial readiness.
About OSI
Driven by the Oxford University team and closely connected to the TOPIC Research Group, OSI builds on the work of Professor Cathy Creswell, an internationally recognised expert in child anxiety and one of the programme’s founders.
The programme is based on evidence-based Cognitive Behavioural Therapy and has been supported by funding from the National Institute for Health and Care Research.
Supporting OSI as it grows from research into wider delivery.
Lucy Taylor and the wider Oxford team have played an important role in OSI’s ongoing development, implementation and international adaptation. As OSI has grown, Koa Health has become the commercial partner supporting wider delivery, helping take the intervention into clinical services and future markets.
Bitjam’s role has been to support the OSI platform as it moves from research and clinical use towards wider scaling, internationalisation and commercial readiness.
Supporting families with child anxiety
Childhood anxiety can have a serious impact on family life, school, friendships and confidence.
While Cognitive Behavioural Therapy can be effective for child anxiety, many families face barriers to support, including waiting lists, limited therapist availability and difficulty accessing specialist services.
OSI was developed to help address that gap.
Structured support at home
Parents and carers work through seven weekly modules and a follow-up module using videos, quizzes, worksheets and practical exercises.
Brief weekly guidance
Therapists provide focused weekly support, helping parents apply strategies and work through any difficulties.
Engaging practice
Children are supported through a companion game app designed to make practice more engaging and age-appropriate.
Supporting delivery
The platform includes tools to support case management, progress monitoring and service delivery.
A joined-up digital intervention for families, clinicians and services.
Parents work through structured online content designed to help them support their child at home. Together, the parent programme, clinician case management system and child game app create a connected digital intervention.
One of OSI’s strengths is that it recognises the reality of child mental health services. The programme is designed to reduce the amount of therapist time needed while still giving families structured, evidence-based support.
Building a platform for research, clinical use and scale
Bitjam became involved at an important point in OSI’s development.
The platform needed to be stable, secure and ready to support the demands of research, clinical use and future growth.
Bitjam took over hosting and development from the previous provider, focusing on reliability, usability and a cloud-based architecture that could support the programme as it scaled.
Long-term technical, hosting and implementation support.
- Secure hosting and platform stability
- Ongoing development and maintenance
- Clinician tools for managing families and sessions
- Homework tracking and progress monitoring
- Secure communication and case management
- Research and engagement data
- A scalable platform suitable for wider implementation
Digital health tools only succeed when they fit the services around them.
They need to support clinicians, not add unnecessary complexity. They need to feel manageable for families, not overwhelming. They need to be safe, secure and usable in day-to-day care.
Bitjam’s role has been to support OSI with that real-world delivery in mind.
Internationalising digital interventions
As evidence-based digital health interventions grow, the challenge is not simply to make the technology bigger.
To work well in different countries, services and communities, digital interventions need careful internationalisation. That includes translation, cultural adaptation, localisation, clinical review, technical configuration and testing with the people who will deliver and use the intervention.
We have already supported international expansion into Iceland, working closely with the Reykjavik University team.
More than translation.
- Adapting language and tone for different audiences
- Supporting translation workflows
- Localising content, examples and user journeys
- Configuring platforms for different services and clinical pathways
- Supporting different research and reporting requirements
- Working with international academic and healthcare teams
- Protecting the integrity of the original intervention while making it relevant in a new setting
For OSI, this means supporting a platform that can grow carefully, without losing the clinical thinking, evidence base and family-centred approach that made it effective in the first place.
Expanding into new settings
OSI is expanding further through international research and implementation work, with the wider programme looking at how the intervention can be adapted for diverse populations and settings.
Understanding local needs
Internationalising a digital intervention is not just about changing language. It is about understanding context, culture, services and the people using the tool.
OSI-GROWS: expanding access in the NHS
OSI is also moving into a wider implementation phase through OSI-GROWS.
OSI-GROWS is focused on making OSI a routine part of NHS-supported mental health services for children. The project aims to improve how child anxiety problems are treated by offering effective online tools and training for families and clinicians.
Moving from successful intervention to routine service delivery.
This is a major step for the programme. It moves OSI beyond a successful digital intervention and into the practical challenge of implementation: how to make sure more services can use it, more clinicians can deliver it, and more families can benefit from it.
For Bitjam, this kind of work requires more than development. It requires a long-term understanding of how digital health products are maintained, adapted and supported as they move into real service delivery.
Why this matters
For families dealing with child anxiety, the right support can make a huge difference.
It can help children face fears, build confidence and take part more fully in school, friendships and family life. It can also help parents feel less helpless and more equipped to support their child day to day.
Technology helping support reach further.
OSI shows how digital tools can help extend the reach of evidence-based care without removing the role of therapists, clinicians and families.
It is not technology replacing support. It is technology helping support reach further.
From UK research to global digital health delivery
OSI is one of Bitjam’s largest and most significant digital health projects.
It brings together Oxford-led research, NHS service needs, clinical practice, family experience, child-centred design, scalable technology, commercial delivery and international implementation.
For Bitjam, the work reflects a wider direction for our digital health services: helping evidence-based interventions move safely and thoughtfully into new countries, cultures and care settings.
As OSI continues to expand, the project shows what is possible when academic leadership, clinical expertise, commercial delivery and careful digital implementation come together with a clear purpose: helping more children and families access the support they need, wherever they are.
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