Insider Media Limited

Birmingham investment organisation Midven has invested £380,000 into an internet-based treatment programme for people dependent on alcohol or drugs.

Breaking Free Online, based at Keele University Science and Business Park, secured the funding from Midven's Exceed Fund.

Its treatment programme combines a range of psychological interventions to help people understand and overcome their dependence on alcohol or drugs.

Ian Fairclough, investment manager for the Exceed Fund, said: "Breaking Free Online is a company with great potential. Computerised treatment for psychological problems is now well accepted both in the UK and overseas and this product has the potential to expand rapidly.

"Much of the hard work and costs have already been incurred in getting the product to where it is today, and the company can potentially generate a significant level of turnover with a relatively low cost base."

The website was spun out of Clinical Psychology Associates (CPA), which is co-owned and founded by Dr Lloyd Humphreys and Dr Jonathan Ward.

"We have worked hard over the past two years to develop an online treatment programme that is genuinely engaging and powerful. Computer-based therapy is now recommended by the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence and is becoming an increasingly important method of delivering treatment for addictions and other psychological problems.

"This funding from Midven is providing a major boost, enabling us to grow the business much more rapidly," said Dr Humphreys.