The EASE Online Project, a 4-year research project launched in 2019, is developed by Department of Social Work of the Hong Kong Baptist University, funded by the Research Impact Fund to help people with social anxiety to deal with fears in social situation and improve their quality of life. 

By using the framework of “Cognitive Behavioral therapy” (CBT), service users could learn various CBT skills to manage anxiety and fears in social situations through briefing and debriefing animations, as well as case demonstration videos. Apart from the online sessions, a Virtual Reality (VR) system is also developed for providing exposure therapy to assist service users practicing CBT skills as coached by an experienced counselor.  By using the VR system, service users can put their CBT skills learned into practice to enhance the effectiveness for overcoming social anxiety. In research stage, over 300 service users joined the service in Hong Kong.