Pesky gNATs
Pesky gNATs was designed to help mental health professionals deliver CBT interventions to young people. It combined gaming and mobile technology with high quality psychological content to support evidence-based interventions with young people aged 9-17.

Availability
The Pesky gNATs software is no longer available to purchase.


Ongoing use of existing licences
Handaxe CIC, the non-profit company which developed Pesky gNATs, will close down in late 2025. From this point, it will no longer be possible for us to support the Pesky gNATs software and website. Existing Pesky gNATS licence will continue working in the short term. The software conducts an automatic license check once a year and will stop working the next time this check occurs. We cannot give an exact date for each licensee as this will depend on the date the licence was initially activated. 

It is important to be aware that all licenses for Pesky gNATs will stop working over the next year. 



Why are we closing down? 
Pesky gNATs was developed by Handaxe CIC, a not-for-profit community interest company founded by David Coyle and Gary O’Reilly. It was built on our academic work and was created with the express aim of making technology as widely available as possible, at the lowest possible cost. 

We have been able to do this for almost ten years. But we are a small company with no direct employees and have been supporting Pesky gNATs in our spare time, with a minimal budget. In recent years, it has become apparent that this is no longer possible. The costs involved in supporting the software make it financially infeasible. Reluctantly, we have decided to close Handaxe CIC. 

What we offered


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A computer game for therapists to use in face-to-face sessions with young people.
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A mobile app for young people to use between sessions.
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Online training for professionals who would like to use Pesky gNATs.