King's College London

A new way to navigate life with MS

Living with multiple sclerosis (MS) can bring its unique challenges. Navigate MS is a new project from King's College London, funded by MS Society and in partnership with Avegen Health, designed to make it easier to find the right support, at the right time, in one place.

We’re developing a simple, easy-to-use mobile app that brings together practical tools to help you manage common MS symptoms, so you don’t have to search across multiple services or apps.

What is Navigate MS?

Navigate MS is a digital, self-guided mobile application for people living with multiple sclerosis.

It brings together different types of support into one app, with each programme (or “pathway”) focusing on a specific symptom, such as:

• Pain
• Psychological distress (like anxiety or low mood)
• Sexual difficulties

Each pathway includes short, practical strategies and tools you can use in your day-to-day life, designed to fit around your energy levels and routines.

You can choose what you want to focus on and move between different areas as your needs change.

Who is it for?

Navigate MS is for people living with MS who:

• Experience invisible symptoms like pain, psychological distress or sexual difficulties
• Are looking for flexible, self-guided support
• Want something they can use independently, in their own time

Navigate MS is designed to be used without clinician support, so you can access help in a way that works for you, at your own pace.

Why are we doing this?

Living with MS can be challenging, not just physically, but emotionally too.

Many people:

• Often struggle to find the right support at the right time
• May be offered treatments that don’t fully reflect their individual needs or priorities
• Have to juggle multiple services or apps to manage different symptoms
• Find it difficult to talk openly about issues like mood, pain, or sexual difficulties

We also know that non-drug approaches, including psychological and behavioural strategies, can make a real difference, but they’re not always easy to access.

Navigate MS is about changing that.

We want to:

• Make support more accessible and easier to use
• Bring different types of help together in one place
• Give people living with MS more choice and control
• Reduce the need to figure everything out alone

What will Navigate MS do?

Navigate MS is a mobile app that offers structured support pathways for different symptoms.

Within each pathway, you’ll find:

• Practical tools and techniques
• Guided activities you can try in your own time
• Strategies based on approaches that have been shown to help people manage long-term health conditions

The app is designed so you can:

• Dip in and out depending on how you’re feeling
• Work at your own pace
• Choose what feels most relevant to you

How are we developing it?

We’re not building Navigate MS alone.

The project is being developed through a partnership between:

• Researchers and clinicians with expertise in health psychology, neuroscience and neurology
• People living with MS
• Digital health developers

The app is co-designed with people living with MS, and will be tested and refined through research.

It will also help us understand what works best for different people, so we can continue to improve support over time.

What are we hoping to achieve?

Our goal is to help people living with MS feel more supported and in control of their symptoms.

We hope Navigate MS will:

• Improve access to effective, evidence-based support
• Help reduce the impact of symptoms on daily life
• Support people to manage symptoms in ways that fit their routines and energy levels
• Reduce the burden of navigating multiple services

Navigate MS project stages

• Stage 1: Co-design and initial development

Working with people living with MS and stakeholders to design a relevant, user-centred intervention.

• Stage 2: Adaptation and optimisation

Refining the intervention based on feedback to improve usability and fit for people living with MS. 

• Stage 3: App development

Building the Navigate MS mobile app and turning ideas into a functional digital tool. 

• Stage 4: User testing (current stage)

Testing the app with users to gather feedback on features, usability, and overall experience. 

• Stage 5: Evaluation of acceptability and engagement

Assessing whether the app is useful, usable, and engaging for people living with MS. 

• Stage 6: Refinement

Improving the app based on feedback, while considering real-world barriers and facilitators. 

• Stage 7: Real-world evaluation

Testing effectiveness within NHS settings.

 

Get involved

We want Navigate MS to be shaped by the people who will use it.

If you’re living with MS and would like to:

• Share your experiences
• Help shape the app
• Take part in future research

We’d love to hear from you. Send us an email.