Thank you Bianca Wright, for hosting, Inside Mental Health: Building Empathy With VR, during our weekly online sessions with 30+ professionals.
The meeting began with a focus on Anagram, a creative studio specializing in immersive experience design, discussing their projects and core questions. The team then delved into the Goliath VR experience, highlighting its impact on portraying schizophrenia accurately. They explored ADHD through the mixed reality experience Impulse and discussed creating immersive mental health training tools like Inside Mental Health. Storytelling's role in mental health training was emphasized, along with challenges faced by individuals with neurodiversity in the workplace. The team also discussed starting a business, virtual reality experiences for mental health support, and multilingual content availability. Next steps include finalizing platforms, expanding storytelling impact, and connecting with medical experts and communities. The meeting concluded with plans to connect on LinkedIn for further discussions on AI-related topics.
Topics & Highlights
1. Anagram - Immersive Experience Design
Anagram, mentioning their specialization in interactive storytelling, immersive experiences, and the founders' vision to push the documentary form into new areas.
various immersive experiences created by Anagram, highlighting projects like 'Dawn into the Dark,' 'The Palace of The Machines,' 'The Collider,' and 'Messages to a Posthuman Earth.'
2. Discussion about Goliath VR Experience
The team discussed the development and success of the Goliath VR experience, including its launch in 2021, the story of John's journey with schizophrenia, the positive impact of gaming on his life, the portrayal of psychosis, the awards won, and the project's global recognition.
3. Exploring ADHD through Mixed Reality
development of the mixed reality experience Impulse that explores living with ADHD and the challenges faced by individuals with the condition.
4. Creating Immersive Mental Health Training
Inside Mental Health, a project focused on creating immersive training tools for medical professionals to improve understanding and empathy in mental health care.
5. Use of Storytelling in Mental Health Training
importance of storytelling in mental health training, emphasizing the role of personal narratives in fostering empathy and compassion among participants, including medical professionals and students
The discussion included details about a pilot program at the University of West of England involving immersive mental health training for students, with plans to expand to other higher education providers and collaboration with the NHS.
insights into the structure of the mental health training session, highlighting the importance of onboarding, reflection sessions, and creating a safe space for participants to share their experiences.
6. Virtual Reality Experience Design and Reflection Sessions
The next steps involve finalizing the platform, launching it, conducting additional research, and looking into how experiences like Impulse can be complementary to existing tools for ADHD and other mental health issues.
7. Discussion on Impact of Storytelling on Real World
The next steps involve focusing on sharing stories related to ADHD, particularly Jon's story, to reach more people and make a real-world impact. Emphasis is on aligning with medical experts and communities before expanding to other areas like end-of-life care.
8. Challenges Faced by Individuals with Neurodiversity in Work
The concern raised was about the challenges faced by individuals with neurodiversity, such as ADHD and Asperger's, in the workplace, including communication difficulties, self-regulation issues, and productivity concerns. The importance of utilizing gamification and technology like AI, VR, and AR to support these individuals was discussed.
9. Challenges in Starting a Business
concerns about the challenges of needing immediate cash flow, marketing efforts, creating business proposals, and the complexities of B2B and B2C markets in starting a business.
10. Virtual Reality Experience and Mental Health Support
concerns about potential triggers and challenges in offering a VR experience for mental health support, emphasizing the need for thorough trigger warnings and reflection sessions to support users.
decisions made regarding the design of the onboarding process for the VR experience, including the inclusion of trigger warnings and reflection sessions to ensure a positive user experience.
importance of training support staff beyond doctors, such as receptionists and cleaning staff, in dealing with mental health issues, indicating a potential next step for the project.
