How Virtual Worlds Are Transforming Physical and Mental Health

AR, VR, and mixed reality (MR) are already having a positive impact on the next generation of healthcare, including mental health. While some applications focus on education or training, others are helping patients directly, bringing comfort to the healing process. Every day, creators and companies are building real-time 3D projects that push the boundaries of the real world into the virtual and develop applications with the potential to change lives for the better.

Unity’s Vice President of Social Impact, Jessica Lindl will interview three creators about how their work is making a positive impact on individuals and patients dealing with challenging issues. Specifically, hear from:

Lindsay Watson Co-founder of Augment Therapy, an AR experience that turns children’s physical therapy into a game. Augment Therapy makes physical therapy software that is both fun for kids and effective for clinicians. The AR experience is designed to help children in hospitals, often those with cancer and intense pain, get out of bed to conduct physical therapy and ultimately become well enough to go home. @

Dr. Joanneke Weerdmeester, a behavioral scientist working with Explore Deep, the company behind DEEP – a meditative VR experience controlled by breathing. DEEP has been created as an intervention tool for people with anxiety and research is now being expanded to explore how DEEP can support people with trauma, PTSD, functional disorders, long COVID, and youth in forensic care.

Carrie Shaw, MS, is a medical illustrator, public health educator, and CEO & Founder of Embodied Labs, an immersive caregiver training platform for students, healthcare workforce and informal caregivers who are caring for the aging population. Carrie’s mission is to accelerate global behavior change for healthier aging at scale by positively impacting the health of self and others through immersive learning experiences.

Speakers:
Joanneke Weerdmeester
Carrie Shaw
Jessica Lindl
Lindsay Watson

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