Virtual Reality in the Counseling Classroom: Incorporating Innovative Technology into Counselor Training

Concurrent Session 9

Brief Abstract

Have you ever wondered how Virtual Reality can improve mental wellness?  This interactive session displays the integration of pedagogy and VR into Child and Adolescent, Counseling Skills, and Diagnosis classrooms to promote the benefits and to understand the challenges of incorporating this technology into counseling and other health professions' curriculum.  

 

Presenters

Lead Presenter: Cristen Wathen, Palo Alto University

Dr. Wathen is an Assistant Professor at Palo Alto University. She has a background in working with survivors of trauma and child sexual abuse. She also has experience counseling and advising college students and working with underserved populations in educational settings. Currently her research interests center around innovative pedagogy, Group Counseling, and mental wellness needs for those with chronic illnesses and organ transplantation and their caregivers. Cristen attended Baylor University for her master’s and Idaho State University for her Ph.D. Before joining PAU, she was an Assistant Professor at Montana State University for four years. She has served as the RMACES president and as ACES secretary in her professional service. She is a licensed counselor in California, Montana and in Idaho and is Board Certified in Telemental Health. She currently sees clients via Telehealth as a contract counselor at a University Counseling Center.

Co-presenter: Kelly Coker, Palo Alto University

Co-presenter: Szu-Yu Chen, Palo Alto University

Additional Authors

Extended Abstract

 

Many in the mental health community have been slower to adjust to the incorporation of technology into the practice of mental health and marriage and family counseling.  As educators of tomorrow's mental health professionals, we recognize that embracing technology and its innovations with an openness is one way to promote wellness and destigmatize negative connotations with treatment for a number of mental health issues.  This requires the use of innovative teaching practices that are sensitive both to pedagogy, evidence based practice, and openness to new ways of thinking about technology and its impact.  These types of innovative teaching practices have the power to shape the development of the counseling field and its larger impact on wellbeing and mental health in today’s society.  Using new technology in the classroom requires understanding, integration, flexibility, training, and research as best practices are developed and translated into clinical practice.  In order to expose counseling students to cutting edge, evidence based technology, we integrated VR equipment and a VR platform (amelia) with virtual experiences designed to assist clinicians in the treatment of anxiety disorders, specific phobias, post traumatic stress disorders, eating disorders, bullying, etc. into counseling curriculum, including Counseling Skills, Child and Adolescent, and Diagnosis classes.  This session invites participants into our counseling classroom to experience Virtual Reality in relation to mental wellness, using technology for potential interventions, and how to teach and train students to incorporate these alternate experiences into their knowledge base and intervention "tool kit".  Applications for other professions and programs will be discussed.

 

Level of Participation:

We will open with a 15 minute demonstration of the integration of VR technology and pedagogical techniques we utilized in the online and in person counseling classrooms.

We will review and discuss VR and its history and research in relation to Mental Health Counseling and Wellbeing- 5 mins

We will give an overview of the curriculum development, implementation, and classroom experience- 10 min

We will discuss feedback and student perceptions of the curriculum design- 5 mins

We will close with questions and discussion from the session participants- 10 mins

Session Goals:

Participants will identify the strengths and challenges of incorporating VR into the counseling classroom (as well as other potential settings)

Participants will experience the incorporation of Virtual Reality environments in relation to mental health and counseling pedagogy

Participants will gain an understanding of how VR was implemented into counseling curriculum for counselors-in-training at a CACREP accredited program

Participants will explore and understand the history of VR and research supporting the utilization of VR in mental health settings