Day: May 16, 2021

One of the most prevalent technologies used in psychotherapy intervention is Virtual Reality (VR) and Augmented Reality (AR). Both technologies are used as a tool to help guide psychotherapy treatments in patients who can benefit from interactive digital experiences. Below are two notable projects or organizations that are utilizing VR to enhance the patient’s traditional mode of psychotherapeutic experience.

MyPsySpace is a project by Missouri State University’s Second Life (SL) Prototyping Center for Psychotherapy Technologies that explores SL as a prototyping tool for HCI (Human-Computer Interaction) to offer “virtual translations of traditional expressive therapies (e.g. virtual sandplay, virtual drama therapy, digital expressive therapy, and virtual safe spaces).”  The VR element is used to increase accessibility and flexibility to those who may not have the practical means to receive proper expressive therapies. MyPsySpace is designed to securely connect the therapist to a group or an individual patients located anywhere in the world. Moreover, one can virtually create any type of imaginable scenarios, images, or enact behaviors safely in the virtual space.

some apps about creating digital story

All therapists recognize the power of storytelling. In essence, our clients come to tell their stories and we need to know their full story in and out including characters, background, plots (and subplots), point of view, etc. With children, their personal stories often come out in fantastical and metaphoric ways and an expressive therapist has the skills to bring those out and enact change, if needed.  Below are multimedia apps that can provide engagement as well as therapeutic, communicative, and expressive opportunities for a child client:

Plotagon: This is a creative animation app that is very easy to use. I have a 8-year-old who learned how to make a full 5 minute story in 10 minutes.

Puppet Pals 2: This is a essentially digital puppetry and you can even use your own picture to create a character.

Comic Book: This is a bit challenging to use for those who are not comic book creators. But, if you have a kid who likes to create comic books, this app has many layout options, caption tools, and stickers in its library.

Storehouse: Helps you easily create, edit and share visual stories. Perfect for teenagers who want to use their own digital photos without much text to tell a story that is meaningful to them.

These apps help create a multimedia story rich with complementary combination of text, still image, audio, and/or video that can be interactive and edited at any time. I encourage art therapists to try experiencing these apps for themselves to see if they can be a valuable tool in empowering the developing stories of our children and teenagers.