Lisa Padilla and Jose Andres Rosero, January 23, 2020, Oakland, CA.

NewPathVR participated in the Youth Listening Sessions by offering virtual reality experiences that guided youth and participants through emotional expression through art in the 3D space. For most, this was the first time with virtual reality and a great inspiration. From Kaiser's website:

Kaiser Permanente and Mental Health California are partnering on sessions this year that will spotlight voices of youth in foster care and juvenile justice to encourage stronger mental health programs.

Mental Health California, in partnership with Kaiser Permanente, will launch a series of Youth Listening Sessions across Northern California in 2020. The sessions will provide a space for youth ages 16 to 26 in the foster care and juvenile justice systems to engage in honest dialogue and self-expression with the aim of strengthening California’s youth mental health programs to better serve their needs.

According to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, California is in the midst of a youth mental health crisis. Nearly 1 in 3 high schoolers reported feeling sad or hopeless almost every day for 2 or more weeks in a row. Youth who experience childhood trauma face further challenges that are difficult to overcome. For example, according to the CDC-Kaiser Permanente Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACE) Study, youth with past exposure to adverse childhood experiences are at a higher risk for PTSD, substance abuse, and maltreatment with health and well-being later in life.

“When you think about children in foster care or the juvenile justice system, they are often at risk for not getting the mental health help they need and are more likely to have greater problems that have an impact on the family and community,” said Kristene Smith, CEO, Mental Health California. “The goal of our Youth Listening Sessions is to create a stronger mental health care system for some of our children in California.”

The Youth Listening Sessions will spotlight the voices of youth advocates and ensure they are heard. Youth will be invited to share their experiences, states of health, and well-being in ways that can lead to positive change. Northern California sessions will be held in Sacramento on January 17, Oakland on January 23, and Fresno on January 30.

“The number of youth across America who struggle with mental health continues to increase,” said Janet Liang, president of Kaiser Permanente in Northern California. “Connecting with youth early on with tools, resources, and support can dramatically improve that young person’s future. That is why Kaiser Permanente is committed to working with our mental health community partners to promote self-advocacy in youth experiencing mental and emotional health needs.”

Kaiser Permanente is looking at ways to mitigate the negative impact of adverse childhood experiences. Hearing directly from young people who have been impacted will bring important insights to upcoming initiatives and serve as a guide for service providers who have a vested interest in delivering trauma-informed services to individuals and communities impacted by trauma. This project aligns with Kaiser Permanente’s focus on adverse childhood experiences and further supports Kaiser Permanente’s efforts around mental health and wellness.

The 2020 listening sessions will include youth panels, presentations on the status of California’s foster care and juvenile justice systems, as well as a discussion on the impacts of trauma on system involved youth.

Event: Sacramento Youth Listening Session with Stanford Youth Solutions and Sierra Forever Families
Date: Friday, January 17, 2020
Time: 4:30 to 8:15 p.m.
Location: Valley Hi-North Laguna Library
Sacramento, CA

Event: Oakland Youth Listening Session with First Place for Youth
Date: Thursday, January 23, 2020
Time: 4:30 to 8:15 p.m.
Location: Youth Uprising
Oakland, CA

Event: Fresno Youth Listening Session with Transitions Children’s Services
Date: Thursday, January 30, 2020
Time: 4:30 to 8:15 p.m.
Location: Fresno Art Museum
Fresno, CA

About Mental Health California
Mental Health California™ is a 501(c)3 non-profit charitable organization providing mental health education through teaching, training, publishing, new media, and special programs. We produce an innovative multi-media magazine featuring a wide array of mental-wellness issues of importance to Californians across the lifespan. We also provide training, education, and awareness campaigns, and present community forums and special events. Our experience in multi-cultural outreach and communications allows us to offer multi-layered awareness programs tied to specific communities or cultural groups. For more information, visit www.mentalhealthca.org.

About Kaiser Permanente
Kaiser Permanente is committed to helping shape the future of health care. We are recognized as one of America’s leading health care providers and not-for-profit health plans. Founded in 1945, Kaiser Permanente has a mission to provide high-quality, affordable health care services and to improve the health of our members and the communities we serve. We currently serve 12.3 million members in 8 states and the District of Columbia. Care for members and patients is focused on their total health and guided by their personal Permanente Medical Group physicians, specialists, and team of caregivers. Our expert and caring medical teams are empowered and supported by industry-leading technology advances and tools for health promotion, disease prevention, state-of-the-art care delivery, and world-class chronic disease management. Kaiser Permanente is dedicated to care innovations, clinical research, health education, and the support of community health. For more information go to https://about.kaiserpermanente.org/.

NewPathVR spends the major portion of its time conducting research and development. We read and follow as much research as we can about the psychological, neurological, psychoacoustic, and affective scientific behavioral changes that can be made using immersive technologies. Simon Chandler at Wired recently wrote in an article titled “Virtual Reality’s Latest Use? Diagnosing Mental Illness” that VR is a promising diagnostic tool, researchers say, because it generates scenarios and experiences that can't easily be produced in a traditional clinical setting. The question the article asks “What is it about VR that makes it a promising technology for detecting neurological and psychiatric conditions?”

Early applications of the technology were in designing vehicle simulators. The technology was mainly used for training military personnel, pilots, and astronauts; but largely remained out of the public eye. The first applications of VR in medical teaching occurred in the 1990s with colonoscopy and upper gastrointestinal tract endoscopy simulation. Today, VR is being used to detect and treat psychological and neurological conditions and the questions are why and is it better than current methods. The answer is yes, and here's why.

First, VR simulates real life very "convincingly", so convincingly that your brain remembers VR as if it were real life. A notable 2009 Stanford study showed that preschool students surveyed 5 days after a VR experience of them swimming with whales believed that the experience was a real memory. They believed they actually swam with whales. Younger minds tend to be more impressionable but this begins to show you how powerful VR is.

Jeremy Bailenson’s Four Reasons to Test in VR

Jeremy Bailenson, founder of Stanford's Virtual Human Interaction Lab and author of “Experience on Demand”, states four reasons for testing something in virtual reality. He says you should build something in VR if otherwise, it would be:

1. Dangerous
2. Expensive
3. Impossible
4. Counterproductive

If something were dangerous like spiders or the plank experience, VR would make sense. To address the fear of flying, or reproducing an auditorium of people to practice speaking in front of would be quite expensive compared to a VR experience you could do again and again. To create a game where you shoot frogs in space would be impossible. Finally, it may be counterproductive to recreate role-playing between domestic abuse partners.

However, there are many other reasons to build in the immersive environment and many reasons why you would diagnose psychological and neurological conditions using VR.

VR for Real-Time Observation and Modification

One of the benefits of virtual technologies is that of the therapist's ability to monitor the patient’s activity. Some systems can be used to identify emotional facial expressions in patients with psychosis, or how to pick up other visual cues by watching the user or using heat mapping software. In this way, the therapist can be responsive to the patient and adjust the therapy in real-time in some cases.

VR for Testing Consistency

Virtual reality allows one to create a consistent, error-free environment or environments that can be customized for your assessment conditions. In the VR environment, you have complete control and can repeat simulations with finite accuracy and consistency. This combined with the real-life likeness of surroundings and objects, provides control in order to make assessments.

VR for Privacy and Removing Fear of Personal Judgment

There is some evidence to show that people will divulge more information to an AI or scripted avatar than they will to one embodied by a person or to a person directly. They also prefer to interact with an avatar of their own sex. This has to do with the feeling of being judged, which patients feel less of when dealing with an AI avatar.

VR for Gamification During Research

VR can provide patients with added motivation by adding gaming factors. This motivational aspect can lead to more accurate results and deeper engagement by participants. Gamification in VR is especially compelling, again because of the realism. For generations, game theory has been developed and refined and this psychology can transfer to VR, particularly in the dynamics surrounding how to keep the user engaged through each step or stage and for gathering emotional feedback.

VR for Safe Psychological Activation

There are other reasons, too, ie many therapeutic methods in vivo encourage you to put yourself in a state of stress, anxiety or PTSD, such as exposure therapy for agoraphobia or fear of crowds which include actually exposing yourself to crowds of people, perhaps activating a panic or anxiety attack you can't escape easily. If you were doing this therapy in VR, you could immediately remove the headset and address the emotions.

Creating Specialized Scenarios in VR to Detect Psychological or Neurological Conditions

To answer more on detection, Greek researchers in 2015 built a cognitive training game for patients with mild cognitive impairment, something that comes before Alzheimer's. This can detect memory loss by presenting scenarios that are increasingly complex such as financial planning.

When compared with existing cognitive tests, VR is showing great promise in helping to diagnose and help with memory. Cambridge University's Dr. Dennis Chan tested participants’ spatial navigation and memory by having them don an HTC Vive headset, follow an L-shaped path in a virtual environment (initially mapped out by cones), and then trace their footsteps back to their starting point without the help of any markers. Chan’s team reported that the VR-based navigation test was more accurate in diagnosing mild Alzheimer’s-related impairment than traditional “gold-standard” cognitive tests, such as figure recall and symbol tests.

Here at NewPath we are also inspired by Adam Gazzaley's work at UCSF's Sandler Neuroscience Center. Some of this research says that essentially as we get older, we lose the ability to ignore distractions. Adam's research has shown that you can train the elderly brains to concentrate and focus, through gaming mechanics, improving memory. His research has also shown that video games can increase cognitive ability.

VR and Biometrics to Determine Psychological and Neurological Conditions

Both neurological and psychological conditions may present themselves physically, hence the warranted excitement about biometrics and certainly those are being utilized for detection, but there are many issues to consider in this area.

Cubicle Ninjas used the heart rate tracking in concert with their VR meditation application called Guided Meditation VR. Users would attempt to lower their heart rate while using their app and a biometric headband. Some of the issues with using these devices together become evident right away -- privacy, user education, sizing, consistent results, and shared data across both apps. Well, it's not a closed loop, right? The VR application is not integrated, not HIPAA-compliant. Companies need to think these things through. Cubicle Ninjas removed this feature in 2018 due to "increased regulation around biometric data." they said. Another problem is the specificity to the hardware. An app that is specific to a headset, specific to a biometric device for the app? That's like a spoon that only works for hot carrots.

Detection of Psychological Conditions Through AI

NewPathVR is working on an AI-enabled AR/VR product that assesses your depression level upon intake of your therapy session. Currently a cold, numeric assessment, we've taken an avatar, meant to be one of many you could choose from, who asks you questions using natural language and a more personable interaction that we believe will generate more accurate answers and engaged patients, helping patients and clinicians and decreasing healthcare costs.

We also just held our 2nd Annual VR Wellness Hackathon, and one team created a prototype for an app that allows you to externalize and identify visually your anxiety or depression or the emotion you are experiencing with colored and textured brushes in VR and then interact with it by lighting it on fire, pushing it far away, erasing it, or just giving it a hug. By seeing your emotions as external notions rather than as ourselves, as we sometimes say "I am anxious", and that is an identifier, but by seeing the emotion outside of ourselves, we are better able to act upon feelings. 

Many people are excited about facial recognition. The problem with facial recognition at this time is that the VR headsets inhibit recognition of the full face. Eye tracking is something that you might see come out now incorporated into some of the headsets, but again, we're edging into the business of your bodily health information. Pupillary dilation, for example, says a lot about people and we are definitely headed into Minority Report territory -- it's the merging of these two that is a delicate weaving we're seeing.

VR Compared to Other Methods of Research Recording Methods

VR is certainly more accurate than human recording methods, because of pilots errors and more. But beyond that, beyond say a computer program, why is a VR environment better at diagnosing than a mobile app, for instance? It's because of the touch points. It has the potential to be a better diagnostic tool because of this, a better education tool, a better change tool.

Put it this way. If TV was a seal, and computers were maybe an octopus, VR is a jellyfish. It can touch you everywhere!

Because you are PART of the experience of VR, VR can connect to you in so many more ways. You are IN it. VR is experiential.

The reason we believe that VR is such a powerful tool for psychology is that memories and behaviors are formed from experiences. And VR is the first "experiential" medium. We can present experiential environments and present experiences for people and form memories, writing neural networks to change behaviors once people remove the headset. That's a major driving principle and theory for us at NewPathVR.

Our team built an app here for role-playing in which you choose actors and scenes and role-play past memories to do just this. Users record dialog and then role-play conversations from those memories to reform memories and change narratives in their lives to which they may have formed maladapted behaviors and coping mechanisms that don't suit their present-day relationships and healthy behaviors.

Dr. Brian Chau, a physician who writes about new medical technology, says, "The key here is data—we need validated measurements” to show VR is comparable to or better than traditional methods, he says. Continued partnerships between clinicians and VR developers are needed to move the technology” from the lab bench to the clinical bedside. NewPathVR agrees.

Why Psychological and Neurological Conditions Go Undiagnosed

Mental Health is a silent epidemic. For example,1 in 5 people have depression, 70% of these are between the ages 18-25 per the CDC in 2018. Eight (8) million people die each year due to mental illness. Mental health is not spoken about or given as much funding as physical illness, so it is harder to find research and support and find new more effective, ways to solve problems for this area.

Traditional techniques do not always work. It is difficult to diagnose mental illness due to issues of stigma, lack of mental healthcare workers, expense, and the nature of the illnesses themselves which pose inconsistencies and challenges. Individuals vary in responses to traditional treatments and for some people it is a lifelong commitment (e.g. there are many patients who cannot afford to keep up long term therapy, especially people who are more disadvantaged, most at risk and most in need, and government counseling services cannot possibly reach everyone) and although through community outreach programs it is possible to deliver these services to many more people, some people tend to be more closed off and find it difficult to connect with traditional processes or it can take them a while to do it.) In these situations, VR could offer a better solution as it addresses issues such as expense, accessibility, and stigma.

The Psychological Dangers of VR

Yes, there are dangers to consider. As one example, I mentioned the strategy of "activation" in order to practice skills during your stress state so you will readily be able to call up those skills during your next stress state. This is often done under the supervision of a therapist. Developers need to consider how to contain a user's experience in this regard when a therapist is not present. 

When subjecting individuals to tests intended to bring out symptoms associated with panic or psychosis, there is a danger that VR could provoke or cause these symptoms in people who would have otherwise never exhibited them. In other words, there is, in fact, the risk that VR could cause psychiatric symptoms, such as PTSD, in healthy individuals.  

There are several other important things to consider when adding VR to a clinician's toolkit. Practicality, privacy, safety and more. NewPathVR teaches courses on these topics precisely. We are the only company approved to teach accredited courses on VR Psychology for the practical and clinical use of VR with patients. We teach practitioners about the guidelines for the different headsets, the research behind conditions being treated with VR successfully and areas that are still gray. VR applications available for each headset, pricing and options and solutions that suit individual or organizational scenarios are also covered. We teach safety, what population will be using the technology, app insurability, sanitization, we cover all of this. Importantly, which applications are for use with a clinician and which apps people can use at home on your own.

We also believe that standards and guidelines need to be developed for XR across the board, usability, and ratings, for example, and we are familiar with some associations working on this.

I wrote an article about the responsibility of VR developers in 2016 to try to shed light on this topic. This indicates that the tool has to be used with care and caution, particularly with the entering and exiting of an application (the “handling”, I call it, or "containing" some people say) however, the fortitude of the platform also translates to its positive effects, and when using it to treat and enhance mental health, it can have enormous benefits for an individual.

In summary, VR provides an excellent opportunity for optimized testing and detection of psychological and neurological conditions. There are important things researchers and clinicians must keep in mind with this incredibly powerful technology when doing so, and working with experienced professionals is a good way to avoid some of the pitfalls inherent in this newly emerging, but very promising, technology.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Make the World Your Canvas with Virtual Reality

In recognition of Inspire Your Heart with Art Day, observed annually on January 31st, NewPathVR is launching a Monthly Art Campaign to showcase the powerful capabilities of art therapy in virtual reality. Art therapy is integral to the company and is used in workshops and programs, including the recent Explore Tech Event, and a current partnership with Tech in The Tenderloin, which delivers an 8-week Youth VR Program to the Boys and Girls Club of San Francisco.

Inspire Your Heart with Art Day encourages individuals to explore and immerse themselves in the power of different art forms. The ability of art, especially that produced with VR, to help express, visualize and understand emotions is the inspiration behind the Monthly Art Campaign. CEO of NewPathVR, Lisa Padilla explains “We often think of our emotions as our identity. When we say “I am angry.” or “I am anxious.” When, in actuality, feelings are temporary and they change and pass. VR art therapy allows people to externalize a feeling through art and by doing this, they can begin to observe and address it with a different perspective. National Inspire Your Heart with Art Day is a perfect day to launch our campaign to bring awareness to innovative therapeutic tools like VR.”

Padilla is at the core of this initiative, and has over 25 years of experience as a multimedia artist, specializing in VR. Her works have been globally recognized and featured in art shows, magazines and the Journal of Contemporary Painting. Reflecting on the piece she has produced for the January Campaign, she says “I took January’s piece as a challenge to express the concept of ‘anxiety’ and while colorful and exciting, as ‘good’ anxiety can be, this representation shows sharp edges which also reflect how unapproachable I feel when I’m in that state.”

About NewPathVR
NewPathVR is the creator of digital behavioral health applications in virtual reality. With an aim to evoke positive change through conscious technology, the company uses research-based methods from its proprietary Active PsychologyTM library to create wellness applications for VR. They also teach accredited courses in VR Psychology and power the world’s first VR wellness portal - RenewVR.com.

Contact:

Monica Shakeri
Marketing and PR
NewPathVR
This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
(415) 882-6873

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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

NewPathVR Youth Program Explores Practical Applications of VR for Community Education

San Francisco, (Issuewire.com) - SAN FRANCISCO, CA, January 30, 2019 - NewPathVR, a digital behavioral health company, is introducing its first official 8-week VR Youth Program, in partnership with Tech in the Tenderloin (TNT) at the Boys and Girls Club of San Francisco. The new TNT Tech Club will launch at the Boys and Girls Tenderloin Clubhouse on January 30 and will run until March 13, 2019. The Program encourages participants aged 10 through 16 to experience a different virtual reality theme each week including art, music, games, and travel.

In sharing her hopes for the program, CEO of NewPathVR, Lisa Padilla highlights community education as a core goal. She says, “we hope that these immersive experiences inspire boys and girls to think differently about themselves and the world around them. Introducing virtual reality as a therapeutic tool, something to create art and music with, that’s a real eye-opener, but add the wonder of young minds and it’s just beautiful. For example, we’ve created an application that allows you to embody influential characters in your life and role-play scenarios that might have gone healthier in an effort to change the behaviors created from a memory.”

Tech in the Tenderloin is a non-profit that connects low-opportunity youth and families with high-opportunity tech through fun events and activities in the Tenderloin neighborhood of San Francisco and beyond. “We love partnering with tech startups like NewPathVR to bring cutting edge tech education to organizations like the Boys and Girls Club. It’s a great way to make tech fun for the kids, connect them with the tech ecosystem, and expand their career imaginations about what’s possible for themselves and their families,” say co-founders Julia Beabout and June Sargent.

In terms of the many benefits the Program offers, Padilla says “VR affords you the ability to learn and understand information at an accelerated rate, and the effect on behavior is a positive one when presented with the appropriate content. There are several studies that show that multiple types of VR experiences reduce depression, anxiety, and PTSD and that’s merely the beginning.”

About NewPathVR
NewPathVR is the creator of digital behavioral health applications in virtual reality. With an aim to evoke positive change through conscious technology, the company uses research-based methods from its proprietary Active PsychologyTM library to create wellness applications for VR. They also teach accredited courses in VR Psychology and power the world’s first VR wellness portal - RenewVR.com.

Contact:

Monica Shakeri
Marketing and PR
NewPathVR
This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
(415) 882-6873

###

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

VR Provides Opportunity for Community to Participate in Immersive Experiences

SAN FRANCISCO, January 25, 2018 - NewPathVR, a digital behavioral health company building virtual reality experiences to address mental health issues, is participating in the first ever Explore Tech event from 12:00 pm to 4:00 pm on Saturday, January 26th, 2019, at the Visitacion Valley Branch of San Francisco Public Library. The event is open to the public, and includes, inter alia, informational sessions on library apps, experimenting with programming, virtual reality, and stop motion animation.

The Visitacion Valley Branch Library hosts regular events and workshops to promote online access and technology skill building to reduce digital disparities within the community. Similarly, Lisa Padilla, CEO of NewPathVR recognizes the fact that “While the San Francisco and Bay Area lead in so many ways with technology, there are large and visible disparities in many neighborhoods and with populations who have little or no access to these resources. Our community work aims to change this unfortunate reality.”

In anticipation of the upcoming event, Lisa Padilla, CEO of NewPathVR said “We feel honored to be part of Visitacion Valley Branch’s event and have the opportunity to introduce people to family-friendly virtual reality applications, such as music and art therapy. Our hope is that it will diminish the mystery around virtual reality and show people how wonderful and transformative an experience VR can be for youth and adults alike. Visitacion Valley Branch is the second library in the San Francisco Library system to showcase VR for the community, leading the way in closing the digital gap for edge populations with a wide diversity of generational and racial backgrounds, where we see a great concentration of mental health conditions.”

Branch Manager of Visitacion Valley Library, Barbara Daniels added “we are so excited to have VR here for the first time at the Visitacion Valley Library. This is a first for the library, and for many residents. We hope to show our community all of the amazing technology that is emerging in our society, and show them at their own local library.”

In a research paper published in October 2018 by Frontiers in Psychology, researchers said “Digital arts, as new mediums of creation have produced new forms of expression for art therapy,” “The unique characteristics of VR experience, compounded by the novel possibilities of artistic expression in VR further expand these therapeutic possibilities (Brown and Garner, 2016; Lohrius and Malchiodi, 2018).” “Moreover, when using art therapy in VR, clients create their own customized environment in the processes of therapy. Thus, circumventing a limitation of previous approaches to VR based psychotherapy. We suggest that VR based therapy, combining individualized creative processes in the unrestricted VR environment forms a therapeutic environment which can be well-tailored to the clinical needs of each individual.”

About NewPathVR
NewPathVR is the creator of digital behavioral health applications in virtual reality. With an aim to evoke positive change through conscious technology, the company uses research-based methods from its proprietary Active Psychology^TM library to create wellness applications for VR. They also teach accredited courses in VR Psychology and power the world’s first VR wellness portal - RenewVR.com.

Contact:

Monica Shakeri
Marketing and PR
NewPathVR
This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
1390 Market Street #2710
San Francisco, CA 94102

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Kaiser Permanente has retrieved its poor reputation from the clenches of the 80’s and now boasts many accolades and awards of recognition for its leadership in healthcare and programs, leaders, and in places to work. Patients no longer complain regularly about mishaps, insurance nightmares and long office waits. Kaiser ranks top in member satisfaction and has invested billions in electronic records and modernizing medical department and administrative equipment for the benefit of practitioners and patients alike. I, myself, am a Kaiser patient, and credit the payer-provider organization for saving the life of both myself and my husband when we were each faced with life-threatening diseases — him with a heart attack in 2009 and me with breast cancer, 5 years ago in 2013.

I found out about my breast cancer on my 43rd birthday at 8 am. The phone call woke me up. I thought it may have been my dad, calling to sing me happy birthday. “This is Kaiser. We’re calling to tell you that your test showed that you are positive for cancer in your left breast. We recommend a mastectomy. We have an opening on Thursday. Would you like to schedule it?”

Um, can I get a second opinion?

“You can,” she responded, “but you don’t want to wait long, it’s very aggressive.”

After a second and third opinion, I took the Thursday appointment and had a mastectomy. I would love to tell you how brave I was, how quickly I recovered, and what a poster child I am for how to approach breast cancer as a patient. But the story is the exact opposite. I went in totally uninformed. I went in with cringed eyes and phenomenal stress. There was no time, and no one there to explain it adequately. It was terrifying. I had barely enough time to search Google to determine which kind of breast cancer it was and what my chances were for surviving. I didn’t know how to find information about what the process was going to be, what my options were, what recovery would be like, or how this would impact me or my family. I was completely in the dark.

The whole process was so quick, there was no time to think about the decisions I was making. We were given pamphlets and a page with checkboxes and if we needed more time to decide, we were left alone in a room to discuss it (and look things up on Google), but I mean, Jesus. Both breasts, just one? Reconstruction or not? Saline or silicone? Tummy tuck add-on (for real, yes, no charge)? Is 11 am good for you?

“You’re so brave,”

“You’re so brave,” people kept saying. That’s a nice thought. I want to be someone that others can look up to, someone who weathered the storm with a stiff upper lip, but I’m afraid I let everyone down on that count. I was in a panic most of the time, I cried after sometimes in confusion about what was happening to my body, sometimes just out of fear of what would happen next. I was a total nuisance to the nurses and doctors, calling on them constantly with questions and concerns and escalating my issues to their supervisors when I didn’t like the answers or treatment I received.

When I got home, I couldn’t stand to look at the scars so I showered in the dark for months. The PTSD from the surgery and procedures afterward did not fade really. I didn’t want to be touched. My self-confidence started to suffer. My very understanding husband was doing whatever he could to support me in my healing, but I kept falling into despair and self-loathing, I didn’t feel whole anymore. Year after year I would watch the breast cancer walk on TV and wonder why I hadn’t bounced back so effortlessly they way the spokeswomen had, in their bright pink t-shirts with ribbons pinned to them. I looked for breast cancer survivor support groups and found two within an hour’s drive. One was for young women under 40. I was 43. The other required that you leave a voice message so I did and no one called me back.

3%

Statistically speaking, there is a 3% chance that I will have cancer in my right breast in the future. Doesn’t seem like a lot but….the chances of winning the National Lottery are 1 in 45,057,474. And I’ve played that, probably, 20 times in my lifetime. Every year since the surgery, when I receive a call from my Kaiser nurse telling me it is time for my annual mammogram and women’s exam, an anvil drops into my stomach. Time to play again.

I schedule a day that I have no meetings because I know that I will be so psychologically and physically triggered that I shouldn’t plan anything else. I usually plan to get cupcakes or ice cream afterward so I have something to look forward to and reward myself (something leftover that my mother used to do for me, I still do for myself).

When cupcakes aren’t enough

We promised you the technology is evolving and this year Oculus came out with a phone-free, tether-free headset with a nice resolution that runs apps that ran on the Samsung Gear VR, which required an expensive phone. I’ve been singing its praises for months, suggesting patients use it in hospital beds, waiting rooms, and doctor’s offices. We even built an Oculus Go application called the Prostate Procedure Guide for patient education and anxiety reduction. I imagine you’re beginning to see some of the origins of our motivations.

At previous exams, I premedicated with anti-anxiety medications and/or recreational drugs. Yes, I’m (not) the portrait of strength and fearlessness, as mentioned. Yet these solutions somehow made me more sensitive to the experience in many ways and that wasn’t productive. This year I am convinced by the extensive research and people I have witnessed and their healing experiences with VR. I have seen and reviewed hundreds of wellness applications on RenewVR and have read hundreds of articles and research papers on the mental health benefits of VR. So I decided to load up my Oculus Go and take it to my appointment.

First was my mammogram. I sat in the waiting room and started an app called Kaleidorium.

I paired the app with my Spotify playlist I use while I make art made up of some current favorite songs (Hearts and Bones, Paul Simon; Let You Love Me, Rita Ora; Wild Things, Alessia Cara; What About Us, Pink) and I watched the beautiful colors change and fly by.

I hear the nurse call my name and forget that I was supposed to be worrying about this procedure. I step into the room with the radiologist to perform the mammogram. She does her thing. I resist the urge to look at the screen but wait for her response. She sees these all day, she knows what’s up. She says it looks good but they’ll contact me in a few days to confirm. I notice that overall I am not so freaked out. Now it’s time for my pelvic exam.

Ladies. Let us speak frankly. One really can’t equally compare a prostate exam to a pelvic exam. I’ll take one of those any day of the week, in fact, well nevermind. Could we more fairly compare it to an alien abduction with a non-consensual probe? Yes, see, several hands just went up in agreement. In a prostate exam, the doctor uses a finger. In a pelvic exam, they start with this:

Wait, you are wondering, are we not past the 1700's? Why yes, that’s true, but we still use steam-punk, friggin’ ice-cold, torture-looking devices and this is just so the doctor can get inside our lady bits, I’m not going to go into what they do once they get in there.

Think cupcakes. Think cupcakes. Think cupcakes.

So, you still get to lie in the same cold slab of weird, paper-covered, stirrup-equipped bench of the 1920’s, thank GOD, thank you SO much! I was left alone to undress and my anxiety started to rise. This procedure can be as brief as 5–15 minutes, but my knees are often times left shaking afterward for hours. This time, when the doctor came in with her assistant, I said, “Give me a moment,”

“I brought my VR headset to help me relax,”

This time I put on an app called Azul. It’s a meditation and mindfulness app that helps you focus.

Instead of looking at the foam panels in the office ceiling and fluorescent light bulbs, I selected a scene, a field with birds in the sky, and I selected the music and laid back. I watched the birds fly in circles.

Before I knew it, she was done. It was that fast. Time flies when you are in VR, people often recount that they thought less time had gone by while they were using it. But in this case, shorter perceived time, no pain, very little discomfort, and no PTSD as I usually have had after this procedure.

As the CEO of NewPathVR, I spend my days evangelizing the psychological benefits of virtual reality. Taking it into my own life is a natural step but one that surpassed my expectations still. I didn’t actually need those cupcakes or meds after all. Virtual reality is a powerful state change tool and remains the most evolutionary force to meet so many industries in years, particularly emotional wellness.

The great news is that I received a clean bill of health. 5 years cancer free!

I recommend the Oculus Go this winter for you, your kids, your friends, and family, believe me, you’ll find uses for it. This spring, you’ll want to grab the Oculus Quest too, for full room-scale VR and higher resolution apps. Here are links to the apps I used but there are hundreds more on renewvr.com.

Kaleidorium: https://www.oculus.com/experiences/go/1700720009953361/

Azul: https://www.oculus.com/experiences/go/1274880599305742/

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NewPathVR to be Showcased at Connect with Tech Week at the San Francisco Library

Community Seniors and Families to Explore the Capabilities of Virtual Reality

SAN FRANCISCO, CA, May 8, 2018 – NewPathVR, an emotional intelligence company building virtual reality experiences for anxiety and depression, today announced plans to bring virtual reality to the community at the Connect with Tech event held by the San Francisco Library, May 7–12, 2018.

Connect with Tech Week is a citywide initiative comprised of events spearheaded by the San Francisco Public Library to promote online access and technology skill-building and to reduce digital disparities in our communities. The programs are free and open to the public. Tech training programs ranging from basic computer skills to beginning coding classes will be offered throughout the library system and partnering locations. Library staff, tech workers and industry professionals will be on hand to help bridge the digital divide and improve your quality of life.

“There’s still some apprehension about virtual technologies, but we love to see what we call ‘conversion on contact’ when a person finally puts a headset on and finds themselves in the immersive world for a few moments,” said Lisa Padilla, CEO of NewPathVR, “we’ve trained hundreds of people how to use VR, many for their first time, and the general reaction is beautiful, it’s not what people expect, people tend to be pleasantly surprised.”

More than 100,000 San Francisco residents lack Internet access at home and/or are not proficient at using the Internet and digital devices. As more basic services are moving online, many are left behind, especially seniors, people with disabilities and low-income families. They lack the knowledge or support to use the Internet and gain digital skills, and view the Internet as difficult, unsafe to use or irrelevant. Last year more than 2,000 people participated in this annual event; gaining knowledge and resources to help them in the ever increasing tech required world.

Access to technology, especially new tech, is a problem for which NewPathVR believes we can break down the walls. As prices come down and software becomes more widely available, with platforms such as RenewVR.com, we believe the wellness applications that will serve to change lives can reach those underserved populations.

Find NewPathVR showcased at the Tech Expo at the San Francisco Library on Thursday, May 10, 1- 3 p.m., Main Library, 100 Larkin Street, San Francisco, CA 94102.

About NewPathVR

NewPathVR is the creator of personal development and emotional intelligence applications in virtual reality. The company uses research-based methods from its proprietary Active PsychologyTM library to create wellness applications for VR with the goal of evoking positive change through conscious technology. We also teach accredited courses in VR Psychology and power the world’s first VR wellness portal — RenewVR.com.

Contact:

Ashild Fossum
Marketing and PR
NewPathVR
This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
1390 Market Street #2710
San Francisco, CA  94102

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NewPathVR Recognizes National Mental Health Awareness Month

Life With a Mental Illness Theme Highlights Importance of Speaking Up, Sharing What Mental Health Feels like with a #30DaysofMentalHealth #vrpsychology Campaign

SAN FRANCISCO, CA, May 1, 2018 —When mental illnesses or disorders are talked about, the language typically used to describe them tends to be clinical and impersonal. These words, while useful for doctors or clinicians, often don’t do justice to what life with a mental illness feels like. That is why this year’s theme for May is Mental Health Month—Life With a Mental Illness—is a call to action to share what life with a mental illness feels like to someone going through it.

Mental Health Awareness Month was started in the United States in 1949 by the Mental Health America organization (then known as the National Association for Mental Health). This year, we are building off of the Mental Health America message and encouraging individuals to give voice to what it really means to live at stages 1, 2, 3, and 4 of mental illness. Life with a mental illness is meant to help remove the shame and stigma of speaking out so that more people can be comfortable coming out of the shadows and seeking the help they need. “Mental illnesses are common and better treatable with transformative technologies and new therapies such as virtual reality,” said Lisa Padilla, CEO of NewPathVR. “Sharing and education are keys to breaking down the stigma surrounding mental illnesses and to showing others that they are not alone in their feelings and their symptoms.”

This Mental Health Month, we are encouraging people to speak up through words, stories, and artistic expression about how it feels to live with a mental illness by tagging social media posts with #30DaysofMentalHeath and #vrpsychology. Posting with our hashtag is a way to speak up, to share your point of view with people who may be struggling to explain what they are going through—and help others figure out if they too are showing signs of a mental illness.

NewPathVR will be creating emotional expression pieces through art throughout the month which can be followed on our Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/newpathvrinc. We will be using Google Tilt Brush to perform a bodymapping art therapy exercise to express and identify emotions. 

One day, there may be virtual reality software available specifically for certain art therapy exercises, like bodymapping. Sarah Ticho is working on one such application. "Bodymapping has been an undervalued method for exploring human stories for some time, I am excited that say that we are developing a Hatsumi, a body mapping platform with additional features to enhance user experience and provide psychological safety. Hatsumi is receiving additional support from experts in the field of bodymapping and the Stanford Virtual Reality Immersive Technology Lab, where it will undergo early trials with patients at the end of this month. The application is designed for behavioral healthcare providers to integrate into existing therapies, and eventually for public use and academic research exploring the phenomenology of human experience." Presently, Google's Tilt Brush offers a wide variety of brushes and textures to paint and sculpt with for advanced artists and beginners. You can take a look at this month's bodymapping examples created in Tilt Brush on the Facebook timeline facebook.com/lisapadilla.

Speaking out about what mental illness feels like can encourage others to recognize symptoms early on in the disease process, and empower individuals to be agents in their own recovery. “Prevention, early identification, intervention, and integrated services work,” concluded Dr. Michelle Wang, NewPathVR's Chief Psychology Officer, “are all powerful tools in fighting behavioral conditions that affect so many of us. Telling people how life with a mental illness feels helps build support from friends and family, reduces stigma and discrimination, and is crucial to recovery.”

About NewPathVR

NewPathVR is the creator of personal development and emotional intelligence applications in virtual reality. The company uses research-based methods from its proprietary Active Psychology^TM library to create wellness applications for VR with the goal of evoking positive change through conscious technology. We also teach accredited courses in VR Psychology and power the world’s first VR wellness portal — RenewVR.com.

Contact:

Ashild Fossum
Marketing and PR
NewPathVR
This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
1390 Market Street #2710
San Francisco, CA 94102

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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

VR Provides Revolutionary New Therapies for Mental Health

SAN FRANCISCO, April 2, 2018 – The U.S. is not prepared to meet today's mental health patient population demands. There is a behavioral healthcare professional shortage of thousands reported by the Health Resources and Services Administration and clinicians are challenged to meet the 20% Americans who are suffering from mental illness every year according to the National Institute on Mental Illness of which more than half never receive treatment.

NewPathVR is working with the San Francisco Psychological Association to train mental health clinicians on the therapeutic use of virtual reality. "NewPathVR is excited to partner with the San Francisco Psychological Association to advance both our missions to promote and enrich the science and practice of psychology for the health and welfare of the greater public," said Lisa Padilla, CEO of NewPathVR. "As the first partner of choice for the SFPA in the delivery of VR Psychology training, we plan to leverage our expertise and our network to deliver continuing education courses and workshops.

The first courses are being held in San Francisco and will serve the region, with plans to expand nationwide by the end of the year. NewPathVR will offer psychological associations in the SF Bay Area and healthcare institutions VR Psychology courses that teach practical therapeutic applications of VR Psychology, including Advanced VR Psychology, and VR Art Therapy. NewPathVR’s goal is to continue developing protocols and training for the use of VR in clinical settings that align with the ethics and standards of governing bodies such as American Psychological Association.

“We are very pleased for the opportunity to deliver VR Psychology training to licensed clinicians and graduate students in the area of emotional and psychological growth. We’ve been actively pursuing these trainings since the very beginning, almost as soon as we recognized the potential of VR-assisted therapies. To be received with not only open arms but curious hearts and fascinated minds instills us with excitement that professional healers see what we see. It is of the utmost importance that people not suffer needlessly and, though no one tool can be the answer, of course, we believe VR-assisted therapies - when done with intention - can be an affordable and potent tool for both the releasing and reforming of neuropsychological patterns.” said Dr. Michelle Wang, Chief Psychology Officer of NewPathVR.

"I was dazzled by the [course] and awed at the potential of VR for treating psychological suffering. I discovered that some of the potential is already here." said Dr. Bruce F. Pither, past president of the San Francisco Psychological Association. Padilla added, "Joining forces with organizations like the San Francisco Psychological Association to make our training available to more people around the world is essential to our mission and we are excited at the possibilities this collaboration will provide."

There have been 3000 studies over the past 30 years showing positive behavioral changes achieved through the use of virtual reality. Interventions with immersive environments have been created for the relief of stress, anxiety, stress, depression, PTSD, ADHD, Autism, Alzheimer's Disease, and more.

About NewPathVR

NewPathVR is the creator of personal development and emotional intelligence applications in virtual reality. The company uses research-based methods from its proprietary Active PsychologyTM library to create wellness applications for VR with the goal of evoking positive change through conscious technology. We also teach accredited courses in VR Psychology and power the world’s first VR wellness portal — RenewVR.com.

Contact:

Ashild Fossum
Marketing and PR
NewPathVR
This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
1390 Market Street #2710
San Francisco, CA 94102

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