New VR project will provide mental health support for Saskatchewan students

A new virtual reality (VR) project created by Saskatchewan Polytechnic is aiming to give students in rural Saskatchewan a new mental health resource.

Lindsey Boechler, the project’s research lead, said researchers partnered with Dene High School in La Loche three years ago to explore how virtual reality technology could support the mental health and well-being of students.

Initially, Boechler said she envisioned increasing access to care using VR technology by offering services such as counselling through headsets, but she said after receiving feedback from students, a new approach to well-being has been created which includes connecting them with youth from other communities to establish relationships.

“It’s breaking down that sense of isolation that a lot of youths living in rural and remote communities experience,” she said.

Boechler said project operators worked with the students at the high school to hear their perspectives on what would be beneficial for their mental health and how VR could support their well-being.

Now, it’s a two-pronged project that combines face-to-face communications with technology.

(Saskatchewan Polytechnic/Submitted)

“We introduce wellness techniques (and) introduce friendships. Everything we do is really based on a sense of safety, identity and belonging and how we can build that,” she explained, adding that after those skills are built in person, they can be enhanced by technology.

Boechler hopes the project develops to connect students through a social platform, provide access to educational material, and allow access to workshops with the VR headsets.

The VR can also be used to capture students’ home communities to share, she said.

Before Boechler’s role at Sask Polytech, she said she worked as a paramedic serving rural and remote communities across Saskatchewan.

“I’ve witnessed that there’s a lot of barriers to accessing mental health care and that a lot of the youth living in rural communities are struggling with their mental health,” she said.

She said the first phase of data has been collected and the project is now moving towards the development and trial phases. Boechler added the project co-ordinators are hoping to facilitate their first provincial summit this fall.