Virtual Peace after Natural Disasters & Trauma
How VR and AR are smoothing Life’s Speed Bumps
Of all the things you have in your medicine cabinet, chances are you have nothing to help a problem that’s responsible for 90% of all doctors visits. Stress….. is the 21st century epidemic according to the World Health Organization but it’s not something you can fix with a bandaid or Benedryl. But virtual and augmented reality can be mental health armor for when reality overwhelms your defenses and you need to escape. Recently in the aftermath of the F3 tornado in Missouri, the American Red Cross used virtual reality, to take storm victims to a less stressful place.
The Red Cross is also piloting Healium’s virtual reality kits before blood donations to allow clients to escape the needle stick. The results of that 40 person trial on VR and mood states before blood donations will be published soon.
Compassion Fatigue
“Compassion Fatigue is a state experienced by those helping people or animals in distress; it is an extreme state of tension and preoccupation with the suffering of those being helped to the degree that it can create a secondary traumatic stress for the helper.” — Dr. Charles Figley, Director, Tulane Traumatology Institute
Caring too much can hurt. Whether you’re a nurse, a parent, veterinarian or journalist who covers trauma, take it from me, the reality you consume can make you sick. Healium is an evidence-based intervention used worldwide in consumer homes and in areas of situational stress. This ‘stress aid kit’ is a drugless solution that allows the user to SEE their emotions so they can be more self-aware how to control them. Healium runs on the user’s calm or happiness via biometric information that comes from consumer wearables like a smartwatch or a brain-sensing headband. Your body’s electricity is the game’s remote control.
Moms: a Virtual Vacation
Cher Kachelmuss is a mommy blogger in the Chicago area. Moms and Dads are using Healium to sneak away on mini virtual vacations.
“This is a portable, digital device that is basically high-tech meditation. I will say I am not big into meditation but this worked! You wear a VR headset that has virtual and augmented reality escapes that are powered by your brainwaves or heart rate via your wearables. So in the video I did, I had to heal a tree and make it grow. I was definitely skeptic about it working! You have to unwind your thoughts and think happy things and the tree heals. I was doing good with the tree until someone behind me was talking loud and I was getting mad at them, all of the sudden the tree stopped healing as it sensed my brainwaves and body getting upset! It really worked and reminded me to just breathe and not let things bother me!” — Cher Kackelmuss on momsandmore.com
Virtual Time Outs
Boys and Girls Clubs are using Healium to teach middle and junior high students about their mind-body connection by allowing them to see that mind-body connection displayed in a compelling way. Instead of a time out, schools in Illinois and Missouri are giving a “Healium Out” that allows the students to see their feelings personified as butterflies hatching out of an augmented reality chrysalis.
Cancer Survivors
Mary Jane Schaftel in Colorado used Healium during and after her chemotherapy treatments to remind her of the beauty of nature.
“Using Healium during my unique journey with breast cancer helped me embrace the positive things in my life; and it reinforced all the quiet joys and personal healing going on inside me. Rather than VR being an escape from the daily challenges of chemo and radiation into a pretend world, it opened my eyes to the wonderful things in THIS world that we can each access at ANY time. Likewise, I believe Healium can enable others to better recognize and experience the love and beauty that is already present in their own life story. Whether it is a cascading waterfall, a beautified ancient tree, snowflakes quietly falling, or an elderly, homebound Veteran “visiting” his National Memorial, Healium’s stories offer heartwarming visions full of hope and possibility!
Survivors with Pain
In hundreds of studies, stress management has been linked to better outcomes for 60% of all illness and disease. Raj Shah in the DC area uses Healium to quiet his mind. His experience with pain was the inspiration behind an experience in our library called “Awake the Light”. Raj told us his “wounds are where the light enters” him. In the full experience, the user’s feelings of positivity or calm send light out into a virtual world.
Healium has reduced by blood pressure and my pulse by about 20 percent.
— Raj Shah, Philanthropist.
Veterans: Get Healium. Give Healium.
By doing business with Healium, you help support Honor Everywhere, a virtual tour program for aging and terminally ill Veterans unable to travel on in-person Honor Flights to Washington, DC. Thousands have had the chance to see the WWII, Korea, Womens, and Vietnam memorials thanks to free Healium content and kits for Veterans.
In addition, Healium is on dozens of airlines to destress passengers during long haul flights and has been used in areas of confined stress like the USS Nimitz, an aircraft carrier out in the Pacific Ocean. We created this virtual reality story to give you a taste of what it’s like to not see nature for months and have jets barreling toward you. Healium not only brings sailors nature but allows them to virtually escape one of the most dangerous jobs in the world.
Where will Healium take you? Email us at hello@story-up.com
