The COVID-19 pandemic had a number of negative and positive side effects globally; the negative side effects are littered in any news paper of one’s choice. One of the positive side effects is that this period exposed the virtual potential we did not know we had from zoom meetings to online classes to having all businesses move online. Service provision has not been left behind in the virtual migration and Men of the Night Uganda (MONU) is introducing virtual reality assisted mental health support.
By definition, virtual reality is the computer-generated simulation of a three dimensional image or environment that can be interacted with in a seemingly real or physical way by a person using special electronic equipment. Virtual reality assisted mental health support will involve the use of special equipment to give clients a conducive environment to receive support. This will create a stimulation of clients presumably face to face with counselors in environments specially tailored for particular client emotional healing needs. The biggest flaw with tele-therapy is that clients do not feel connected to counselors they cannot see and even with a high imagination struggle to remove themselves from the situation they are in to create a conducive environment for their healing. The biggest flaw with in person therapy is the cost; qualified, relevant mental health care is actually quite costly. Virtual reality assisted mental health support combines the best of both worlds and adds a few perks of its own. Virtual reality allows the counselor to create different stimulations at the different healing stages of the client for efficiency and effectiveness.
MONU is honored be the virtual reality assisted mental health support trail blazer in Uganda and hopes that other mental service providers will adopt this as well. “We are willing to work with other service providers to show them how this works as we believe that virtual reality is going to revolutionize mental health care,” says Jonathan from MONU.
Stay tuned to Men Of the Night Uganda’s social media pages to find out more details on how to access this service.
