WHAT WE DO
WHAT WE DO
Helping you face your fears from the comfort of our clinic
Through the use of virtual reality (VR) we help our clients face their fears Whether the fear is of vomiting, snakes, or blood tests, we collaboratively develop individualized evidence-based psychological treatment plans for our clients, which incorporate the use of cutting-edge VR technology.
Our sessions all follow an evidenced based protocol
Phase 1
- Initial assessment to understand how we can best support you.
- Collaboratively develop a shared understanding of symptoms and a personalized treatment plan.
Phase 2
- Anxiety Management Skills Training.
- Preparation for using Virtual Reality to help you learn to manage your anxiety symptoms in a controlled way. You don’t need to have any previous experience using VR to use this technology in therapy!
Phase 3
- Start VR therapy. Your clinician will coach you through it each step of the way so you are given the best opportunity to learn from the Virtual Environments using your Anxiety Management Skills.
- Consolidation of new helpful beliefs and behaviours to manage your anxiety.
Phase 4
- Continue Graded Exposure Therapy work in real life if appropriate.
- Create a Relapse Prevention plan to help you manage any unexpected return of symptoms in the future.
Our sessions all follow an evidenced based protocol
Phase 1
- Initial assessment to understand how we can best support you.
- Collaboratively develop a shared understanding of symptoms and a personalized treatment plan.
Phase 2
- Anxiety Management Skills Training
- Preparation for using Virtual Reality to help you learn to manage your anxiety symptoms in a controlled way. You don’t need to have any previous experience using VR to use this technology in therapy!
Phase 3
- Start VR therapy. Your clinician will coach you through it each step of the way so you are given the best opportunity to learn from the Virtual Environments using your Anxiety Management Skills.
- Consolidation of new helpful beliefs and behaviours to manage your anxiety.
Phase 4
- Continue Graded Exposure Therapy work in real life if appropriate.
- Create a Relapse Prevention plan to help you manage any unexpected return of symptoms in the future.
VR outcomes
At the Virtual Reality Phobia Clinic we use graded exposure to help you face your fear. Exposure therapy has the strongest evidence in clinical research to get the best treatment outcomes for phobia. It involves you and your therapist working through feared situations in a structured way. Each time you face one of your fears you will feel less anxious and more able to cope.
Exposure work is based on the well understood classical conditioning theory that describes the learning process of seemingly safe situations becoming associated with physical symptoms of anxiety. This is because these situations provoke worrisome thoughts sometimes based on previous experiences. Therefore, this situation becomes fearful. For example, for people with claustrophobia, the situation might be a lift. This fear can be lessened significantly with the assistance of a clinician using repeated exposure to the lift or similar situation in a very gradual way using Virtual Reality scenarios. These scenarios will help create new learning opportunities so that this situation no longer causes a high level of anxiety response, and you will have more helpful thoughts to get you through.
Significant research has demonstrated the benefits of Virtual Reality Therapy to enhance existing psychological therapies.
VR outcomes
At the Virtual Reality Phobia Clinic we use graded exposure to help you face your fear. Exposure therapy has the strongest evidence in clinical research to get the best treatment outcomes for phobia. It involves you and your therapist working through feared situations in a structured way. Each time you face one of your fears you will feel less anxious and more able to cope.
Exposure work is based on the well understood classical conditioning theory that describes the learning process of seemingly safe situations becoming associated with physical symptoms of anxiety. This is because these situations provoke worrisome thoughts sometimes based on previous experiences. Therefore, this situation becomes fearful. For example, for people with claustrophobia, the situation might be a lift. This fear can be lessened significantly with the assistance of a clinician using repeated exposure to the lift or similar situation in a very gradual way using Virtual Reality scenarios. These scenarios will help create new learning opportunities so that this situation no longer causes a high level of anxiety response, and you will have more helpful thoughts to get you through.