Fort Worth Medical Students Use Virtual Reality To Bring Mental Health Resources and More Into Local Communities 

FORT WORTH, Texas – Third-year medical students presented innovative ideas to improve community health in Fort Worth communities at the Anne Burnett Marion School of Medicine at Texas Christian University.    

With input from community partners, the Class of 2024 created initiatives for the Como, Northside/Diamond Hill and Eastside/Stop Six neighborhoods as a part of their Preparation For Practice (P4P): Community Impact Projects. The medical students work closely with the communities through their six  School of Medicine Learning Communities.  

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A representative from each community was in attendance for the presentation of the projects. 

“Part of our medical school is getting students out of the traditional roles in clinics and out there in the community,” said Ric Bonnell, M.D., Director of Service learning at the Burnett School of Medicine at TCU. 

The projects are a part of  the Phase 3 curriculum . 

“Several months ago,  we had students out in the community asking them what was needed,” Dr. Bonell said. “Many times, these kinds of projects are started without the lead of the community and those are almost always destined to fail. We teach our students that you help the most by listening first and then acting on that information.” 

The students gave brief presentations with posters outlining the details of each project utilizing themes from the  Preparation for Practice curriculum. 

ACCESS TO MENTAL HEALTH RESOURCES 

Leaders at the COMO Community Center met with students about the lack of access to mental health resources for community members. One idea that came out of the meeting was the use of virtual reality headsets to connect community members with vital resources outside the community. 

Carol Brown, executive director of COMO Lions Heart Inc., had been looking for ways to bring resources into COMO for residents who may not have transportation or internet access to see physicians. 

“Our elderly people don’t go online,” Kirby said. “This will enable them to be able to come into the community center and sit down with somebody to help them.”  

The students found a virtual mental health resource called BehaVR. It uses VR headsets to deliver digital therapeutics through wellness programs to empower people with lifelong coping skills and resources that extinguish stress, anxiety, and fear, according to BehaVR’s website. 

“There’s a lot of evidence-based research and it’s shaping up to be one of the future directions psychiatry is utilizing to help with mental health,” said Thomas Redman, MS-3. 

The VR headsets could have even more use for community members outside of health care.  

High school students headed to college could also utilize the technology to learn more about different career paths using CareerLabsVR. It is another program the medical students found where job seekers can immerse themselves in an interactive experience exploring careers and completing job-specific tasks. 

“We have at least 20 or more kids going off to college every year but they aren’t sure what they want to major in,” Brown said. “This gives them the opportunity to look into different career paths like engineering and see what it’s all about.” 

The other projects presented included initiatives around food insecurities, health fairs, gun safety resources, child wellness and health literacy. As future physicians it is important for students to know that their role in the community is not just in a traditional medical setting, Dr. Bonnell added. 

“You may not think as a physician your role should be in helping with education, but we know education is a big predictor of how children may end up faring in adult life or ending up in poverty,” he said. “We know poverty can have a tremendous effect on your health. Getting out there into the community and doing it on a consistent basis really brings those things to the forefront for our students.”