In June, Mission Daybreak teams attended the 2024 VA Immersive Summit in Washington, D.C. The two-day conference brought together VA, industry, academia, and other federal agencies to hear from innovators in the augmented and virtual reality (AR/VR) field and to try out the latest immersive devices for Veterans.
From care delivery and experience to training and therapeutics, immersive technology has the potential to define a new reality in healthcare—for Veterans and for all Americans. As the largest integrated health care system in the nation, VA directly supports development and piloting of diverse AR/VR solutions in clinical settings.
During the summit, attendees had an opportunity to demo innovations from Mission Daybreak teams. They also heard a panel discussion moderated by Dr. Ann Bailey, Executive Director of the Strategic Initiatives Lab at VHA, with Battle Buddy’s Director of the Virtual Human Therapeutics Lab at ICT Sharon Mozgai, Cabana’s Head of Public Sector Nick Armstrong, and ReflexAI’s CEO and co-founder Sam Dorison. Watch the video and read on for program highlights.
Addressing the needs of Veterans
Mission Daybreak teams put Veterans at the center of their innovations—because to be effective, suicide prevention solutions must address unique needs rather than take a one-size-fits-all approach. Regarding user experience design, Nick Armstrong discussed how Cabana considers adaptability at all stages, from hardware to experience. Cabana is a virtual-reality-based platform addressing risk factors specific to Veterans; those risk factors include combat trauma, separation from service, and readjustment to civilian life.
“We were fortunate to build the initial platform with the Air Force, so they already had a military audience in mind. But we also recognized that we don’t all have VR headsets in our back pockets yet. We wanted to be platform agnostic, so it works in VR headsets, but also offers web and mobile access,” said Nick Armstrong. “We’re now excited to work with the Commonwealth of Virginia to get Veteran peer mentors on the platform as professional moderators and get their feedback for product design. So, we’re addressing both ends of the user experience of the Veteran, but also of the provider and the peer in making improvements.”
Coming together to address suicide prevention
Suicide prevention is complex, with a multitude of risk and protective factors that affect every individual differently—and the unique nature of the Veteran experience can often make Veterans particularly vulnerable. During his remarks, Sam Dorison discussed how Mission Daybreak was valuable in convening innovators, supporting a crossflow of ideas and expertise. ReflexAI tools are being deployed within the VA to use artificial intelligence to help the VCL train and maintain a team of responders. The simulation training allows trainees to practice in realistic scenarios and receive immediate feedback on strengths and opportunities for continued improvement.
“One of the things we did at the Mission Daybreak Demo Day was share expertise across teams. We didn’t want to only present our tools, we also wanted to understand the perspectives and insights from others. And one of the conversations we had was with Casey Woods from Overwatch. Her work informed our simulation components on lethal means safety and, in particular, firearm safety,” said Sam Dorison. “If we had not been in that room with Casey, we could not have built such a strong connection so quickly. We talk a lot about our collaboration within the VA and with VA experts, but there is also expertise that is flowing through informal channels that formed during Mission Daybreak.”
Harnessing the power of AI—and addressing its risks
Innovators working in VR and AR are often interested in incorporating AI as well. Intersections between AI and immersive tech have enormous potential for patients and the healthcare system. Though the terms can sometimes be conflated, there is a critical intersection between the two technologies that has enormous potential for patients and the healthcare system. Sharon Mozgai, Director of the Virtual Human Therapeutics Lab at ICT, addressed how Battle Buddy is leveraging AI to scale impact for Veterans while limiting the potential risks of the technology. Battle Buddy is a virtual human-led mental health and wellness application that promotes resiliency among Veterans at risk for suicide.
“AI doesn’t sleep, which is fantastic. We’re able to leverage it. It’s definitely a force multiplier for anything that we’re trying to achieve,” said Sharon Mozgai. “But I think that at this moment in time, AI should be considered a collaborative tool. So, when we think about how we implement it into Battle Buddy, we use it in a lot of ways to speed up content production—when we think about the backgrounds we choose or using Large Language Models to generate scripts—but that’s never independent of having a human in the loop. It’s always vetted because this is an extremely sensitive population that we’re working with.”
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