Schools are using virtual reality to help pupils deal with exam stress, ADHD or troubled lives at home, according to a report.
VR headsets made by Phase Space are being trialled by all 15 secondary schools in the London borough of Sutton, to help students struggling with anxiety.
Pupils are provided a seven-minute programme, either prearranged or when they need to leave a lesson as a result of anxious feelings and thoughts. The aim of the programme is to help them calm down, rebuild confidence and prepare them to resume learning, by immersing themselves in VR for a short period of time.
The Phase Space website says it offers “immediate, effective mental well being support” which helps young people to “reduce feelings of anxiety, regulate their emotions and grow in confidence”.
Zillah Watson, a former head of VR at the BBC who co-created the Phase Space programme, said 90 per cent of students who used the headsets in the first 10 schools saw an immediate drop in their stress levels.
She told The Guardian that the programme “has led to improvements in pupil attendance [and] behaviour and reductions in anxiety related to exams and assessments evident”.
Lora Wilson, 16, explained what the programme shows in more detail.
“You start in a room and it hasn’t got anything in it and the light in the room slowly fades and then you’re almost transported back into black but with light and it’s coming towards you.
“It’s very difficult to explain but it’s a really cool experience. It almost feels like I’m somewhere else and I can just relax.”
Aelisha Needham, vice-principal for ethics at north London’s Ark Academy secondary school, said it is mostly used in the mornings.
“We have students who in the mornings feel quite deregulated, especially when we have changes to their usual structures … [such as] a cover teacher, or it might be that they have felt a little bit distressed from something at home, or they maybe haven’t had breakfast, or they’re having friendship issues or haven’t done their homework,” she told the paper.
The school is mainly using the VR sets for pupils with social, emotional or mental health issues or who suffer with ADHD or anxiety.
After using the headsets, she says students are “a lot calmer” and there is a reduction in “things like relocations from lessons where students are being asked to leave because they’re deregulated”.
It is “really positive” to see that pupils ask to use the programme when they are feeling overwhelmed to “ground themselves”, instead of walking out of lessons.
Ms Wilson said exams no longer scare her as much and that the headset has helped to boost confidence in her school work.
It is believed that the VR could provide a low-cost, effective way for pupils suffering stress, and that it can be used in tandem with the adolescent mental health service (Camhs) at South West London and St George’s NHS trust.
The Independent has contacted South West London and St George’s Mental Health NHS Trust for more details.
