Virtual Ability Presents the 13th Annual Mental Health SymposiumThe 13th annual Mental Health Symposium will take place in Virtual Ability’s Sojourner Auditorium, on Virtual Ability island on Friday, May 17, 2024. There is no charge to attend. The theme of this year’s Conference is “Our Youth, Our Elders.” Children and the elderly face unique mental health challenges that are not well understood and often not adequately addressed.
The Symposium will take place in the virtual world of Second Life, at the Sojourner Auditorium on Virtual Ability island. The SLURL for the auditorium is: Sojourner Auditorium, Virtual Ability Island. (You can create a free Second Life account through Virtual Ability’s Sign-Up Portal, entering at the beginning of our New Resident Orientation Course. You can then post the auditorium’s SLURL into Nearby Chat, click the green underlined link, and teleport to the auditorium.) Virtual Ability hosts this annual Symposium to share information about mental health and mental disabilities with the general population. Within our cross-disability community we have members who deal with a variety of mental health issues.
Not only is this an opportunity for our community members to learn more about topics related to mental health from experts they probably would not have a chance to meet otherwise, it allows the general public to attend a professional conference at no cost. Below is the full schedule for the conference.
Mental Health Symposium 2024 Schedule of Events
May 17, 2024. All times are in SLT/PDT.| Start Time | Presenter Name | Institution / Presenter Biography | Title of Talk |
|---|---|---|---|
| 7:30 am | Dr. Esther Gachuri Dr. Anne Wambugu | Pan Africa Christian University (Nairobi, Kenya) | TBD TBD |
| 9:00 am | Dr. Fola Oluwasina, PhD | University of Calgary (Canada) | TBD TBD |
| 10:30 am | Tiago Horta Reis da Silva | King’s College London | TBD TBD |
| Noon | Dr. Valerie Hill, MLIS, PhD Rose Hill, MLIS, CPC, SUDP-T  | Community Virtual Library and Crisis Connections Dr. Valerie Hill is the director of the Community Virtual Library in the metaverse and co-coordinator of the Virtual Worlds Education Consortium. She served as a school librarian for twenty years and has taught at all grade levels from kindergarten through college. She is currently an information literacy consultant with a research focus on the intersection of metaliteracy and libraries with virtual worlds and digital culture in our metamodern era. https://linktr.ee/Valibrarian Rose Hill is a Certified Peer Counselor with a focus in trauma and crisis counseling. She is in her final year of a Master’s in Clinical Mental Health Counseling graduate program. She has extensive professional and lived experience with a wide range of therapy modalities with specialized training in relational therapy, somatic therapy, existential therapy, psychotherapy, CBT, DBT, EMDR, and crisis intervention. She is currently an OUD specialist at Crisis Connections in Seattle, WA | The Impact of Parasocial Relationships with AI on Mental Health This presentation examines the growing phenomenon of relationships formed with AI agents and their potential impact on mental health. We'll address the importance of relationship, parasocial interaction, and attachment theory in mental health and consider how these key concepts apply in human-AI interaction. Using popular relational AI applications, we explore both positive and negative examples of their impact on mental wellbeing. We'll conclude with thought-provoking questions about the future of AI relationships and their potential to replace some forms of human connection. |
| 1:00 pm | Jessica Simionato | La Trobe University (Melbourne, Australia) Jessica Simionato is an early career public health researcher with a clinical background in Speech Pathology. Her Masters level research focused on intergenerational programs and she is committed to improving social outcomes for the community by finding ways to build connection sustainably. | Intergenerational programs – bringing youth and elders together to enhance social connectedness Adolescents and older adults find themselves at a similar psychological cross roads – one trying to find their identify, the other trying to maintain it. With community and connection ever changing, we looked at the components that may make for successful and impactful intergenerational programs involving adolescents and older adults. We will present review level evidence and the practical application of it, including possibilities for the virtual world. |
| 2:30 pm | Robert Walker, MS, COAPS | Massachusetts Department of Mental Health Robert Walker is a person with lived experience of a mental health challenge, with the Office of Recovery and Empowerment for the Massachusetts Department of Mental Health, involved with expanding and supporting the peer specialist workforce in MA. Rob is also the Co-Chair of the MA Older Adult Behavioral Health Collaborative, a certified older adult peer specialist, and has developed the training used in Massachusetts and across the country for older adult peers. Rob is also active in researching peer interventions and older adult behavioral health issues. | Older Adult Peer Support: Our Time Has Come Older adults and their caregivers are sometimes left out of peer support. Many think that depression, loneliness, loss of hope, memory loss are all part of aging with a physical or mental disability. We will discuss a short-term, evidence-based model of peer support for older adults, which holds promise as a way to assist older adults in leading healthier, values-driven lives. This model has been piloted with older adults and caregivers of older adults with Alzheimer's Disease. |