CPD Specials - Kate Anthony

Programme Leader: Dr Kate Anthony, FBACP/DeeAnna Nagel, LPC

Interested in using virtual environments and avatars for delivery of therapeutic services?

Cyberculture of Virtual Living
- defining what VE’s look like; challenging your assumptions about them, understanding why people, and service-users in particular, use them. Ethical considerations particular to virtual worlds are addressed further.
Using Specific Platforms
- Second Life; InWorld Solutions; ProReal; games such as World of Warcraft; and other platforms where the use of virtual environments and avatars is central to one’s way of living and working.
Research and Theory
- how we can apply traditional theories and research from the field of psychology to virtual environments, encompassing: identity issues; suitability for managing Autism and Aspergers; treating post-traumatic stress disorder; and other research into conditions served well by virtual living.
Learning from Case Studies
- aspects of virtual living that can be both positive and harmful. We show how virtual lives can work positively in treating psychological fallout from childhood trauma, and consider how people with disabilities find a second life beneficial. We also examine how disinhibition and virtual relationships can prove disastrous if allowed to run unchecked.