King's College London

This project aims to help young people with aggression regulation problems so acute that it disrupts their life and who might, because of it, come into contact with the Youth Offending Service. Together with them, we have developed a number of virtual reality social environments that can be used in VR assisted therapy to learn to recognise and then gain control over strong emotions and aggressive behaviours.

Each scenario places the participant in a flash point situation, giving them the opportunity to develop assertive ways of dealing with challenging situations. VR’s ability to evoke strong primal emotions from such things as someone entering your personal space, makes this more of an authentic re-enactment of an emotionally charged situation than traditional role-play and allows participants to practice these techniques, literally, in the heat of the moment. Gamification elements have been added to encourage engagement, with participants unlocking mini games the more skills they practice and learn.