According to Carlos Zalaquett, professor of education (counselor education) and co-coordinator of the Clinical Mental Health Counseling Program, becoming an effective counselor requires more than textbook learning – developing a diversity-sensitive, supportive, counselor-client relationship through evidence-based practices is paramount.
In early 2020, Zalaquett, along with 31 of his current and former graduate students, attempted to fill this gap in counselor training by developing an immersive and interactive video series called "Moments of Excellence in Counseling" for Mindscape Commons, the world’s first and largest database of virtual reality (VR) and interactive video content for teaching and learning in the field of mental health. The videos that Zalaquett’s team created address evidence-based, relationship-building techniques critical to improved therapeutic outcomes with clients. The Penn State team also developed a series called "Vignettes for Skill Building with Clients" to help students with case conceptualization, agenda setting and treatment options.
Mindscape Commons was recently honored with two major annual awards: "Innovation in Publishing," given by the Association of Learned and Professional Society Publishers (ALPSP), and "Best Interface" from the Charleston Advisor.
“In my mind, the whole idea was to think about what we do at Penn State to boost the quality and enhance the way we train our students,” said Zalaquett. “We need to educate our students to learn the best and newest (methods) in addition to the tried and effective.”
Elizabeth Robey, publisher of Mindscape Commons, said that the impetus for developing the videos series originated from several factors. While universities have been investing in VR technology for a while, she said, much of the existing technology centered on gaming. There was a distinct lack of educational content, particularly in the area of mental health education. In addition, said Robey, “a growing body of research confirms that immersive experiences help students develop empathy and practice clinical skills in a safe learning environment.”
The Moments of Excellence role-play therapy sessions are filmed in 180-degree immersive video, Robey said, which allows students the opportunity to master skills in the moment. The videos are short (12-15 minutes) and interactive. Students respond to questions as the experience unfolds, and their responses elicit guidance from the virtual instructor. The videos can be viewed on a phone, tablet or laptop while the immersive experience can be enhanced by using a Google cardboard or an Oculus device.
“Everybody has a different comfort level with technology,” Robey said. “We knew we needed these different access points.”
Ashley Diaz, a doctoral candidate in counselor education who worked on the Mindscape Commons project, said that while enrolled in her master’s program, she realized there were very few video demonstrations of counseling skills and “the ones we had were older videos that didn’t take into account current evidence-based practices we had used since that time.” While developing the prototype for the Mindscape Commons counseling simulations, she added, the team chose “12 elements of counseling skills we thought showcased evidence-based aspects of relationship-building and counseling in general.”
Kellie Forziat Pytel, an assistant research professor at Penn State who received her doctorate in counselor education from Penn State in 2020, also was part of the Mindscape Commons team. She said that the skills highlighted in the videos were selected because they are more abstract or difficult for students to read about or apply.
“(When you) see students struggling with particular skills, it’s nice to have a video where you can say, ‘Here’s an example, here’s an actual module where you can work through this,” she said. “I think it’s a really cool way to see the different perspectives and see how the client was impacted by the way things are played out.”
Zalaquett said when the COVID-19 pandemic caused Penn State to switch to remote operations in March 2020, it hindered plans to record more immersive videos. However, the team adapted to the situation and recorded the videos via Zoom with the help of two additional Penn State graduates, Elif Balin and Mary Edwin, faculty members in San Francisco State University and University of Missouri–St. Louis, respectively.
Robey said while the series on career counseling and school counseling filmed on Zoom lacked the immersive element of the previous videos, they fit the needs of the moment as well as an emerging trend toward telemental health — the use of telecommunications or videoconferencing technology to provide mental health services.
Doğukan Ulupinar, an assistant professor at Long Island University who received his doctorate in counselor education from Penn State in 2020 and was a part of the Mindscape Commons team, echoed Robey’s statement that the prototype the team developed is a pioneer in the realm of VR educational tools.
“After 20-25 years, people will look back and say (Mindscape Commons) is a more primitive version of what is happening now,” he said. “This is how people started with telemental health and the training of counselors via digital technology.”
Ulupinar’s teammate, So Rin Kim, an assistant professor in the Department of Education Sciences and Professional Programs at the University of Missouri-St. Louis, said that the video series, while utilizing technology, helps to fill some of the gaps inherent in digital platforms. For example, she said, when teaching counseling classes via Zoom, students lose out on some of the benefits of in-person connection such as seeing the whole body of the client and picking up on non-verbal cues. With the 180-degree views available in the Mindscape Commons videos, the students can “see the counselor and client as whole.”
Kim and Pytel both said that one of the strengths of the videos are their portrayal of diverse counselors and clientele, which historically have not been highlighted on counseling education videos.
“The students that I worked with that are diverse want to see clients and therapist that are like them,” Pytel said.
“The content in Mindscape features a wide variety of client and counselor backgrounds and topics,” Robey added. “This is especially true with the content that the Penn State team developed. It reflects the diverse world we live in.”
Pytel said that representation of diverse groups is particularly important for students who may be living in geographic areas that lack diversity or do not have experience with certain segments of the population.
As an example, she said, “I teach a lot on military culture. I get a lot of ‘I can’t work with the military because I’ve never served’ from students. (Mindscape Commons) is another great way of providing (diverse) perspectives and examples.”
The Penn State team is now developing books to support the teaching of evidence-based relationship-building competencies for mental health, school and career contexts. "Moments of Excellence" volumes I, II and III will be available in early 2022.
“The next step is transform all this education into written volumes,” said Zalaquett. “We need to continue reminding the world that we are part of the mental health movement and contributors to the mental health of society.”