Swimming with wild dolphins in 360°VR a new medicine? We will find out!

Swimming with wild dolphins is on the ‘bucket list’ of many. And not without good reason. It’s an amazing experience. Looking into the eye of a dolphin or a whale is a very personal and profound contact with what feels like a different and benevolent civilization to most. The positive bond between dolphins and people living in coastal areas has been accounted for over thousands of years. Even the healing effects are since long known. Legends and stories are abundant, ancient and of more recent date.

Medical study on the effect of swimming with wild dolphins of patients with a depression has shown remarkable results. (British Medical Journal)  However most so-called: Dolphin-assisted therapies are with dolphins in captivity. Today, we know so much more about the profound intelligence and social structures of dolphins and whales. Taking away their freedom is by many indications an undesirable practice, and leads to suffering in many ways.
So we thought; Let’s make a great alternative! Today we are in use in more than 150 hospitals and healthcare institutions in Europe and North America. Well on our way to being a new drug free medicine without side-effects for users and dolphins. With Virtual Reality, anyone can have a great experience, and the wild dolphins stay in their own home, the wide open oceans. For the love of dolphins. For the love of people. 

The project started as an art project. The quality of the 360°VR content, we were lucky enough to film, is accordingly. We worked with one of the top-European specialists in 360°VR productions VIEMR.

Read below about some of the professionals, leading pioneers in the Medical VR that work with our Dolphins.

Dolphins & Autism

Prof. Albert Skip Rizzo
(University of Southern California)

In the beginning of 2016 the Dolphin Swim Club has agreed upon a partnership with professor Skip Rizzo. Professor Rizzo is the Director MedicalVirtual Reality of the Institute for Creative Technologies and Research Professor of the Dept. of Psychiatry and School of Gerontology at the University of Southern California. Yep, science, so lot’s of words, actually Skip Rizzo has developed amazing imaginative VR programs to help for example US veterans to cope with Post Traumatic Stress Disorders. He works with MedicalVR since 1995!  With the footage of the Dolphin Swim Club, Professor Rizzo will look into the field of 360°VR treatment of patients with autism.

Dolphin VR Serious Game


New Project! Please engage…

The Dolphin Swim Club is at the first stages of developing a serious game. The current 360VR movie will be made even more engaging by adding interactive elements. To specific audience, like people with a short attention span due to psychological problems, the experience will become more compelling. Research from the UMCG (The University Medical Center Groningen) shows some patients enjoy a deep relaxation at first but get distracted by their obsessive thoughts after a while. Game elements, stimulating interaction with the audience, will keep them mentally ‘occupied’. Therefor these patients will enjoy the serene, healing dolphin world longer. As the brain can only process one stimulus at the time the Dolphin VR Serious Game has even bigger potential; research shows VR can be used as an alternative medicine for paintreatment. Let’s get on with it!

Are you as excited about this project as we are? We could use a little help with funding, (informal) investors or other partners. Please get in touch or donate through our giftshop.

Dolphins & Pain Relief

Dr. JoAnn Difede
(Weill Medical College of Cornell University)

In September 2016 we have presented the project of the Dolphin Swim Club at a conference in Los Angeles, about VR in pain management. We came in touch with Dr. JoAnn Difede from Weill Cornell Medicine and discussed the implementation of our content within a clinical research study. Dr. Difede, is a Professor of Psychology in Psychiatry at Weill Medicine, an Attending Psychologist at the New York Presbyterian Hospital, and Director of the Program for Anxiety and Traumatic Stress Studies (PATSS). She is internationally recognized for her pioneering work using virtual reality technology in the treatment of PTSD consequent to the WTC attack of September 11, 2001, and more recently in the treatment of combat-related PTSD. Dr. Difede currently uses our Dolphin footage during a study where people undergoing treatment for burning wounds.

Dolphins & Disabilities

Johan Elbers
‘s Heeren Loo | Healtcare Facility

Clients of  Dutch healthcare facility ‘s Heeren Loo can enjoy Virtual Reality in specialy developed relaxation rooms. Research proved 82 procent of clients feel significantly more relaxed when watching the VR Dolphin movie of the Dolphin Swim Club. One man no longer experienced the chronic pains he continously had in his arm. ‘s Heeren Loo, a healthcare facility for people with (mental) disabilities, aims to provide underwater VR to all clients by 2018. Swimming while watching the dolphins in their underwaterworld will enhance the VR experience, making it a, even more true experience.

Dolphins & Quarantaine

Norwegian Cancer  Society

Thanks to the Norwegian Cancer Society cancer treatment for Norwegian kids in need of a Bone marrow transplantation is a little less harsh. This  operation entails isolation for up to six weeks. Due to risk of infection patients are not permitted to leave their room and must remain isolated. A set of VR Goggles and the 360VR movie of the Dolphin Swim Club help these kids. Since late 2016 they can escape reality and swim with wild dolphins in their free ocean home!

Dolphins and Anesthesia

Dr. Schneider  PsyD | Project Braveheart
(Stanford University)

In March 2017 doctors at Lucile Packard Children’s Hospital Stanford started a pilot study called ‘ Project Braveheart’ researching the effect of VR on anxiety- and stresslevels. 40 patients, youngsters in the age of 8 to 25, with congenital heart diseases take part. Using VR goggles patients can follow a tour guiding them along the exact path that will take place on the day of their procedure. Throughout the tour, patients can access relaxation programs like ‘Swimming with Wild Dolphins’ – the 360VRmovie of the Dolphin Swim Club.

Dolphins in Spanish Hospitals


Voluntechies

Voluntechies, a non profit organisation based in Spain, is convinced we can improve people’s lives by using new technologies. Volunteers visit hospitalized children, disabled and elderly people, showing them the latest in Virtual Reality and other technologies. They take participants “outside” reality and let them discover the relaxing, healing environment of the wild dolphins swimming and playing along.

Applied VR & Psious


Healthcare Distributors

Both Applied VR as Psious are VR distribution platforms for the healthcare industry. Collaboration with these platforms makes our 360VR movie easily accessible for healthcare professionals. For those, interested in the use of VR, based in the Netherlands we have VR goggles available for rent. Please contact us for the details.

Dolphins and depression

Dr. Wim Veling
(Universitair Medisch Centrum Groningen)

In January 2016 Dr. Wim Veling, psychiatrist of the University Medical Centre in Groningen has decided to start an medical study on the effect of 360° VR-swimming with Dolphins for patients with a depression, with our footage. This research started in April 2016 with a pilot and will last for 2 years.