The Dolphin Swim Club is happy to announce that we have partnered up with the Dutch foundation Stichting SAM.
For over 20 years, Stichting SAM has offered animal-assisted therapy to children with a mental disability.
And since 2017, Stichting SAM swims with wild dolphins in Virtual Reality, made possible by our UnderwaterVR goggles.
Animal-assisted therapy
Animal-assisted therapy enhances communicative- and social skills, confidence, emotional stability and concentration, amongst other benefits.
This type of therapy is often carried out with companion animals, such as dogs and horses.
But children with Down Syndrome or Autism experience exceptional benefits from animal-assisted therapy with dolphins.
Unfortunately, these therapies are often carried out with captive dolphins in remote locations.
Patients are being flown over the world for a single therapy session, making this an expensive and exclusive treatment.
We are delighted Stichting SAM has discovered our animal-friendly alternative: swimming with wild dolphins in Virtual Reality!
An underwater paradise
Stichting SAM is situated at Only Friends, a highly specialised sports centre for people with a disability.
Here, swimmers can use facilities that meet their requirements, including an Olympic Pool.
And they love the sessions where they swim with wild dolphins in Virtual Reality.
While it has been shown that the beneficial effects of therapies with captive dolphins wear off after some time, our Wild Dolphin VR therapy is repeatable, cost-effective and the whole family can join in!
Furthermore, a therapy session with Stichting SAM consists of a stimulative educational programme, where children learn about the lives of dolphins in the wild. Finally… swimmers can snorkel or even scuba dive with wild dolphins in Virtual Reality!
All under professional guidance and supervision.
Stichting SAM, the board and all the volunteers… we are delighted to be working with you!
Do you provide animal-assisted therapies and are you insterested in collaborating with the Dolphin Swim Club?
In an interview with Computable, Johan Elbers of the Dutch healthcare institution ‘sHeerenloo, explains how he is always looking for new technologies to treat patients with a mental disability. As an innovation manager, he admits that some of the best applications have been developed with the patients’ personal wishes in mind. ‘The possibilities are endless, but do they really help these people? That’s why we always interview our patients first, to discover their needs. Swimming with dolphins is a good example. It’s impossible to take all our patients to Curaçao (a Dutch and that’s why, with the Dolphin Swim Club, we’re bringing the dolphins to our patients.’
A Dutch non-profit is strapping waterproof VR headsets on people in pools so they can “swim with dolphins.” The Dolphin Swim Club has been offering the experience, named Dolphin VR, as “dolphin-assisted therapy” since last month. While submerged, you can watch video reels of bottlenose dolphins swimming in their natural habitat. VR specialists Viemr had divers capable of holding their breath for up to 5-minutes record the footage during a 10-day shoot at the Red Sea in December 2015.
VR-Nerds mentioned the Dolphin Swim Club as the highlight of the VR Days 2017 in Amsterdam. We installed a converted container in the hall of the exhibition, which served as a swim tank. Naturally, we also brought all other necessary attributes: a changing room, wetsuits and our wild dolphin VR experience. ‘Well, we quickly changed into our Baywatch costumes and entered the cool water’.
Dutch newspaper het Algemeen Dagblad featured us online and in their daily paper. Reporter Renske Baars visits handicapped expertise centre ‘s Heerenloo with us and swims in the pool with our wild dolphins. Dolphin therapy is a long-cherished dream for many people with disabilities. The costs and challenges of traveling may make this impossible. A Dutch couple, Marijke and Benno, can change all that. How? With WaterproofVR goggles, their own wild dolphin 360°VR content and a snorkel.