What good is being alive if you’re not really living?
That’s the whole idea behind my Wellness Wednesday — Keeping the ‘Live’ in Alive! show. And on Veterans Day, I wanted to do something more meaningful than simply say, “Thank you for your service.”
Because it’s one thing to thank somebody for their service. It’s another thing to continue to help them live better while they’re here!
That’s why I invited Shawn Wiora, co-founder and board member of MYND Immersive to join me for a fascinating conversation about how virtual reality technology is helping veterans and seniors improve their quality of life.
Shawn is one of those brilliant tech entrepreneurs who’s traveled the world, built businesses, and somehow managed to keep his heart front and center. I met him through my dear friend Joe Blaney, another heart-centered guy, and immediately recognized that Shawn’s work with MYND was something special.
I call it technology with heart!
And there’s a wonderful local connection to the Greenwich CT WGCH Radio studios where I broadcast my live show from.
Greenwich residents Steve and Alexandra Cohen, through their Steven & Alexandra Cohen Foundation, helped fund MYND Immersive’s Great American Elderverse initiative. Great to see philanthropy with Greenwich roots helping bring innovative technology and meaningful experiences to veterans and seniors across the country!
OK SO…Imagine Traveling the World Without Leaving Your Chair?
MYND Immersive uses specially designed virtual reality experiences to help veterans and older adults manage chronic pain, reduce anxiety, reconnect with meaningful memories, and virtually revisit places they may never be able to physically travel to again.
Pretty amazing, right?
Shawn explained that the magic isn’t just in the headset. It’s the combination of the technology, carefully selected therapeutic content, and trained professionals who help participants process their experiences.
MYND has been working with the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs for approximately five to six years, and thousands of veterans have benefited from its immersive approach.
And it’s not just veterans.
MYND’s technology has also been introduced into hundreds of senior care communities, including assisted living, skilled nursing facilities, memory care centers, and even hospice settings.
CAN ANYONE BUY ONE OF THESE?
Naturally, I had to ask Shawn whether families could buy one of these therapeutic systems for home use.
Not currently, he explained. MYND’s programs are delivered through healthcare organizations and trained professionals, because some experiences can trigger powerful emotions and memories that deserve proper support.
Makes sense! You don’t want to send somebody on an emotional trip down memory lane without somebody there to say, “Hello!” when they come back!
And don’t worry. Shawn assured me MYND’s therapeutic experiences aren’t about scary dinosaurs eating zombies!
Thank goodness because that would NOT reduce anyone’s anxiety.
A Different Way to Say Thank You
What impressed me most was hearing Shawn describe how veterans respond to these experiences. They want to do them again. They want to talk about what they’ve seen, what they’ve remembered, and how it made them feel.
That’s a powerful connection between technology and humanity.
MYND also has a nonprofit initiative supporting its mission, offering opportunities for people who want to help bring these experiences to more veterans and seniors.
Veterans Day may have passed, but our responsibility to honor those who served certainly hasn’t.
And maybe one of the best ways to honor them is to support innovations that help them enjoy the lives they fought to protect.
As I told Shawn, “It’s one thing to thank somebody for their service. It’s another thing to help them live better while they’re here.”
Now THAT! is what I call “Keeping the ‘Live’ in Alive!”
Listen to my fascinating podcast conversation with Shawn Wiora, co-founder of MYND Immersive, and learn how technology with heart is making a meaningful difference.
Debbie Nigro — Keeping the ‘Live’ in Alive!
If you’d rather read than listen the transcript of the audio is below.
AUDIO TRANSCRIPT:
111126-IMMERSIVE TECH
English (US) · 0:13:38
00:00
Announcer
And now back to the Debbie Nigro Show. So many people do so many extraordinary things, right? It’s kind of what the theme is in this next segment here about what are we going to do back for those people, especially veterans and all the wonderful people who are now older and seniors who’ve done extraordinary things and might need a little help right now at this stage of their life. Hi everybody, I’m Debbie Nigro. This is my Wellness Wednesday edition of my show. I call it Keeping the Live in Alive and it’s really relevant to the next guest I’m about to introduce you to because what good is being alive if you’re not living, right?
00:55
Debbie Nigro
So I don’t know if you guys have heard about immersive technology but it is quite fascinating. I’m about to introduce you to somebody who’s a co founder of a company called Mind Immersive, M Y N D. And I want you to know what they’re doing for our veterans and our seniors. So, because, you know, as I said earlier, honoring our veterans means helping them live better, right? Long after their service ends. So, I’m about to introduce you to somebody I had the pleasure of meeting for a completely different reason. He’s a tech entrepreneur, kind of brilliant businessman, like amazing.
01:31
Debbie Nigro
Smart guy traveled all over the world and quite lovely. His name is Sean Waiara, and he’s the co founder and board member of Mind Immersive. Hey, Sean, I’m so happy to have you, Debbie. So happy to be here on your show. This is great to talk with you again. And happy Veterans Day to all the listeners out there. And what a great day to celebrate the commitment and the dedication of U.S. veterans going back to the beginning of this country. Yep, absolutely. The theme here is sort of technology with heart. You know, I love heart centered people.
02:07
Debbie Nigro
I met you through one of my favorite heart centered guys, Joe Blaney. I’ve met you. You come from great heart. And I know this is your passion project. And because I’m also broadcasting live from studios in Greenwich, Connecticut, WGCH Radio, I thought there was a beautiful tie in to how you got this up and running connected to the Steven and Alexandra Cohen Foundation who actually helped fund MYND, Mind’s Great American Elderverse Initiative. So let’s talk about the technology and where you got this idea, because you’re a tech guy, but where did this come from? Right. Well, what seniors and veterans have in common is the interesting kind of situation where as they’re aging or dealing with things like PTSD, there are things that work for Them and things that don’t work for them. And there’s no pixie dust here with helping veterans. And what we were thinking at the time was, gosh, if we could apply a solution, which originally was music and memory, which has been working for veterans for decades, and elevate it, put it on steroids, put your statement behind that.
03:30
Sean Waiara
Debbie, then perhaps it would work better. And virtual reality and immersive technology works better than just audible therapy. And our partnership with the VA that is going on five or six years now is just wonderful that they’ve seen the science and they’ve looked at the results. And that’s kind of what was behind it. Yeah, I was reading and I did my homework, of course. I really wanted to understand this technology that this immersive technology helps veterans and seniors manage chronic pain, reduce anxiety, and experience places they may never be able to physically visit again through a virtual reality headset. Who designed that headset? Well, the technology behind the headset is complemented with the content in the headset, which is complemented by how it’s set up, how it’s applied through a therapy-like distribution within the VA and other healthcare organizations. So it’s that combination of the technology of the headset, which we’ve used all different types of headsets. To specifically answer your question, Debbie, but what veterans like? Some of them like a lighter headset. Some of them are okay with a heavier headset. So we have a couple of different models. But the technology is important, and equally as important is what’s the content.
05:06
Sean Waiara
So, as you indicated, Debbie, so adroitly, that you’ve got memories that come back, and when you take people into an immersive virtual reality environment, and you take them back to other places, it opens up the door for therapy and healing, and isn’t. That something that we could all get behind with our veterans today? Oh, wow. Yeah. Amazing. I was reading, and I don’t know what this probably has been updated, that the U.S. Department of Veteran Affairs actually is expanding MYND’s virtual reality therapy to multiple additional VA medical centers around the country. What number are you up to right now? Well, everything that’s published online is approved by the VA. So, and what we do with veterans. And we’re partners with the veterans, and as they deploy more, we deliver those deployments. So, just like the veterans have been deployed, we are lockstep with our veterans and we’re deploying.
06:06
Sean Waiara
And thousands of veterans over the years have been the beneficiaries of this immersive, healing, therapeutic approach to wellness. And what we’ve seen is veterans responding in a way where. They want to do it again, where they want to keep going, where they want to talk about certain experiences that they’ve had in the headset and how that relates to their feelings, their emotions. There’s a big emotional connection with with feelings when you go back to this triggering memories that can be effectively managed in a holistic approach with the VA. Amazing. I mean, this is really very forward-thinking.
06:52
Debbie Nigro
The senior centers around the country are also employing using this. Tell me, tell me about that. Yeah, there’s hundreds of senior. Tell me about that. Yeah, there are hundreds of senior centers around the country that Mind Immersive has deployed to. Many of them have veterans already. So it’s not just the VA. We’ve been with veterans almost since we started the company in 2016 and 17. And when you go back that number of years and you see the result that has been communicated and what people have seen with all the media that’s been, and all the media attention that this company has had, Good Morning America, you know, all of these hundreds and hundreds of media citations.
07:42
Sean Waiara
It builds confidence in the operators of these nursing homes and of these senior living centers and of the skilled nursing facilities and memory care units and even hospice. So the entire continuum of senior living and senior care has shown really kind of cool outcomes resulting from MIND’s unique implementation of excellent technology, the world’s best. We’ve traveled the world literally multiple times to find the best in the headset technology and the best content and the best delivery platform with therapists and various relationships with therapy companies to enable these fantastic outcomes. You know I’m thinking as you’re talking Could somebody just get this for home use like somebody who was caring for a senior or caring for a veteran at home and can you buy one and is that available?
08:46
Sean Waiara
Virtual reality headsets are not available to consumers right now and what we like about our what we call business-to-business delivery is that we have therapists that can work with the seniors so that when these memories do get triggered and we’re talking about veterans here today. And yes, we have other types of therapies, but when veterans have these memories, it’s part of a program that allows them to talk with someone to address it, and to be, experience a true holistic, you know, durable kind of healing. Sure, I understand. I mean, you’d hate to send somebody into a whole memory trip without having somebody to say, “Hello!” You know coming out of so how many times have you used it yourself just to get obviously you co-founded it You must have tried it a million times Right so I had never tried it until I met my co founder, Chris Brickler, at an event.
09:46
Sean Waiara
He and I have been friends since the mid 90s. And he was working with Oculus and some of the executives there on music. And I was working in the senior living community space. And that was in 2016. I tried on my first headset. And I have to tell you, I always travel almost every week in my past 20 years, almost without exception. And when I’m flying on a plane, I have a headset on. It’s very relaxing. Other people I’ve noticed are traveling with headsets, especially on international flights. And I think we’re going to see more and more relaxing content.
10:29
Sean Waiara
We provide, Mind Immersive provides relaxing therapeutic content. It’s not scary, dinosaur. Relaxing, therapeutic content. It’s not scary dinosaurs eating zombies kind of stuff. Oh, that’s good. Yeah, that’s kind of productive. I don’t. I can’t watch any of that anxiety-provoking stuff anymore. I cannot do it. That’s for the kids, right? We our population is very specific to veterans and seniors who are looking for, and their therapists and their medical directors that are looking for therapeutic solutions in a way that they they haven’t seen results. Telling you some of the results we published with Stanford University, a half a dozen other universities that we’ve worked with and interacted with over the 10 years of the company. All of that’s published online. I’m not here to kind of comment on that, except that it’s really kind of amazing what people are seeing in the media and what the media is reporting is really kind of amazing.
11:24
Sean Waiara
So I encourage people to either look at what Mind Immersive, MYND, Mind Immersive is doing with the veterans, and we have an opportunity for people to participate and contact the company. And we have a non-profit entity that’s supporting us. And we’ve had some really interesting people on the East Coast wanting to support the company. For veterans and seniors. I’m really, really glad I had you on this show today. This is a wonderful piece of information that I’m not sure everybody knew about, and now they will. I’m going to help get the word out for you, Sean.
12:01
Debbie Nigro
This is great. I mean, I understand why it’s your passion project because, you know, it’s one thing to thank somebody for their service, it’s another thing to help them live better while they’re here. And we are all trying to figure out how to do better for veterans. And this is amazing. So, congratulations to you. Well, thank you, and congratulations to what you’re doing, too, getting the word out and partnering with you and collaborating with you, Debbie. I look forward to it a lot more, and I’m easily accessible on all channels on the internet. All right, Sean. Sean Waiara, the co founder and board member of Mind Immersive, and I wish you a happy day and happy Veterans Day to everybody who got a chance to listen to Sean. Talk to you soon, Sean. Thank you, Debbie. Take care. Thanks for taking the time. Pretty fascinating, eh?
12:44
Debbie Nigro
You know, we’re honoring veterans today, and my decision to have Sean on was because I thought, well, what can I do that’s more meaningful than just saying Happy Veterans Day? I want to help people live better, help veterans live better long after their service ends. So great. One more segment of the show today, and I shall return. Thank you for spending time with me wherever you are. And this is WGCH, AM 1490 on the dial, by the way. The digital live stream is WGCH.com. You can listen from anywhere in the world. And everybody who’s on the show gets a podcast of their interview afterwards.
13:21
Debbie Nigro
I write a blog, I put it up on all the major podcast platforms, and you can listen in case you missed something or want to share it with somebody else. Okay, be right back. Don’t go away.
