Fast Company Features ICT Virtual Patients

An article on the Fast Company website showcased Lt. Rocco, an ICT-developed virtual patient, who is among the virtual human characters being developed to help train clinicians in treating and diagnosing mental illness in returning veterans and soldiers. These military-themed avatars will be deployed as part of specialized clinical training in the new military concentration of the masters degree program at the USC School of Social Work. The goal of the program is to train a new generation of clinical social workers to deal with veterans’ mental trauma.
The article states that ICT Skip Rizzo and his team are working to create a female soldier as a “training tool for clinicians to practice sensitive interviewing skills for addressing the growing problem of sexual assault within military ranks.” Rizzo says the system is also being designed for use by command staff to foster better skills for recognizing the signs of sexual assault in subordinates under their command and for improving the provision of support and care.
Read the story.