Unique experience
Our innovative workshops are based on an interactive Virtual Reality (360°) application. During the workshops we will empathize, listen, open up and talk about feelings, distress, as well as on possible courses of action.
We aim to eradicate and change the stigmas relating to mental distress, to educate and bring knowledge within reach, to create empathy and to motivate individuals that are facing mental distress to seek for help.
By creating an environment that would enable teenagers to discuss issues relating to mental distress. By empowering young people and providing them the tools required to identify such distresses in themselves and others around them, and by encouraging them to seek help and be empathic towards friends in distress.
Our innovative workshops are based on an interactive Virtual Reality (360°) application. During the workshops we will empathize, listen, open up and talk about feelings, distress, as well as on possible courses of action.
We aim to eradicate the stigmas relating to mental distress, to educate and bring knowledge within reach, to create empathy and to motivate individuals that are facing mental distress to seek for help.
By creating an environment that would enable teenagers to discuss issues relating to mental distress. By empowering young people and providing them the tools required to identify such distresses in themselves and others around them, and by encouraging them to seek help and be empathic towards friends in distress.
Our innovative workshops are based on an interactive virtual reality (360°) application. During the workshops we will empathize, listen, open up and talk about feelings, distress, as well as on possible courses of action.
Our innovative workshops use the unique tool of Virtual Reality to introduce teenagers to the issue of mental distress. Through exposing the teenagers to a 360° virtual world, where they face various scenarios – we create a deep and meaningful experience that connects teenagers to the “heavy” subject of mental distress. This unique experience enables open dialogue, understanding and a choice in taking-action.
Virtual reality is an innovative technology that enhances the feelings of empathy and affinity, which are largely absent among and are greatly needed for teenagers today. The Virtual Reality movies are combined with workshops that are guided by professionals and that deal with subjects of depression, anxiety, body image, shaming, social exclusion and mental stress. Through these workshops teenagers will learn the main causes of mental distress such as social media, traumatizing events, background of mental illness, etc. They will also learn how to identify the different symptoms of mental distress, and they will be equipped with a variety of techniques to cope with them.
The "Feeling 360" program is a series of 3 workshops dealing with various mental disorders common in adolescence and are intended for ages 14-18. The program is approved and recommended by the Ministry of Education, during which the teenagers learn to identify significant mental distress and act to help their friends and themselves in times of distress. Each workshop is 90 minutes long and can be adapted for teachers, instructors and parents. In addition, we have developed an English workshop based on an English app and a VR movie we produced in North America!
Our movies showcase various situations of distress and they were produced in collaboration with educational psychologists solely for our workshops. They were developed by professionals and written specifically for teenagers in their own "language". The director has created extremely detailed scenes that are all shot in 360° with a special 3D camera. To date, very few fictional movies were shot in 360°, and therefore our movies are innovative in this domain as well. In order to view the movies we purchased advanced virtual reality kits as well as smart phones. Each participant receives his own kit and uses it throughout the workshop for a deep and exciting experience.
The application “Feeling 360°” was developed especially for our workshops and it has two main purposes: interaction with the viewer and collection of data. During the movie there are several moments that allow the user to take an active part and influence the outcome of the situation he or she is watching. In addition, the app saves relevant information on the selections the users take and allows us to present and analyze selections and collect information for future research and development.
הסרטים שלנו מופקים במיוחד עבור הסדנאות בליווי פסיכולוגים חינוכיים ומתארים מצבים שונים של מצוקות נפשיות. התסריטים פותחו על ידי אנשי מקצוע ונכתבו במיוחד עבור בני נוער ובשפתם. הבמאי יצר סצינות המתוכננות במיוחד לצילום ב360 מעלות עם מצלמת 360 ייעודית. מעט מאד סרטים עלילתיים נוצרו ב360 מעלות, ובכך אנו פורצי דרך גם בתחום זה. לצפייה בסרטים רכשנו ערכות virtual reality מתקדמות בנוסף לטלפונים חכמים. כל צעיר מקבל ערכה משלו ומשתמש בה מספר פעמים במהלך הסדנה על מנת לחוות חוויה מרגשת ומשמעותית.
את האפליקציה "מרגישים 360" פיתחנו במיוחד לסדנאות ולה 2 מטרות: אינטראקציה של הצופה עם הסרט ואיסוף מידע. במהלך הסרט יש מספר נקודות עצירה בהן המשתתף מוזמן לבחור את המשך הסיפור. יצירת סיפורים מתפצלים מתוך העלילה מאפשרת לצופה לקחת חלק אקטיבי ולהשפיע על תוצאות הסרט האישי שבו הוא צופה. בנוסף, לאפליקציה אפשרות לשמור מידע חיוני על בחירות המשתמשים, ומאפשרת לנו בהמשך להציג ולנתח בחירות, ולאסוף מידע רלוונטי להמשך לצרכי מחקר ופיתוח.
Our VR workshops are supervised by well-known academy professors from Schneider Medical Center and the Interdisciplinary Center in Herzliya. In 2018, we conducted in their guidance, a pilot with high school students from 20 schools.In 2019, we conducted a research with dozens of teachers and teaching students and the results were impressive
• 92% reported feeling "complete identification" with the distressed characters in VR movies
• 91% see a significant advantage in using VR over D2 films in creating a sense of empathy
• Over 90% expressed a desire to use the Openmind 360 VR app in their educational program
In 2020 we will conduct research with hundreds of school students in collaboration with the Israeli Ministry of Education. The study aims to test the effectiveness of the Openmind 360 program in raising the willingness of teenagers to seek help in the face of mental distress as well as referring their friends to professional mental health assistance.
Openmind 360° has begun its journey in 2015 as Tom Mittlemans’ design thesis project, under the guidance of Erez Mullay. After Iftach joined the team in early 2016, Openmind 360° was formally established as a company with the goal of changing the stigmas associated with mental distress among teenagers utilizing innovative Virtual Reality technology, as well as to encourage teenagers suffering from mental distress to seek help.
Our venture is unique in its application of innovative technologies in combination with advance education on the complex matter of mental distress. We believe that by using the new technology we can create a more powerful and effective experience for teenagers. We are well aware that the education and care systems around the world are desperate for new tools that will ‘speak’ in the language of teenagers, and will create advanced learning experiences. Our project aims to create a learning experience that will stay in the teenagers’ consciousness for a very long term, thus affecting the way they act for the rest of their lives.
Iftach has been in the hi-tech industry for more than 30 years,
In senior positions such as COO and Vice President of Customer Service for leading hi-tech companies, such as Orbotech, IndigoHP, Verint, Nice and Optimal+. Iftach brings with him vast experience in leading complex projects as well as budget management. He holds a bachelor degree in Computer Engineering from the Technion and a master’s degree in Business Administration from the INSEAD (France). In the past he served as the chairman of the board of the Alma Association for Hebrew Culture.
Tom works as a graphic designer at the exhibition wing of the Madatech Haifa,
where she manages projects and designs exhibitions. She has a rich background in training, developing lesson plans and working with children. She obtained a bachelor degree in Graphic Design from the Wizo Academic Center and holds a Master’s Degree in Integrated Design from the Holon Institute of Technology.
Erez is a designer that has been specializing in social design for the last 12 years.
He has been leading empowerment and employment processes through design among the disadvantaged, with extensive background in working with the third sector and its connection to the business sector. He has been a part of developing and implementing social projects, serves as a lecturer of social design, graduate of Bezalel Academy of Arts and Design. In the past he served as the CEO of the ‘Wings’ foundation.
Senior technologist, CTO in a number of leading hi-tech companies,
including SAP, Microsoft and Optimal +, 30 years of experience and expertise in the field of big data analysis
A clinical psychologist and child therapist at Schneider Children's Hospital.
She has conducted the activities in Israel of a comprehensive pan-European study on intervention suicide prevention programs
Mor holds a master’s degree in clinical social service and works as an emotional therapist,
and as a group therapy facilitator. She specializes in counseling, development and facilitation of process oriented workshops for special populations and at-risk students in particular, in formal and informal educational frameworks.
Interview with Paula and Leon Rosenberg on Channel 2
Interview on ILTV
Interview on NEXT
