So right now I'm out on Jefferson and South Bend, and I'm inside the United Way of Saint Joseph County, which I wasn't expecting to find this company in here, but I'm here with Adele.

Tell me a little bit about what your company is and why we're here in this building.

So, I started my company in 2021 as a virtual reality arcade.

Yeah.

But we've since pivoted into the the mental health space.

Right?

Using virtual reality to facilitate mental health treatment.

But we also do some skills training.

But ultimately, our goal is to build a VR based mental health platform where we can connect clients with therapists in virtual environments.

So I've known about your company in the arcade space because I remember seeing about it.

And so when I walked in here today, and I thought, we're going to do an interview, first of all, I was like, why is it inside United Way?

I couldn't figure out.

And then when we sat in here and I thought, this like, this looks like mental health more than, you know, an arcade that side of things is really, actually fascinating to me, just as I learned about that, even just in the last few minutes.

Like talk a little bit about that because, online therapy wasn't even a thing before the pandemic, right?

I mean, I don't even know if it was allowed, actually, you know, it it was, but it wasn't it wasn't as prevalent.

Right.

But post-Covid, like 90% of therapists only see virtually.

Right.

They found out it was it was just more efficient.

Right.

Yeah.

But that takes away a level of engagement and connection that people need when seeking mental health treatment.

On top of the fact that like 56% of people that never get mental health treatment don't because they they fear looking at somebody in their eyes, telling them their deepest, darkest secrets.

And so that's what we're kind of mitigating with, with virtual reality.

Right.

Because we can put you in these virtual spaces as an avatar and it's not really you.

Right.

So you don't feel as you don't feel judged.

You don't feel embarrassed about it, right?

Yeah.

It's it's kind of weird, right?

Like, I feel like we're going through this space, like, I'm 42, and I feel like I'm going through this space of, like, I understand what it was like to just have, like, the only game on your phone was snake.

Yeah, but now we're also, like, at this space of like, it's.

I almost resist like therapy on on virtual reality.

Seems like just do you get as much out of it?

But then actually as you talk to people locally, it's really hard to even get in to see a therapist.

That's another thing.

So so virtual reality.

But you talk about this being an avatar or is there like is there proven methods to doing this or using this or like is it a completely new space?

So it's it's not a it's not a new space.

I, I know certain doctors and psychologists who, have been doing this since like early 2000.

Right?

They were using virtual reality to see the difference that black people receive information from a doctor, whether he's white or black.

So they put him in these, these medical scenarios and have the information given to them with a white doctor versus a black doctor.

And what they found is black people retain that information a lot better when they received it from black doctors.

So it's been around for a long time.

But as you said, for a lot of people, opening up is difficult or being in the right kind of environment to open up is different.

Whereas with virtual reality, you can kind of, you know, so for me, therapy, I'm the only reason why I started my business is because I started to take my own mental health seriously.

Right?

Yeah.

But I had an unrealistic expectation of what therapy was right off of TV.

Watching TV.

I thought I was gonna sit on this couch.

Yeah.

And and, you know, tell it, lay back and, you know, have this, this.

If I, if I had a really bad day, my therapist might meet me at the coffee shop or something like that.

But that don't happen in real life.

Right.

But in virtual reality, we can make that happen.

We have sessions in luxury cabins, loft spaces.

We can go to a park, we can go to a drive with whatever you can think of or imagine.

It can be built in virtual reality.

Do you find people like the concept of virtual reality?

Maybe for younger people might be a bit easier to just grasp straight away, like even myself or people older than me, do you think like for them, it's a bit harder to like to want to get into that space or just, so it's different for everybody, right?

Yeah.

My, my whole purpose is to reach those who would never originally go.

Yeah.

Because of that factor.

Yeah.

Right.

And so all of my clients right now, they're they're adults.

They're from 25 to I actually had a 71 year old.

Yeah.

Client at one point.

So it just depends on the person, how willing they are to, like try something new.

But once we get them in there, I've never had anybody not come out and feeling like like it was an amazing experience.

This is one part of what you're focusing on is the mental health aspect.

Is that part of the reason why you're inside this building, or is this just, you know, inside United Way?

Is there any partnership with them or is it just literally a space?

Yeah.

So so I would say it's definitely a kind of an unofficial partnership.

Yeah.

They definitely support what I'm doing for the community.

We're actually running a pilot through the state where we're providing resources for formerly incarcerated and returning citizens.

Okay.

And people are just as impacted.

Yeah.

So we're we're getting them therapy, right?

We're giving them we're, skills training with our, CDL program.

Okay.

So nice.

You talking about the CDL program next door?

Because, you know, as much as I like talking about this, I also like driver.

I like doing things.

So you've got, another unit next door that we're going to go and have.

Yeah.

Yeah.

That's, All right.

You need to see how good of a driver I am.

Yeah.

So right now we're just, setting up the game.

Let's see.

I got a good truck in here.

Can you explain a little bit what's going on, what you're doing?

Yeah.

So this is a this simulator that I use.

It's a relatively, relatively, you know, available, Sam, that you can just buy off a steam, right?

Yes.

But it's very realistic.

A lot of professional truck drivers, they have, YouTube channels using this software, so it's highly recommended.

Nice.

We use this personally just for, like, air brake test.

So it allows you to do the actual air full air brake test.

Oh, procedure.

When you take your skills test, it allows you to do it in here where the gauges actually move exactly the way okay.

They would move in real life.

Also you know the practice backing in docks or parallel parking or offset, offset backing.

Right.

We can have them doing this in this sim.

It is very realistic as you can see.

Right.

Look out the window.

Oh so cool.

Yeah.

That like look back.

Oh yeah.

Like if you were trying to back up like look out.

Oh yeah.

I can see everything.

That's so cool.

Even the rain on the, Yeah.

So just hit the gas and it should start.

Yeah.

This is like my lifelong dream coming true here, because I always wanted to be a truck driver.

My brother back home in Ireland is a truck driver.

Tell me a little bit about, you talk about wanting to expose people to skills and this, like, CDL skills.

How much of this can actually be logged?

Like, so technically, none of this is officially lockable right now for for me, right now, it's just a way to expose them to it, to reduce anxiety right before they actually get into the cab.

Right?

Yeah.

And actually go through certain maneuvers.

Like I say, we can put them in a situation where they can learn how to back into a dock, which is something you have to do when you take those tests.

Offset backing, paralleling in a box truck.

Yeah.

Just just to kind of alleviate some of the anxiety that comes with it.

I don't stop for stop signs.

This is cool.

Yeah.

And then again, like, so that the air brake test, when you take your skills test, that air brake procedure.

Yeah.

That's where everybody fails.

90% of people fail at that.

Right?

If you miss one part of that, it's over or, you know, and keep them from crashing like that, like you just did in the real truck.

Right?

So you crash and tear this one up before you do have a real truck.

But, like I was saying, that air brake test is, you can't miss anything on it.

Yeah, right.

So we can go over that procedure again and again and again in SIM.

So they, when they get into the actual trunk is second nature.

Well, so I know so much of this, is educational and, overcoming fears, but I find it really fun.

And I know that you have a whole trailer full of fun.

So we're going to talk a little bit about that too, before we leave here today.

So because I know that you do have that side of the arcade side.

Yeah.

Yeah.

So let me just take this off for now.

And oh.

So yeah, that was cool.

I you know, as I said, I've always wanted to drive a truck.

So besides hitting that stop sign, which, you know, it's fine, it'll be all right.

But you also have your trailer as well.

Is that like for going out, like, can people rent that out somewhere?

So we, I so I built a 30ft mobile gaming unit.

Right.

And so in that we have two full motion racing simulators.

So just like what you experience but we use race cars.

They race Ferraris and Porsches and whatever.

It's it's for full motion.

So the whole seat and everything moves with you.

We also have PlayStation fives, we have Xboxes, new Xboxes.

It's heated as cool.

So I can just pull it anywhere, park it, and, you know, have a whole experience.

So you talk about doing like a pilot scheme and everything right now with the state.

How do people reach out?

Like if somebody is watching this and they're like, you know what, I would be interested in virtual reality health care.

Like how do they can you apply for it right now or is it still in the building stages?

Yeah.

So we're we're still in the building phase is where we're in this pilot.

But in the next few months we plan on being able to take insurance and things of that nature.

But they can always, you know, inquire on DellstarVR.com.

Our email is real play realplay@dellstarVR.com And you know also we're we're looking for for sponsorships.

Right.

Because we have, you know, youth that that we can actually facilitate some form of treatment with right now.

But they don't have access to headsets.

Right.

And so that's that's one of the barriers that we're kind of overcoming by using the headsets as durable medical equipment, where they can actually be pay for the insurance to kind of bridge that gap.

That's cool.

I mean, I love the side of it that you're using it to help people with their mental health.

You know, that's really cool space that I would have never thought about with virtual reality.

But, you know, a lot of people do telehealth, but this seems to be taking it to a whole different level.

Yeah.

So cool.

Thanks, man.

No problem.

Appreciate you.

Show me around anytime.

Raise your hand on the show in your shoes.

They're not virtual.

That's real.

They are real.

Thanks.

We.