Glenn Albright, a professor, and clinical psychologist at Baruch College at the City University of New York, may have an idea to help educators taking care of those teens: virtual role-play simulation.

Albright is co-founder and director of research of Kognito, a company that develops online role-play simulations to train educators and healthcare professionals to have conversations with young people on mental health, substance use, suicide prevention, and LGBTQ+ issues. The simulations allow learners to enter a virtual environment and role play with virtual students who are manifesting signs of psychological distress, according to Albright.

“When they’re role playing with what we’ll call an emotionally responsive, intelligent virtual character, that’s a student that also possesses emotions and memory. You get practice at having these conversations so you can apply the skills in real life,” Albright said.

One scenario in the simulation involves a virtual student who’s academically at risk, with poor attendance, and is suspected of using substances and bullying. The educator practices how to respond to the virtual human using evidence-based communication skills. If the educator says something insensitive or makes a misstep, for example, the student in the scenario reacts negatively. For further guidance, a virtual coach provides real-time feedback on how to navigate the conversation correctly.

When the pandemic hit, Albright and the other researchers continued to gather data. They found that the educators who received the training, which is offered completely online, were able to apply what they’d learned in the virtual simulation to the remote learning environment, Albright said.

Overall, an online simulation isn’t necessarily more effective than in-person training, he said. But the data he and his colleagues collected shows that the educators in an online interaction are still able to learn important skills and discern which students need help.

“By practicing this online,” Albright said, “you become confident that you can do better, you’re prepared to have these conversations. And then when you meet someone like that, in the real classroom, you can handle a situation quite effectively.”

Read the full article about student mental health by Javeria Salman at The Hechinger Report.