USU Center for Deployment Psychology Awarded Top Prize for Virtual Suicide Prevention Learning Tool

USU’s CDP earns the Gold Medal at the 2023 International Serious Play Conference for its immersive virtual suicide prevention training for behavioral health providers.

Learners join simulated patients Matt, Reyna, and Jim at the Wenzel and Brown National Park. (Image by USU Center for Deployment Psychology)
Learners join simulated patients Matt, Reyna, and Jim at the Wenzel and Brown National Park.
(Image by USU Center for Deployment Psychology)

July 30, 2024 by Maegan M. Paxton Willing, Ph.D., MPH

The Center for Deployment Psychology (CDP) at the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences (USU) was awarded the Gold Medal for Healthcare Games at the recent International Serious Play Awards in Toronto, Canada. The Serious Play Conference offers an opportunity for researchers, educators, and game developers to grow their skills in game-based learning.  

Drs. Kevin Holloway and Maegan Paxton Willing accepted the gold medal for the Second Life Island for Preventing Suicide, or SLIPS, on behalf of the CDP.  Holloway is the director of Online Training, Technology, and Telehealth at the CDP and an assistant professor in the Medical and Clinical Psychology department. Paxton Willing, assistant professor in the Medical and Clinical Psychology department, is a research psychologist at the CDP, as well as a USU alumna. Both Holloway and Paxton Willing are Henry M. Jackson Foundation for the Advancement of Military Medicine employees working in support of USU. 

Learners can hone their clinical skills in suicide prevention while hiking the risk assessment trail, exploring the safety planning caves, visiting the patient's home to secure lethal means, and going to the Ranger's Station to begin relapse prevention. (Image by USU Center for Deployment Psychology)
Learners can hone their clinical skills in suicide prevention while hiking the risk assessment
trail, exploring the safety planning caves, visiting the patient's home to secure lethal means, and
going to the Ranger's Station to begin relapse prevention. (Image by USU Center for Deployment
Psychology)

SLIPS is a virtual environment that provides behavioral health providers with a unique opportunity to extend their learning from CDP’s two-day training workshop in suicide prevention. SLIPS is an interactive, experiential learning experience where providers can practice their suicide prevention skills (risk assessment, safety planning, means safety, and relapse prevention) with simulated patients while receiving asynchronous consultation from our experts in suicide prevention. The SLIPS Firing Range provides an overview of firearm safety and strategies for securing firearms. 

“The team worked really hard to create a unique learning environment that allows providers to practice their clinical skills without fear of making mistakes,” says Paxton Willing. “As learners go through the Island, they also receive asynchronous consultation from our experts in suicide prevention. This allows the learners to practice or refresh their skills and get feedback from subject matter experts whenever they feel it would be helpful.”

“We’re so pleased to be involved in such innovative and important work,” Holloway says. “Virtual experiential learning can effect real world skills competence in a way that didactic learning can’t, and it’s such important work to address suicide prevention in our nation’s warfighters.”

“It is great that we had this opportunity to explore innovative ways to ensure clinicians are prepared to address the needs of patients,” says Dr. David Riggs, professor of Medical and Clinical Psychology at USU, director of the Center for Deployment Psychology, and principal investigator on the project. “The team worked really hard developing the training tools and I hope that providers will take advantage of them to make sure that they are prepared to handle a patient in crisis.”

SLIPS joins CDP’s other virtual worlds available in Second Life, a commercially-available platform providing a virtual, avatar-based environment. CDP has previously developed a virtual Headquarters and Design Studio where CDP employees can collaborate. To further CDP’s mission of training military-connected behavioral health providers in evidence-based psychotherapies, a Virtual Education Center as an alternative to traditional in-person workshops. 

Visitors can learn about firearm safety and how to secure lethal means at the Firing Range. (Image by USU Center for Deployment Psychology)
Visitors can learn about firearm safety and how to secure lethal means at the Firing Range.
(Image by USU Center for Deployment Psychology)

In addition to SLIPS, CDP offers asynchronous training in post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) at the PTSD Learning Center featuring Operation AVATAR, which won the gold medal at the 2019 International Serious Play Conference, and sleep at the Snoozeum, for which CDP won a bronze medal at the 2020 Serious Play. These immersive learning environments allow providers to learn at their own pace and at times and locations that are convenient to them. 

To visit SLIPS or CDP’s other Virtual Worlds, visit https://deploymentpsych.org/virtual-provider-training-in-second-life. CDP will be holding grand openings on Wednesday, September 18th, from 6:30- 9:00 P.M. EST, and Friday, September 20, from 12:30- 1:30 P.M. EST. SLIPS was funded by an intramural award from the USU.