With VR headsets such as Oculus Rift and HTC Vive – as well as more affordable headsets, for instance GearVR – becoming available for commercial use, VR immersive experiences are finally becoming more accessible. It is not unprecedented that VR technology is beginning to be used for coaching.
The platform CoachingSpaces has already been adapted to support VR. Delightex (the founders of CoachingSpaces) conducted first experiments using Oculus Rift. Read more at: http://blog.delightex.com/step-inner-worlds-experiments-vr-coaching/
VR has been already used for several years to administer exposure therapy for PTSD and phobias, such as fear of flying, heights, spiders etc., although due to its high cost it hasn´t been widely accessible. Below are some examples of VR applications for therapy:
- Bravemind: is a military immersive application providing exposure therapy to treat post-traumatic stress disorder. It has been developed by the University of Southern California, Institute for Creative Technologies: http://www.virtuallybetter.com/portfolio/bravemind-virtual-iraq/
- CleVR: is a dutch company developing VR for the treatment of social anxiety, fear of flying and heights: http://clevr.net/en/portfolio
- Psious: a spanish / american company offering VR exposure therapy to treat anxieties and phobias, and to practice mindfulness and relaxation: https://www.psious.com/#sec-intro
It is not long now that VR technology will become mainstream. Beyond the opportunities VR already offers for therapy, it could play an important role for enhancing coaching processes.
The Digital Coach 
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