On 24 October, our venture partner The Cornerstone Partnership brought together leading figures from the world of children’s social care, film and technology for a ground-breaking event at City Hall.
Cornerstone offers a comprehensive ‘end to end’ package of foster care support to local authorities, from recruitment to training and retention. As part of their innovative approach to supporting foster carers, Cornerstone has helped create two virtual reality (VR) films. These films, first unveiled at City Hall, are powerful tools for educating foster carers and the general public about the experience and consequences of childhood trauma. One of the VR films was shown through a headset as a tool to help foster parents understand children’s experiences and why they might behave in certain way. The other film, demonstrated in a 360° dome, was a recruitment tool to demonstrate the lasting impact foster carers have on a child’s life.
Over 80 people attended the event from a range of sectors, from local authorities to charities, investors and media. The audience from all walks of life were impressed by the realism of the virtual reality films, with many commenting on the hard hitting and long lasting impact that was left from the experience.
After experiencing the technology, we heard from an extensive panel of experts from a number of fields, who discussed the emerging potential of using virtual reality to support service delivery in a variety of ways, including to train social workers, to support therapy & supervised visits, and to help young people understand the contextual factors that led them to be removed from their birth family. The panel was chaired by Amanda Nevill, Chief Executive of the British Film Institute, and included Managing Director of Windsor & Maidenhead, Alison Alexander, Consultant Clinical Psychologist Dr Matt Woolgar and The Cornerstone Partnership CEO, Helen Costa.
The panel emphasised the power of VR to give insight into experiences that are difficult to comprehend for those who have not lived through it. Panel members noted that the VR experience for fostering recruitment and retention helped them gain a greater understanding of and empathy for the huge societal and psychological impact childhood experiences can have, that often mean children struggle later in life.
If you’re interested in finding out more about The Cornerstone Partnership and their excellent work, please contact london.ventures@londoncouncils.gov.uk . You can also follow us on Twitter @LdnVentures and @supportadopters.