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login. I love that it’s a low-tech empathy bomb. It proves that you don’t need flashy gear to build emotional intelligence. You just need good design, good questions, and permission to be curious. I brought a suitcase full to the Congress. I’m offering them in exchange for one thing: a full report back on where you used them, who you played with, and what happened. Story for story. No passive downloads. I want this thing to live in communities, classrooms, workplaces, family, anywhere people gather to learn or unlearn. You can even write to us to request the pattern to print and brand your own to sell or giveaway for your own ethical charitable purpose. You can chuck it in a backpack and go change lives with it. That’s my kind of tool. You built a personal AI health coach tailored to the user. What does that do? I got sick of apps that don’t get ADHD, autoimmune chaos, hormonal fluctuations or the mental load of parenting while changing the mental health system. So, I built a GPT that tracks your macros, mood, inflammation and energy, suggests evidence based supplement stacks, and gently nudges you toward choices that don’t feel like punishment. It knows when I’m inflamed, when I’ve been travelling, or when I just need to go to bed and doomscroll protein bar reviews. It’s helped me lose over 20 kilos, regained energy, balanced my thyroid, and remembered how to enjoy food again. I finally feel like
stories about psychosis. You didn’t watch someone talk about their mental health, you became them for a few minutes. It was raw and experimental. We launched it a decade ago, when VR was still clunky and nausea-inducing. I presented it at one of the earliest eMHIC Congresses. It sparked the kind of empathy you can’t teach with a slideshow. I don’t build it anymore, but I get a kick out of supporting smart cookies like the MirrorXR team, who are picking up the VR/AI baton and running with it in beautiful new directions. recoVRy was about empathising through play. That’s the key. I believe in gamification, whether it’s tech-enabled or old school (and the world needs both). I’ve got ADHD, so the only way I stay engaged is if I’m doing, laughing, or interacting. Speaking of play, you also created the Bias Card Game. It’s not digital but it seems to work everywhere. Yes, it is literally a deck of cards. I’ve invented seven anti-bias games you can play, but you can also just play Rummy and have conversations about power, prejudice and bias through play because not everyone has Wi-Fi or the patience for a 12-part e-learning module. Sometimes all you need is a circle of people, a few honest questions and permission to get uncomfortable in the kindest way. I designed it with people who are often left out of diversity workshops. It’s screen-free, setup- free, and doesn’t require a single
to-face peer support isn’t going anywhere, but digital tools can amplify reach, reduce isolation, and hold people in those critical “in-between” moments. It’s what I call “guerrilla advocacy.” Empowering and building confidence in “normal” people. (I call anyone who works outside the mental health system normal). To embed mental health messages and values in their every day. It is like planting seeds of change through stealth and influence. We now have the Australian IP for the New Zealand award winning social movement programme “Tall Trees” and I can’t wait to see what significant system and societal shifts it makes here in South Australia. South Australia is investing millions into mental health improvements new beds, in-home treatment, more crisis alternatives. They are all needed but I’d like to see us push for something bigger and more sustainable for future generations such as peer-run drop- in centres, holistic community care, digital wrap-around support and locally led preventive strategies that reach beyond hospitals. recoVRy was one of your first digital projects, and one of the first of its kind globally. How did it happen? recoVRy came out of my frustration with “awareness campaigns” that didn’t really change anything. I wanted people to feel what it’s like to live with voices, differing realities and hallucinations. So I worked with others who’d been there, and built an immersive library of first-person lived experience
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