Ep. 60 The Revolutionary Impact of Virtual Reality in Mental Health Care with Jenai Tidwell, MA, LPC-S

Struggling with mental health can feel like an uphill battle, but imagine if there was a way to conquer your fears in a safe, controlled environment. Enter the world of virtual reality therapy with Jenai Tidwell, MA, LPC-S a Houston-based licensed professional counselor and mental health innovator. In her extraordinary journey from medical student to mental health trailblazer, Jenai opens up about how her own mental health challenges led to her career in private practice. We uncover the layers of virtual reality cutting-edge treatment that's transforming how we address anxiety, phobias, PTSD, and substance abuse, creating a revolution in therapeutic practices and providing hope for those who need it most.

As we peel back the curtain on this therapeutic leap forward, Jenai shares the story of a staff member who overcame a needle phobia through VR exposure therapy—a testament to the incredible personal breakthroughs possible with this technology. She breaks down how VR's 200-plus scenarios are not just for confronting fears, but also building mindfulness and emotional regulation. But it's not all high-tech talk; Jenai emphasizes the human side of mental health care, highlighting her practice's efforts to make these life-changing therapies accessible to everyone through a sliding scale payment system. By nurturing the next generation of therapists, she's ensuring that mental health resources continue to grow, fostering a healthier, more resilient community. Join us to see how Janai Tidwell is not just reshaping the landscape of mental health care, but also offering a beacon of hope to those navigating the complexities of mental health challenges.

Jenai and her team are accepting new clients in the state of Texas and locally in the Houston, TX area. Connect with Jenai and her team:
https://fowlerandtidwell.com/
https://telewellnesshub.com/listing/fowler-tidwell-counseling/

Transcript

Marta Hamilton: 0:06

Welcome back to another episode of the Telewellness Hub podcast. I'm Marta Hamilton, your host, and today we'll be speaking with Janae Tidwell, a seasoned licensed professional counselor and supervisor and the visionary in the realm of mental health entrepreneurship. Nestled in the vibrant city of Houston, texas, denae oversees two thriving mental health-focused practices. Boasting an impressive 18-year career as a professional counselor, she is deeply committed to both the treatment of her clients and the enlightening education of others on the significance of holistic mental health. I'm so excited to talk to her today and talk a little bit about affordability and counseling, and also virtual reality, which Fowler and Tidwell Counseling offer. So welcome, janae. Thank you so much for joining.

Jenai Tidwell, MA, LPC-S (Fowler & Tidwell): 0:55

Thank you. Thank you so much for having me. I'm excited to be here.

Marta Hamilton: 0:59

So, before we dive in into the world of virtual reality, which is something I've never talked about on this podcast or even seen myself it's really cool. I'm very interested in that innovative approach to therapy I wanted to first ask if you could share with us a little bit about why do you do the wellness work that you do.

Jenai Tidwell, MA, LPC-S (Fowler & Tidwell): 1:22

Yeah, absolutely do the wellness work that you do. Yeah, absolutely. So I actually I don't want to say happenstance, but kind of happenstanced into the world of mental health. Growing up, I always wanted to be a physician and there was one and only goal right, if you talk to me as a kiddo all the way through college. And then I had my own experience with mental health, having some issues with depression when I was in med school and found myself making the decision of like, ok, do I continue to pursue this or do I take the time to really focus in on my own mental health journey and kind of get myself back to a good place? Get myself back to a good place. So that is exactly what I did and in that kind of fell in love with mental health and decided, well, maybe my wellness journey as a practitioner is not so much in medicine but in mental health. So made a pivot, dived into graduate school and never looked back and it has been my focus for sheesh about still past 1819 years.

Marta Hamilton: 2:32

Wow, that's incredible. That's I love asking that question because I get to. I'm always impressed by bios and people's experiences. It's just as colleagues, but I love hearing the heart and that's a big, brave thing to do, to pivot your life like that.

Jenai Tidwell, MA, LPC-S (Fowler & Tidwell): 2:49

It definitely was it, you know, because I had been so focused laser focused on all those pre-med classes and all of that journey and doing all the extracurriculars to look good in med school eyes, and so there definitely was a moment of oh my gosh, now what you know like how do I figure out what it was? And just my experience in taking the time to work on my own mental health really made me appreciate the discipline and the career set of mental health and it was kind of a light bulb moment like oh set of mental health, and it was kind of a light bulb moment like, oh, I can help people this way too, you know.

Jenai Tidwell, MA, LPC-S (Fowler & Tidwell): 3:29

And graduate school for a lot of us they say it can be the place where either you learn or you go to self diagnose yourself, and I feel like I did a little bit of both right, Figured out some things that I definitely, you know, was able to implement in my own life to create a better sense of stability, but also then taking all of those nuts and tools into my career. So it was a good one.

Marta Hamilton: 3:54

I love that because you know you just sharing just openly I think does so much for our field. I think a lot of people might be hesitant to go into counseling, to go start working with a therapist, and I think it's so refreshing to just have clinicians share. You know, they're human too and I think a lot of us have gone through our own experiences with mental health or seeking help or our own transformations that inspire helping others. So I love, I love that you took that experience and now it looks like expanded into years of helping others and having to group two practices. Yeah, that's really awesome.

Marta Hamilton: 4:43

I, I, when I, when I first met with you, I got to learn about something really innovative that you're doing, and I'll share all the links to your practice and details in the show notes. So, if you're listening, check those out, because I got to see some of the services, including virtual reality work. So I just want to dive into that. What brought that on and what does it look like? I've never done that kind of session, either as a client or a therapist or yeah, so talk to us a little bit about that.

Jenai Tidwell, MA, LPC-S (Fowler & Tidwell): 5:20

Absolutely no. It really came about in my hopes to, you know, do the next thing to stay relevant and be giving back to our community here in Houston, texas, and happened up on I think it was an email or even an ad and just decided to click the button. You know how that goes. So dove in and set up a demo and really kind of learned that there's this whole other intervention that we can dive into with virtual reality therapy and it looks exactly like you think it's the headset right that you put on. You see, people use it for gaming purposes and that's kind of where I knew virtual reality therapy to be.

Jenai Tidwell, MA, LPC-S (Fowler & Tidwell): 6:11

But the ones who've created the platform for us to be able to, you know, connect to all of these environments, and there's over 200 different environments that they have created for all different types of scenarios to help individuals with their treatment. So anything from anxieties to phobias, and there's a level of exposure therapy with that mindfulness meditations that they can send you through. So very good for anybody hoping to do some emotional regulation or work with trauma, like PTSD, things like that, even to like eating disorders and substance abuse, where it'll put clients in the environment so that if they are heightened in anxiety or heightened in emotion or distress. They can work through that and, you know, just be better prepared to then go out in the world and then deal with those environments. When started putting it to use, and it's been really, really fun to see individuals and even my staff take advantage of this treatment and just help themselves in small and in big ways and overcoming some of these really distressing evoking environments, some of these really distressing evoking environments, and really kind of learn to do the regulation, to be in a better space and better handle it.

Marta Hamilton: 8:11

That's incredible, because I'm curious if you could share a little bit about some scenarios where you've seen people be able to overcome their challenges. I don't know, I'm imagining maybe because I was recently on a plane, like is there an environment where you're on a plane or you know just different things like that. I don't know if you could share a little bit about some situations that people have overcome, challenges that they've been able to confront.

Jenai Tidwell, MA, LPC-S (Fowler & Tidwell): 8:35

Absolutely. So, yes, exactly, there is a fear of flying, whether you're actually on a plane and you are like ramping up off of the runway and you can kind of you're sitting in the seat and you're looking out the window and then experiencing that there's phobias from you know, bugs and uncleanliness, to needles at doctor's offices, public speaking, almost you name it. It is one of the environments, if it's a phobia or exposure that people are overcoming. And I've had some of my staff I think was some of the biggest ones that are some of our biggest success stories. But one of my staff definitely had a fear and phobia of needles and she happened to be coming on right as this was starting within our practice and like was like I'll volunteer to be the first, you know like she was really excited, yet nervous, but excited to be able to try to tackle this as she had some upcoming medical appointments that she knew were going to be really serious for her. So we kind of just decided to make her our guinea pig for for the moment, as we all started to get comfortable working with this new technology, and she went through a series of exposing herself to walking into a blood draw center right, A lab, if you will, kind of going through the scenario and having her blood drawn and working through the breath work and having her blood drawn and working through the breath work Within the technology you also get to see the ability to heat map, so where the client focuses their vision and what areas they focus, it kind of will show you.

Jenai Tidwell, MA, LPC-S (Fowler & Tidwell): 10:17

So we realized that she's to do better if she looks away from the phlebotomist or pseudo-phlebotomist, you know, taking the blood. So we learned that. So she kind of, you know, looks aside and the blood's being drawn on the opposite hand or arm. She does better. And she learned that and we got her to really decrease her distress levels. I think she started kind of at a level eight or nine and we got her down to at least a level five, to where she felt that she could really kind of conquer this, and it was in a matter of six or seven sessions, Like it was not an extreme amount of time. So it was just really really neat to see her do the work and then learn some things about herself to be able to, you know, have her blood drawn, you know, and not have a major distressing moment in the midst of that situation.

Marta Hamilton: 11:15

So yeah, that's incredible, because how empowering is that to be able to do that, and in a safe environment? Right, you know you're safe, even though it's challenging. Maybe there's still some anxiety or some distress, but you know that you are safe and that's what an incredible environment. You can set that up, having the support of a therapist guiding you through to learn and to feel empowered by the situation. I love that. How does it work then? Does it need to be? I know you're in the Houston area. Does a client come in and then the therapist where's the VR to? Or are they monitoring what they're looking at? And can they do it if they have their own VR set outside of Houston? Because I know you work with people all over Texas, so I'm curious. The logistics of it Absolutely Great questions yeah, great questions.

Jenai Tidwell, MA, LPC-S (Fowler & Tidwell): 12:08

So the client is definitely wearing the headset, so they've got a 360 view in our room where we do our virtual reality. So literally the client can sit in a chair and turn in a full circle if they needed to or felt like inclined to do so. The therapist is monitoring what's happening on a laptop. So we log in to the system, connect the headset with our laptop in the system and then the client puts the headset on. So the therapist is seeing what the client is seeing kind of at the same time but on the laptop, and there may be a small like one or two second delay, but the therapist is able to see and monitor.

Jenai Tidwell, MA, LPC-S (Fowler & Tidwell): 12:50

And the really cool thing about it is that therapists can change up the scenario so it feels a little bit more real life and that the client doesn't learn the scenario. So let's say you're doing a public speaking and one session someone gets up and walks out in the middle of the session. Right, that's actually the therapist hitting a button to make that person get up and walk out. Or the next time someone's cell phone rings, that's the therapist initiating that. So we can change it up and switch it up so it feels a bit more like a real life event, and then the therapist has the opportunity to also monitor what your distress level is.

Jenai Tidwell, MA, LPC-S (Fowler & Tidwell): 13:34

You have to, you know, answer the question within the VR system. But okay, you're at a two now. Okay, you're at a five now. Okay, you're at a, you know four now. So the neat thing is that it can switch up and be extremely personalized for that person. And then, in regards to being able to do it remotely, we found more success within our office when people are in person. We do have the capability to do it remotely, but we found it just it doesn't flow as best. So we can do it if we have to, but we really love for people to be in office in order to take full advantage of the environments.

Marta Hamilton: 14:13

Yeah, no, that makes sense. I love that, to have the option, and you mentioned, you know, the public speaking and the needles, but also the mindfulness, my background. I'm also a certified yoga instructor and have done certified certifications in coaching in addition to being an LPC, and I love mindfulness work and guided meditations and how sometimes people struggle with the imagery. Right, If you're doing a guided imagery and to be able to be in the peaceful place with I don't know like, could you describe some of the environments? Because I feel like I wonder you know you could encounter something stressful and it sounds like you could follow it with also just being able to learn how to relax and do breath, work and be present Exactly, yes, it is exactly that.

Jenai Tidwell, MA, LPC-S (Fowler & Tidwell): 15:09

We have different environments for either guided meditation or just getting someone in that peaceful, calming place and then walking them through breath work I was. One of my favorite things was the beach, and so literally I was sitting on a beach and there's water in front of me and there's audio, so you're actually hearing the by um, and there's, I think, a mountain scene where it looks just like you're sitting in a mountainous terrain and it's very calming and soothing. So there's lots of nature scenes. Um, there was one with even a individual sitting across from you, almost as if you're like in some remote jungle type situation, and they are guiding you with a sound bowl in front of them. So they're initiating the sound bowl and you're hearing the sound how nice. And then being prompted to do the breath work. They've come up with some really amazing environments, both, you know, on the distressing side, but then on the mindful, calming side as well. It's, it's really cool.

Marta Hamilton: 16:28

I love that, because at what age, what age do you work with and what age typically uses the VR for therapy? Because I'm imagining maybe someone's hesitant to come in but you have virtual reality. That's a cool concept to try out, or kids maybe want to be able to come in and encounter some. You know, I'm thinking of so many scenarios I'm sure that you have for environments. But what age typically uses the age group uses the VR set?

Jenai Tidwell, MA, LPC-S (Fowler & Tidwell): 16:57

Absolutely. So we like to kind of start maybe that 10, 11 age range because they're kind of start maybe that 10 11 age range, um, because they're kind of used to the gaming. They're probably used to some of what those first person games are. It's what it kind of looks like when you're in the vr scenario and there are some, um, adolescent, um, more geared environments for, like adhd and, you know, mindfulness, wow, things of that nature. So we do have some things very specific for that age range and then, of course, going up from there. But, yeah, 10 usually likes to be where we like to start, because there's some level of concept of that gaming first person experience, and then we can help them relate to that, to the VR in therapy.

Marta Hamilton: 17:46

That's really cool. You mentioned ADHD. I hadn't thought of the different areas that VR can help with. What are some diagnoses or some issues that come in that you use VR for? In addition, I don't know if you do it in addition to other therapy work and approaches. If you could share a little bit about that, like who benefits?

Jenai Tidwell, MA, LPC-S (Fowler & Tidwell): 18:09

Absolutely so. We do it as an add on to your normal talk therapy, so you may be coming in for talk therapy for you know whatever the diagnosis is and to answer that question. And to answer that question kiddos and teens for ADHD or mood issues, behaviors in classrooms. So behavior modification, things like that. Anxieties, depression, ptsd and trauma Some traumas will utilize the mindfulness and deep breathing work to help individuals there.

Jenai Tidwell, MA, LPC-S (Fowler & Tidwell): 18:44

Eating disorders being triggered for, like, being maybe in a restaurant or looking in the mirror and having different physiques and we can change, of course, what the physique looks like depending upon the ethnicity, the sex of the person to kind of help them Gosh what else is there? All the phobias we mentioned. Kind of help them Gosh what else is there, all the phobias we mentioned. So spiders flying, public speaking, you know, cleanly clean spaces or not clean spaces.

Jenai Tidwell, MA, LPC-S (Fowler & Tidwell): 19:13

And then also substance abuse. So being triggered by, like, going to a bar right or being in maybe a kind of a shady environment which looks like there may be some substance abuse. You know, trading and selling happening right, like, so we have all the different environments. They've done an amazing job and so we'll add on, you know, maybe a 15 minute exposure or environment session with your talk therapy, so you'll have kind of both. Or there are times where people will just come in for just, you know, the talk therapy exposure work because they want to continue to move forward in their exposure, but maybe their talk therapy session is every two weeks. We want to do the environment exposure at least once a week, sometimes even more, just depending upon how quickly we want to move and how much that person can endure in the distress environment.

Marta Hamilton: 20:09

That's incredible. I'm just my mind is really blown at how many people you can help and how many scenarios, and I mean I think that's Incredible. I really do. Before we hit record, you mentioned that you offer sliding scale. I've never talked about that in a podcast episode yet and I'm hearing virtual reality. I'm hearing 200 plus environments. I'm picturing that it's very expensive. But I'm wondering, you know, I think sometimes people might have this misconception that therapy is not something that you can easily afford, that it's not always it's like a luxury rather than, you know, part of a medical treatment approach. I have heard of that. You know there can be some some misconceptions, along with stigma or other barriers. So you mentioned that you offer a sliding scale so that the sessions can be reduced, which I love because it just increases the opportunity for people who are interested in therapy to have access to that. So can you talk a little bit about you know what, what a sliding scale is, what it looks like in your practice, and and and why you chose to do that Absolutely.

Jenai Tidwell, MA, LPC-S (Fowler & Tidwell): 21:29

So we do offer a sliding scale for talk therapy portion, that portion of it. Our VR sessions are usually purchased in a package because we have to ensure that you're going to, you know one and done doesn't do much, right, and so we'll allow the individual to purchase it in a package, just depending upon what the scenario is and what we're working on, and then we will split up that package into a full payment or even three payments, right, as many as three payments for that individual, right? And so the sliding scale part was really my idea of a way to give back but then also give opportunity to our new round of clinicians coming up. So we all know we've been in grad school where we've done the practicums and internships, and even post-graduation where we're still doing a little bit of supervision before we are able to thousands of hours.

Jenai Tidwell, MA, LPC-S (Fowler & Tidwell): 22:28

Yes, so in my mind that was a way for me to kind of kill two birds with one stone.

Jenai Tidwell, MA, LPC-S (Fowler & Tidwell): 22:36

So our sliding scale is based off of the household income and we do ask for information of what the income looks like. We are trusting individuals that they are being honest and upfront in the information they give us, and so we have a sliding scale for our fully licensed staff that reduces it, I'd say, up to as much as like 40% for our cash rate, and then even lower than that would be our LPC associates, so those ones who are doing the postgraduate work, and they're at a flat fee, but that is drastically reduced. And then we also have graduate students who are available for as low as $30 a session. And again it's helping to maybe give treatment to someone who doesn't have insurance or is underinsured, but they still can have access to some level of mental health. But then it's also helping our new generation of clinicians hopefully get some clients, get the practice and get the work, get the exposure, get the training. So I felt like it was a win-win across the board for for everyone.

Marta Hamilton: 23:45

I love that Cause. Yeah, I haven't even talked about really LPC supervision, because I'm assuming you then supervise them, are you, since you have that certification? Yes, so you're. Yes, they're gaining experience. People have access to clinicians who are supervised by you and you're the founder of this practice and you know they get to hear about your passion, your heart. So I love that. And is that available? Throughout Texas? The supervision, is that available? Yeah, like the supervision and also the therapy that could be perhaps sliding scale.

Jenai Tidwell, MA, LPC-S (Fowler & Tidwell): 24:21

Absolutely yes, so great point. So, yes, supervision I can supervise anybody within the state of Texas and as far as the lower cost options, they are also because my license spans Texas, then those I supervise can see individuals throughout the state of Texas as well.

Marta Hamilton: 24:38

Yeah, I love that Because, you know, texas is an under served state when it comes to mental health and a good majority of our zip codes do not have enough mental health providers to service the community. So I love your heart and like giving back and, yes, and supporting the new generation of therapists and people who might not have access. I mean waiting lists, I think in Texas, since we're both in Texas, I recently came across that the waiting list can be starting at, you know, six months for for affordable, yeah, for affordable access. So I love, I love knowing this so that I can provide you as a referral resource also.

Marta Hamilton: 25:20

Yes, because it's it's um, it's hard, it's it's, it can be, it can be challenging. Sometimes we're able to take the step to seek counseling and then to find out, if they don't have insurance or can't afford it, that there's either a long waiting list or you know, there's a big barrier financially. And I love that you're breaking down those, those barriers to to help yeah, to help transform lives, and in innovative ways and affordable ways. And, yes, I love that. I love that. How can people connect with you? For those who are listening, they want supervision or they want to try VR, or they're in Texas and they want to you know or just want to connect with you in general. What's the best way for people to get in touch with you?

Jenai Tidwell, MA, LPC-S (Fowler & Tidwell): 26:03

Absolutely so. Our website is Fowler and Tidwellcom, so wwwfowlerandtidwellcom, so you can definitely find us there. We are also on all of the social media platforms, so you can. Fnt Counseling is our handle on Instagram and on TikTok, fowler and Tidwell is our handle on Facebook, I believe I think that's right, and so you can find us there. And then, of course, for the professionals, on LinkedIn, we are there Fowler and Tidwell as well. So definitely find us, give us a call, connect with us through our website and definitely will love to help in. However, we can and definitely provide some services to those who are in those rural areas, like you talked about, that are just finding it difficult to find services that are within their price range or within their resources that they can actually handle. We'd love to be of help.

Marta Hamilton: 26:59

Yes, I love that. Thank you so much, Janae, for joining today, being a part of our wellness that. Thank you so much, Janae, for joining today, being a part of our wellness journey. Thank you so much.