Implementing IVR for family therapy training: a prototype for first family therapy sessions

Role plays and live supervision have been core methods in family therapy education, offering trainees experiential opportunities to practice therapeutic techniques, engage in reflexivity, and develop systemic awareness. However, these traditional methods face limitations in scalability, standardization, and emotional safety. Immersive Virtual Reality (IVR) —a technology capable of eliciting realistic affective and cognitive responses through a sense of presence—presents new possibilities for addressing these challenges. Drawing upon research in simulation-based learning, this article explores how IVR can enhance the acquisition of core family therapy competencies (technical skills, relational, epistemological, and context sensitivity). The paper synthesizes existing family therapy education models and methods and IVR-based training research. It highlights the unique pedagogical affordances of IVR, i.e., embodied perspective-taking, emotional safety, standardization, and repeatability, and links these to family therapy training goals. An IVR prototype developed by the authors simulates a first family therapy session, providing a proof of concept for integrating virtual simulations into therapist education. Preliminary feedback from professionals indicates that IVR can foster engagement and self-reflexivity, though challenges remain regarding content realism, cost, and trainers’ digital skills. The article concludes by identifying future directions for research and practice, emphasizing the need for interdisciplinary collaboration, empirical validation, and ethical frameworks to guide the responsible implementation of IVR in family therapy education.