Tech-Driven Stress Pod At Retirement Home Helps Patients, Staff Get Calm And Then Carry On

January 24, 2025 by Dave Haynes

LA-based Red Dot Digital Media, Wallboard, and the playout hardware companies Bluefin and BrightSign have teamed up on what seems like a very unique one-to-one screen application intended to reduce stress levels.

The Soul Happy Mind Pod is a therapeutic enclosure that the staff and residents of a Florida retirement community can enter, shut the door, and use an interactive screen to get calm and then carry on.

Red Dot was brought in, says PR, to help the retirement community’s IT team customize the Mind Pod’s “in-pod” experience. Upon entering, individuals are asked to rate their current stress level and then asked to choose from a series of different videos intended to help them reduce anxiety, boost focus and transform their attitude. Videos include deep breathing exercises, introspection techniques, faith-based content and other calming videos, all of which help to center the individual and promote a sense of calm. Individuals are asked again to rate their stress level before exiting the Mind Pod. In total, the full experience lasts approximately five minutes.

Red Dot customized the Mind Pod workflow and gave them a way to measure and report on the Mind Pod’s positive impact on employees, residents and guests. This included updating the hardware configuration to include a 32-inch Bluefin touch-interactive display with BrightSign Built-In. The convenience of having BrightSign media player capabilities integrated into the display streamlined the hardware layout and ensured interoperability.

Red Dot, which does extensive integration within the BrightSign ecosystem, chose to use the Wallboard content management system (CMS) for its versatility, and the ability to bypass programming in HTML to reduce the development timeline and ultimately reduce the cost to Shell Point (the retirement community’s name). Additionally, Red Dot was able to templatize the layout such that future updates can be made by Shell Point IT personnel without the time and expense of engaging outside consultants.

“We developed this experiential, innovative, real-time therapeutic environment to de-escalate anxiety, and we’re thrilled to report the immersive sanctuary-like enclosure is already showing positive results at Shell Point,” says Mind Pod Co-Founders Cara Hewett and Tracy Zboril.

Red Dot also created a reporting system to develop quantitative feedback on the Mind Pod’s impact. Shell Point staff now receive daily emails that show how many people use the Mind Pod each day, and which videos were viewed during each visit. And because individuals are asked to measure their stress levels upon entering and leaving the Mind Pod, Shell Point can also see which videos are having the most measurable, positive impact on its residents, staff and visitors.

The Mind Pod, the PR continues, has been well received by staff, residents and visitors. Beyond the therapeutic benefits, staff have remarked that simply having the Mind Pod centrally located in the lobby is a visual reminder that they have convenient access to a tool that effectively and positively impacts their mental health. Family care-givers measured stress levels decreasing an average of 27%, while staff members experienced a decrease of approximately 20%.