How RALAC’s Lionsbrae facility is using SilVR to open up experiences for residents who would otherwise never access them.
RALAC, a not-for-profit aged care provider operating Lionsbrae specialist residential care, has embedded VR into its regular activities program to give residents access to experiences that their circumstances would otherwise make impossible. For a cohort where many have had little opportunity to travel or explore the world, the impact reaches well beyond entertainment.
Verity Hooman Sobhani, Lifestyle Coordinator at Lionsbrae, oversees the program alongside a team of staff and volunteers. She came into the role six months ago, with VR already part of the facility’s offering. Her job since has been to make sure it runs consistently and reaches every resident who can benefit, including those who cannot leave their rooms
“Some of them say they enjoy the scenery, the things they see, because it feels like they’re travelling again when this would be impossible for them,” Verity says.
“For some other residents who haven’t travelled, it’s a very new experience. Seeing places, being in places they would have never usually been to.”
Taking the Experience to the Resident
VR sessions at Lionsbrae are listed on the activities calendar and run as group sessions with morning or afternoon tea. Residents who want to attend simply let a team member know. But the program doesn’t stop at the group room door.
For residents with advanced illness or mobility limitations, RALAC has built a parallel delivery model. Volunteers and staff take the headsets directly to residents’ rooms, bringing the session to people who cannot come to the session. It sits alongside other roving programs the team has developed, including a sensory garden trolley and an ice cream trolley, all built on the same principle: if a resident can’t get to the experience, the experience comes to them.
“Some choose places they have travelled to before or during their younger years, and some choose countries and/or cities they have never visited.
I love hearing how they describe feeling as though they are actually in that country or place with the VR headset experience, and how realistic the scenery is. I love watching their smiles,” lifestyle assistant Rebecca says.
Volunteers who carry out those individual sessions consistently report strong responses from residents, describing the impact in terms of how the resident felt during and after, not just whether they participated.
What the Headset Makes Possible
Verity describes the difference between VR and other activity formats in direct terms. Watching a travel documentary on television is passive. Putting on a headset is something else entirely.
“The resident feels immersed. They feel that they are really there. It’s hyperrealistic. And after the experience, they feel like they’ve really been to that place.”
The emotions she sees at the end of sessions are consistent: happiness, smiles, residents saying “I felt like I was there” and “I felt that I was in it.” For people who may never have had the means or opportunity to travel, that sense of genuine presence carries particular weight.
The standard of what counts as a successful session, in Verity’s view, comes down to how closely the experience matches what a resident actually wants. She describes the ideal in terms of bucket lists and wishes: a resident who has never been on a train finally travelling on one, or a resident who left their homeland decades ago and never returned being taken back, even briefly.
“If I could make a trip to Cambodia to that resident’s village possible, that would be like a dream come true. It’s like them visiting home again.”
The Program Ahead
Verity sees personalisation as the next step for the program at Lionsbrae. The potential she describes is straightforward: a resident who is non-ambulant, who grew up in a particular suburb, who misses a specific street or park, could be taken there in a way that no excursion could replicate.
“To us it may be a grassland, a street, a house. But to them it is home.”
RALAC is in the process of transitioning to SilVR Pathways, a platform that captures each resident’s life history, interests and preferences and uses that information to generate personalised session plans. For a program already oriented around bringing the experience to the individual, rather than the other way around, it represents a natural next step.
About RALAC
RALAC’s Lionsbrae Hostel is a specialist residential aged care home that provides compassionate, person-centred support to older people and younger individuals with complex care needs. As a verified specialist homeless aged care provider, Lionsbrae offers a safe and stable home for people who have experienced homelessness, insecure housing, or significant social and financial disadvantage. The service supports residents from diverse backgrounds, including those requiring high-level aged care and NDIS participants. Through a caring, community-based approach, Lionsbrae promotes dignity, inclusion, and wellbeing for every resident. Their commitment to providing quality care ensures vulnerable members of the community can live with security, respect, and a sense of belonging. For more information, visit ralac.org.au.
