Dr. Melissa Pinto joins #SPSM 2/15/15, 9pm CST, to share her expertise in the application of virtual technologies in the mental health field. You can join us on twitter, and watch the LIVE stream here: 

The Tweets for this chat will be archived on Storify.

Dr. Pinto has experience using an avatar based virtual reality program to orient adolescents about how to engage in their own health care. Her research in this area uncovered the surprising (and encouraging) result that adolescents who use this technology show reductions in depression.

Not only is hand held technology a logical medium for reaching and interacting with today’s youth about *any* issue (including mental health), but it has other important advantages at well. Most mental health intervention require face to face interactions with trained professionals (and I include peer support providers in this category). This creates a limit in the amount of access to mental health that can be provided. Limitations in available providers, as well as other factors create significant barriers to accessing care. Virtual technologies can scale up, and can reach people where they are, solving additional challenges in engaging and providing people with care.

You can read more about her work here:

OR, watch this great video here:

Dr. Melissa Pinto completed her PhD in nursing science, with a focus on community-based behavioral health interventions for adolescents and young adults, at the University of Louisville. Prior to joining Emory University Nell Hodgson Woodruff School of Nursing in July 2013, Dr. Pinto completed a fellowship at NIH through the National Institute of Nursing Research in Molecular Genetics and was the recipient of a 4 year NIH KL2 Career Development Award through the Cleveland Clinical and Translational Science Collaborative at Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine. As a KL2 Scholar, she received cutting edge training in multidisciplinary clinical research.

Dr. Pinto has expertise in the area of Adolescent and Young Adult Behavioral Health, Self-Management, Development and Assessment of eHealth and Technology-Based Behavioral Health Interventions, Psychosocial Barriers to Mental Health Treatment for Adolescents, and Technology and Adolescent Health Risk Behaviors. She has translated her work for lay audiences and community stakeholders; her innovative approach to behavioral health interventions for young adults has recently captured national attention.

In 2013, Dr. Pinto presented her work, Electronic Self-Management Resource Training for Mental Health (eSMART-MH), at the White House Technology Innovations for Substance Abuse and Mental Health Treatment Conference. Additionally, has provided consultation to national policymakers regarding dissemination of behavioral health technologies. She is part of the Early Stage Reviewer Program at NIH Center for Scientific Review and is part of the Virtual Support Collaborative (http://health.usf.edu/nursing/esmart/index.htm) team working on eHealth interventions.