The Warrior Stories Platform
Warrior Stories is the result of a challenge posed by the Department of Defense in 2011: design a web-based art creation and storytelling tool that uses the popularity of comic books and graphic novels to encourage military PTSD-sufferers to tell their stories and begin processing those experiences. The project achieved multiple rounds of funding through the DARPA SBIR program, resulting in a research-informed fully functional prototype that has undergone user testing, therapist evaluation, and piloting. Additional funding from the state of Hawaii's Technology Development Corporation in 2016 supported the development of a rich-media facilitator training program. A 2018 Chicago Lottery Grant aims at the expansion of the content library for work with Military Sexual Trauma (MST) survivors.
Supports Therapeutic
and Recreational
Approaches
Use as adjunct therapy with current protocols (PE, CPT, CBT, EMDR) as an alternative or supplemental method of telling the trauma story
Use independently in individual or group sessions to document, share, and process experiences that may be difficult to express verbally
Flexible and expandable design supports a wide range of therapy activities, visual styles, characters, and image libraries
Ease of Use with
High Visual Impact
User experience designed under the advisement of George Washington University Art Therapy Center faculty
Extensive interviews and prototype evaluation with therapist subject matter experts
Usability tested and content feedback from veteran and Service members
Collage approach with a rich art library enables users to create meaningful images, regardless of artistic skill
Place, resize, rotate, layer, and color backgrounds, vehicles, objects, and characters with simple intuitive controls
Organize images and record alternative perspectives of the story with sequencing and annotation tools
