EcoCanvas

EcoCanvas: Finding well-being through art - A virtual reality art experience designed to support survivors of intimate partner violence.

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Inspiration: Intimate Partner Violence (IPV) is a widespread, often underreported public health issue(1,2). According to the World Health Organization, nearly one in three women worldwide experience IPV in their lifetime (3). IPV involves behaviours within intimate relationships that cause physical, sexual, or psychological harm (3). Survivors often face not only immediate physical consequences but also long-term psychological and neurocognitive impacts, such as depression, anxiety, memory loss, and attention difficulties, that can significantly impact their quality of life (4-6). In response to this challenging context, we created EcoCanvas, a virtual reality (VR)-based art experience. EcoCanvas combines immersive VR technology with creative expression to promote emotional healing and cognitive recovery supporting functions such as memory, attention and concentration that are often affected by trauma.
What it does: EcoCanvas is a self-guided, immersive VR experience in a tranquil, nature-based environment. Users can engage in spontaneous digital spray painting or choose from four guided art activities, each based on reflective prompts inspired by related research and the professional experience of a wellness-oriented artist (7,8). The prompts allow the user to explore on recovery aspects such as social supports, hopefulness, emotional coping, and memory recovery. The platform requires no artistic background and features a user-friendly interface that minimizes frustration often linked to manual activities. The virtual setting offers a boundless creative space where users can freely explore, edit, and view their work. The project integrates therapeutic eco-art perspectives by simulating a nature-rich environment, providing therapeutic benefits shown to reduce stress, improve mood, and enhance vitality (9,10). These immersive virtual nature experiences help bridge accessibility gaps to nature-based art-as-therapy such as transportation barriers, climate, or financial limitations. More importantly, it allows survivors to autonomously begin on their healing journey where they could often encounter long wait times before being paired with an intervention worker or therapist. This allows for symptoms of cognitive decline brought on by IPV to be addressed as quickly as possible.
How we built it: The experience was developed using Unity 6 and integrated with VR headset technology (Meta Quest 3), utilizing assets from the Unity Asset Store to create an immersive and responsive environment (11-20). Challenges we ran into: Setting up and configuring Unity 6 for VR compatibility, ensuring a balance between immersive design and emotional safety, and optimizing user interface for low-tech users. During prototype testing, motion sickness was reported after multiple user interactions due to the movement required to navigate the virtual environment when initially designed with controller-based locomotion. To address this, we implemented teleportation-based locomotion to minimize discomfort. Accomplishments we’re proud of: Built a working prototype of a trauma-informed art experience tool in under 36 hours. Designed a calming, nature-inspired virtual environment that fosters creative expression and emotional reflection. What we learned: Technical insights on VR development using Unity and balancing user experience with emotional well-being. How mindful artmaking can be integrated meaningfully into immersive technologies. What’s next for EcoCanvas: We plan to expand art activities by including features like collage-making and sound-based expression. We hope to partner with organizations that support IPV survivors to implement and evaluate the tool’s impact. Our vision is to complement existing mental health initiatives with a creative, non-pharmacological intervention that centers survivors on their own recovery. Ultimately, we aim to develop a library of prompts tailored to various therapeutic goals and populations.

References:

  1. Women and Gender Equality Canada. Intimate partner violence [Internet]. Ottawa: Government of Canada; 2022 [cited 2025 Mar 22]. Available from: https://www.canada.ca/en/women-gender-equality/gender-based-violence/intimate-partner-violence.html
  2. Leon CM, Aizpurua E, Rollero C. None of my business? An experiment analyzing willingness to formally report incidents of intimate partner violence against women. Violence against women. 2022 Jul;28(9):2163-85.
  3. World Health Organization. Violence against women [Internet]. Geneva: World Health Organization; 2024 [cited 2025 Mar 22]. Available from: https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/violence-against-women
  4. Daugherty JC, Marañón-Murcia M, Hidalgo-Ruzzante N, Bueso-Izquierdo N, Jiménez-González P, Gómez-Medialdea P, et al. Severity of neurocognitive impairment in women who have experienced intimate partner violence in Spain. The Journal of Forensic Psychiatry & Psychology. 2019 Mar 4;30(2):322-40.
  5. Twamley EW, Allard CB, Thorp SR, Norman SB, Cissell SH, Berardi KH, et al. Cognitive impairment and functioning in PTSD related to intimate partner violence. Journal of the International Neuropsychological Society. 2009 Nov;15(6):879-87.
  6. Daugherty JC, García-Navas-Menchero M, Fernández-Fillol C, Hidalgo-Ruzzante N, Pérez-García M. Tentative Causes of Brain and Neuropsychological Alterations in Women Victims of Intimate Partner Violence. Brain Sciences. 2024 Sep 30;14(10):996.
  7. Kaimal G, Jones JP, Dieterich-Hartwell R, Wang X. Long-term art therapy clinical interventions with military service members with traumatic brain injury and post-traumatic stress: findings from a mixed methods program evaluation study. Military psychology. 2021 Jan 2;33(1):29-40.
  8. Berberian M, Walker MS, Kaimal G. ‘Master My Demons’: art therapy montage paintings by active-duty military service members with traumatic brain injury and post-traumatic stress. Medical humanities. 2019 Dec 1;45(4):353-60.
  9. Reese G, Stahlberg J, Menzel C. Digital shinrin-yoku: Do nature experiences in virtual reality reduce stress and increase well-being as strongly as similar experiences in a physical forest?. Virtual Reality. 2022 Sep;26(3):1245-55.
  10. Kalantari S, Bill Xu T, Mostafavi A, Lee A, Barankevich R, Boot WR, et al. Using a nature-based virtual reality environment for improving mood states and cognitive engagement in older adults: A mixed-method feasibility study. Innovation in aging. 2022 May 1;6(3):igac015.
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