At RISD Illustration major Yuko Okabe 17 IL has learned that being a good illustrator is not just about developing and expressing your own voice, it’s about reaching out and communicating with others. As a summer Maharam STEAM Fellow, she’s using her character development talents to reach kids at Boston Children’s Hospital (BCH) who are dealing with mental health issues such as anxiety and hyperactivity.
“Children respond to stories,” Okabe points out. “The project I’m working on uses storytelling to help psychotherapists and other caregivers communicate with kids and teach them different skills related to executive function and other cognitive behaviors.”
Okabe has teamed up with game developers at Neuro’motion, a startup that works closely with clinicians in BCH’s Department of Psychiatry, to contribute to a biofeedback game for children aged 6–12 that helps them regulate intense emotions via therapeutic coping skills. When young players follow the game’s narrative, their heartrates are monitored as they face increasingly difficult challenges. They can see how high their heartrate is rising by looking at a gauge on the screen and can only move up to the next level by staying calm enough to keep their heartrate below a certain number.