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community weblog
Staten Island High School Beaming In Therapists Using Holograms
Ralph R. McKee Career and Technical Education High School is opening a state of the art wellness space including a private room where students can speak with therapists in hologram form.
posted by ichimunki on Oct 22, 2026 at 9:42 AM
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Yep, that'll do it. Finally, a real solution to our problems! :)
posted by wafehling at 9:44 AM
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HOW MUCH DOES THAT COST AND HOW MANY REAL THERAPISTS COULD YOU HIRE FOR THE SAME AMOUNT?
posted by Silvery Fish at 9:48 AM
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About two dozen students got a sneak preview of the space earlier this month, which was created in partnership with the S.I.C. Film School, an education platform and production company based in Hillside, New Jersey.......
Nearby, students can record podcasts about mental health issues affecting teens. A stage rounds out the studio, allowing students to create their own holograms, with the aim of sharing positive messages, S.I.C. Film School representatives said.
So is this just a way for S.I.C. to get free content from students? Because fuck that.
posted by RonButNotStupid at 10:00 AM
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Silvery Fish:
Given the amount of students that need therapy in this day and age, I imagine it could be cheaper if it were actual helpful rather than being performative free content bullshit. Students creating their own holograms--that's nice. I'm sure student content will replace a professional's expertise in no time. And who is going to monitor said 'positive messages' in those podcasts? Playing holograms in the gym for group therapy after school shootings can save big money! IMO, to a certain extent therapy works; it's not the be-all and end-all it's sometimes touted. But one of the reason it works is the actual human connection. The internet is good for kids looking to find their 'tribe' but doubtful in the interpersonal relationship necessary for therapy.
posted by BlueHorse at 10:14 AM
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Video meetings etc. are very disconnecting for me so I would never consider online therapy. If this truly has a different feel then I can see it being more effective. Though I also wonder if adolescents are less likely than we olds to be unhappy with typical app-based therapy, because the ones I know at least voluntarily socialize that way a lot.
posted by metasarah at 10:15 AM
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Yep, that'll do it. Finally, a real solution to our problems! :)
It sounds like a rather holo victory.
posted by Greg_Ace at 10:20 AM
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S.I.C. has an extremely scammy looking web site that's out of date (2025) and mostly written in the future tense ("our students will have access to....", "the campus facility will include...") with lots of links like the ones to their programs, curriculum and workforce development are just placeholders that don't go anywhere. They're also claiming to be the first school with a campus in the metaverse. Also the link to apply is just a mailto:. Actually, half the links on that page are just pointing to a handful of email addresses.
There are all sorts of red flags here and whoever invited these guys into a public school should be immediately fired for gross incompetence. This has grift written all over it.
posted by RonButNotStupid at 10:27 AM
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But how will the school shooters shoot the hologram therapists? < / bad joke out of despair >
posted by tiny frying pan at 10:33 AM
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NOT A REAL HOLOGRAM, CLOSER TO PEPPERS GHOST.
All of these fucking liars about holograms.
Grrr
posted by lalochezia at 10:34 AM
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Your outie is kind.
posted by flabdablet at 10:41 AM
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Silvery Fish: "HOW MUCH DOES THAT COST AND HOW MANY REAL THERAPISTS COULD YOU HIRE FOR THE SAME AMOUNT?"
They're real therapists, just over video, no? My wife is a licensed mental health counselor in Virginia and sees about a 50/50 split between in-person and virtual clients.
posted by emelenjr at 10:59 AM
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CLOSER TO PEPPERS GHOST
I'd rather be close to Pepper's Ghost than to a ghost pepper.
posted by Greg_Ace at 11:08 AM
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Despite having the "first and only campus inside a Major Studio Development" they don't even bother to provide a street address on their web page. Because it doesn't exist.
But did you know? Their "verticals" are "on track for a Billion dollar valuation". They have another rendering of a nonexistent building in Kansas City, and some footage of an abandoned train station in Uruguay.
Beyond internships, SIC will be the first school to fund student content and structure devlopment deals, empowering our alumni to create a greater proliferation of positive content in society
Total scam. They're lining their pockets with money that could have gone to hiring real therapists.
posted by RonButNotStupid at 11:10 AM
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If they must build us into the Brave New World future I'm going to have to insist on better drugs.
posted by Phobos the Space Potato at 11:10 AM
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Some absolutely unhinged quotes in here.
Nussbaum said the device creates a "feeling of presence" that a phone or video call cannot replicate. "We make it feel like the person is in the room."
Or you could, you know, have a person in the room.
A 2024 Health Department report found that teens who use social media experience anxiety and depression at higher rates than those who do not.
Against that backdrop, McKee hopes technology can also play a role in improving students' mental health.
... Nearby, students can record podcasts about mental health issues affecting teens. A stage rounds out the studio, allowing students to create their own holograms, with the aim of sharing positive messages, S.I.C. Film School representatives said.
The cure for depression caused by social media is ... more immersive social media!!!
But the wildest one:
"The best therapist can be in any school for any reason at any time," Nussbaum said. "It's really incredible."
This 100% does not describe a real human. To the extent an underlying business model other than scamming exists, it is "replace hologram therapist with hologram AI therapist." But then, I repeat myself.
posted by solotoro at 11:16 AM
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They're real therapists, just over video, no? My wife is a licensed mental health counselor in Virginia and sees about a 50/50 split between in-person and virtual clients.
Online therapy works for some adults but not for others. I'd like to see some data on what that percentage is for kids - considering the importance of the therapeutic relationship to therapy efficacy, my gut suspects it would be even lower. Feelings of isolation aren't mediated through screen relationships, even for adults.
My point still stands, tho: creating holograms **at cost** is still another layer between counselor and client, and getting live therapists in schools is a better use of that money. Or, if lack of enough licensed professionals is an issue (which seems unlikely for Staten), then split that money between more laptops for purpose and funding full-time counselors for larger schools who can also do online counseling for the smaller schools.
posted by Silvery Fish at 11:25 AM
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I'm going to have to insist on better drugs
In the Free Marketplace of Distractions, you're going to have to pull yourself up by your own bootstash if you want an upgrade.
posted by CynicalKnight at 11:29 AM
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The idea for the studio dates back several years to a chance encounter between Bowen and Hezues Scott, a media entrepreneur who goes by Hezues R and founded the S.I.C. Film School.
Wait, who now?
Somewhat unusual origin story here.
From his IMDB, he has a couple of shorts, including one that is more like a mini-movie at 45 minutes, another in post production and two in pre-production. So he's not nobody, but... from his own website, his big claim is, "I Elevate the Biggest Brands in the World," and he hangs out with Russell Simmons and Sean Combs. And it is NOT GREAT to be still proud of that, in the year 2026.
So not the best vibes, for sure. Thank goodness Staten Island has a sterling reputation for ethical public service.... Oh wait. Never mind.
posted by Smedly, Butlerian jihadi at 11:40 AM
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It's right here in the article:
Questions remain about how the school's virtual therapy services will operate, including who will provide the sessions and how students' privacy will be protected.
How many therapists have state-of-the-art hologram booths?
I guess it really doesn't matter because the school only has one booth, which means only one student can speak with one therapist at a time. Maybe without this expensive technology they could've hired a second therapist and two students could be in therapy at the same time.
I think this part really the kicker:
The idea for the studio dates back several years to a chance encounter between Bowen and Hezues Scott, a media entrepreneur who goes by Hezues R and founded the S.I.C. Film School.
[...]
Bowen said McKee's mental health studio could serve as a model for other city schools, provided they can secure additional funding.
"There's not a school out there that can do this straight from their budget," Bowen said. "You'd have to have a monster budget to do that, and so it's counting on the electeds, the elected officials to provide that funding."
This is grift. The whole project is the brainchild of the principal and a random dude he met who sells the technology. And guess what? They want to export the program to other schools, with additional funding, of course.
posted by RonButNotStupid at 11:40 AM
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Yes, and what does their privacy policy say and do they have a client confidentiality policy? If they're calling this therapy (given as they claim to use therapists), they can be subject to HIPAA. Don't forget BetterHelp's run-in with the law.
posted by at by at 11:46 AM
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Looks like S.I.C. Film School got a $450,000 regional development grant to renovate a "portion" of an old armory building into a production facility. A far cry from the building that features a "visually iconic circular lecture hall" on their web site.
posted by RonButNotStupid at 11:48 AM
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Is the hologram tech even using Pepper's illusion? Because Pepper's Illusion is nifty AF, and (often) quite wonderful to look at.
Proto Hologram' Inc.'s approach just seems to be to green-screen a person into a white closet and add a shadow with AI.
And then to sell the viewer 400 lb, proprietary touchscreen monitor that mimics the closet.
Am I missing something? Is there any more to it than that?
I guess it's better, in this case, than the kind of "hologram" that is produced using a roughly human-proportioned, transparent OLED screen, because a kid's less likely to not see the hardware and inadvertently crash through it.
But it still feels seriously stupid. Especially in this context.
posted by palmcorder_yajna at 11:57 AM
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There's a real story here about how and why this expenditure got approved at this location, and the hologram angle is just a particular manifestation of it.
posted by Going To Maine at 12:24 PM
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Yeah, Bowen became principal of that school early in the Adams administration. Not necessarily related, but that's pretty much what I check first when I hear about sketchiness in NYC.
posted by phooky at 1:33 PM
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"Could you be more...specific?"
posted by The Tensor at 1:59 PM
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During the tour, students crowded into the private room as Nussbaum appeared in a holographic device to greet them. In the tabletop device — a miniature version of the one the school plans to use — he appeared to be standing in the room, with his shadow faintly visible behind him.
[...]
"How does this technology differ from, like, a regular phone?" [STUDENT NAME REDACTED], a 16-year-old junior, asked.
Nussbaum said the device creates a "feeling of presence" that a phone or video call cannot replicate. "We make it feel like the person is in the room."
This technology is so garbage that the inventor had to defend it while appearing as a hologram. Talk about underwhelming. This student was in the room and they still had to ask if this was really any different than speaking to someone on the phone. Clearly it didn't feel like this guy was in the room.
I have to wonder if using a smaller, tabletop display instead of the life-size one was deliberate choice. So much of this type of scam works by under-delivering with the promise that the real thing will happen any day now, whether it's the full-sized holographic display or a state-of-the-art campus with a "visually iconic circular lecture hall".
posted by RonButNotStupid at 2:06 PM
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All it takes is one upset teenager to break that thing, how many spare "hologram" machines do they have in storage?
They'd better keep those things away from upset teenagers.
posted by Ice Cream Socialist at 2:30 PM
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This is going to be laughed at two hundred years from now.
By the dolphins.
posted by CynicalKnight at 6:35 PM
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It all seems similar to this Google project.
posted by emelenjr at 6:56 PM
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I have to wonder if using a smaller, tabletop display instead of the life-size one was deliberate choice.
"Help me, Obi-Wan Kenobi. You're my only hope."
posted by rory at 12:32 AM
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Computer, activate the Emergency Counseling Hologram
posted by dr_dank at 3:33 AM
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Gavin's Holographic Teleconference with Bighead - Silicon Valley
fuck you the audio is working
audio worked a hundred fucking years ago
posted by flabdablet at 4:24 AM
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Ugh, how condescending. If I wasn't a juvenile delinquent before, putting up with this kinda bullshit would totally make me more nihilistic and rebellious.
posted by ovvl at 1:29 PM
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we got holographic therapists before GTA 6
posted by escape from the potato planet at 8:54 AM
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