Sometimes honest support from another patient can play a major role in the treatment. Second Life provides patients and their doctors with opportunities regarding support centers and sites created for people dealing with disabilities. Some of these groups offer support and others use Second Life to raise money and awareness.

According to The University of Michigan's Health Sciences Libraries, Second Life is a safe place where patients can meet and interact.



One of the examples includes The Nutrition Game where patients can learn more about nutrients and the negative effect of fast food on health.

Major organizations have already established their Second Life groups. Good example are The American Cancer Society, Red Cross and Alcoholics Anonymous. The American Cancer Society raised over $210,000.00 US dollars in 2008 during their Relay for Life within Second Life in 2008.



Support For Healing (click here to teleport), with over 900 members, was launched as an online forum for mental health issues in 2004, and now has an own space in the virtual world. It offers several peer-to-peer meetings on different topics and is dedicated to any kind of support information. They provide places where patients can have real-time chat in a peaceful environment.



John Palmer runs a support group in Second Life for those suffering from depression and other mental illnesses.



The Counseling Center provides counseling and consulting on Real Life/Second Life mental health issues.


The main page of slcounseling.org

HealthInfo Island in Second Life is funded by a grant through the National Library of Medicine and features consumer health information. They have a Second Life presence.


Patient support is an important part of their project


AIDS Center


Several floors with several educational and support possibilities


Posters for diabetic patients

Transgender Resource Center provides support and resources for those looking into gender identity issues.


The main page of sltrc.pbwiki.com

Dream Travelers (more than 260 members) is a group associated with the online forum BrainTalk, and provides a space for those dealing with stroke or Asperger's Syndrome. In their sandbox, users can try to build objects, and they also hold regular contests there. The annual Dreams Fair for health related non-profit organizations and other events help patients come together and share their stories.


The main page of slstroke.com

The Jefferson Occupational Therapy (click here to teleport) was designed to educate people about the importance of occupational therapy and provides training for graduate students to inform them about the process of developing health-related educational programs.



If you would like to join any of these groups, just do a search in Second Life and contact them.

A wheelchair gives someone with limited mobility to walk, but otherwise functional in the real world, the ability to go out and do things and be a functional member of the community. Because of the nature of my disabilities, a wheelchair is insufficient. However, SL permits me to do things without leaving the protected environment of my home where I have an ergonomic setup that allows for my disabilities.

From my computer chair, I can teach, run a business, have an active social life, and be a functioning member of a community. Second Life is my wheelchair.

- Seshat Czeret, 18/09/2008

The leading group in this field is the Virtual Ability Island (teleport) that aims to enable people with a wide range of disabilities to enter into virtual worlds like Second Life, and provide them with a supporting environment.

One of the founders is Alice Kreuger who has multiple sclerosis and is unable to walk without the use of crutches. But in Second Life, she (as the avatar Gentle Heron) co-founded the Heron Sanctuary - a "support community" for others facing disabilities.









There are patients who cannot leave their homes, but Heron Sanctuary, a support community (now part of Virtual Ability Inc.) can help them to find answers and support. The Heron Sanctuary It offers an environment where people with disabilities can make friends, get information, encouragement, training, ways to contribute back to the community.



Wheelies (with over 550 members) was designed as a disabilities themed nightclub and members can participate in dance parties.

Roberto Salvatierra, long imprisoned in his home by his terror over going outdoors, has started venturing outside more after gaining confidence by first tentatively exploring the three-dimensional, interactive world on the Internet.

John Dawley III, who has a form of autism that makes it hard to read social cues, learned how to talk with people more easily by using his computer-generated alter ego to practice with other cyber-personas.

Real Hope in a Virtual World (Washington Post)

The web 2.0 and the 3D web area of CyberHealthyMap features useful links, peer review articles and teleport links. The database is organized by Maged N. Kamel Boulos.

One of the largest databases of such Second Life groups can be found at SLHealthy, a wiki that currently lists about 300 groups or areas related to healthcare.



SLWellness (teleport) offers a quarterly magazine on healthcare issues in Second Life.

You can buy medical devices, wheelchairs or clothes at ak's Clinic (click here to teleport).