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How people use TRAPPED: A VR Detective Story to educate others

ByBilly Joe Cain

Radical Empathy Education Foundation (REEFcares.org) licenses their virtual reality empathy training software, TRAPPED: A VR Detective Story, to trainers and groups across the world.

We are so impressed to see all the ways our licensees have created educational opportunities with our learning tools! 

TRAPPED: A VR Detective Story screenshot of Lisa's neighborhood
Screenshot of Lisa's neighborhood in the interactive experience, TRAPPED: A VR Detective Story

Licensees (in Texas, Illinois, California, Wyoming, Idaho, Montana, Arkansas, and elsewhere) have come up with some very creative ways to use it for education. Here's what's happening across America on a daily basis (more complete list with pictures and below):

  • Community-based in-person human trafficking
  • Cross Medium / Cross Reality Learning Experiences
  • Community at outreach events
  • Legislative and city leadership education
  • Individual donor cultivation
  • Public fundraising events
  • In-person visitors to licensees' physical locations
  • Fundraising gala support
  • Middle and high school human trafficking prevention training (in-school and after school at Parent Nights)
  • Medical student training enhancement
  • Research on VR Training Effectiveness
  • Job Training (city, state, national , banking industry, FBI, medical students, etc.)
  • Social emotional learning (SEL) and counseling
  • Financial industry anti-trafficking training (yes – even “non-related” training are dramatically improved)

Interactive development began in 2017, and we are building new experiences every day! Here are a few behind-the-scenes images to show you a little of what it takes to build a product like this.

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Licensees are encouraged to use the VR empathy module training software in any way they wish.

We are continually impressed, amazed, and grateful to see all the exceptional ways people have used this powerful tool

Here are a few real-world use cases from REEF's licensees.

Community-based in-person human trafficking prevention training

Our VR application is the perfect add-on to any training you are already providing. Hundreds of survivors and trainers have told us that the interactive story creates a strong emotional connection to the learning material you cannot consistently create in any other way. 

Immersive Training Case Study

Lisa's story from TRAPPED: A VR Detective Story was used as a Case Study for every attendee of the Greater Rockies Immersive Training Conference (GRIT). Each session included a way to relate to Lisa's situation. Here's a video explanation.

Virtual reality application used to educate people about human trafficking at Greater Rockies Interactive Training Conference, GRIT

Cross Medium / Cross Reality Learning Experience

At their events, utilizes physical versions of the virtual items from the narrative experience to bring Lisa's world to life.

They place the objects on site at events with Information Cards that share additional background and story about Lisa.

Read more about this story here.

Uprising purchased physical models of the virtual objects from TRAPPED. Pictured here are Lisa's teddy bear, dress, shoes, lipstick, and her cell phone. All of these are important parts of Lisa's life, and seeing them can make a dramatic impact for trainees.
Uprising purchased physical models of the virtual objects from TRAPPED. Pictured here are Lisa's teddy bear, dress, shoes, lipstick, and her cell phone. All of these are important parts of Lisa's life, and seeing them can make a dramatic impact for trainees.
Visitors of JuST Conference use VR while standing and sitting in Fort Worth, Texas
Attendees of JuST Conference use VR while standing and sitting, the night before the event opens, in Fort Worth, Texas

Community awareness at outreach events

The VR app gets people to understand the psychological manipulation that is nearly impossible to teach.

People broaden their understanding of the topic from “this only happens at the border” to “this could be happening to my children” in only 15 minutes.

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Billy Joe Cain explains how Lisa's story contains red flags and vulnerabilities in the script and dialogue on Fox7 in Austin, Texas
Billy Joe Cain explains how Lisa's story contains red flags and vulnerabilities in the script and dialogue on Fox7 in Austin, Texas

Legislative and city leadership education

The mayor of Wichita Falls, TX explains how strongly he was affected in only 20 minutes.

Texas state representative Tony Tinderholt shows his reaction in this video.

You never get enough time with leadership. And even when you do, their attention is distracted by everything and everyone in a room.

Virtual reality headsets guarantee you have undivided attention for 15-20 minutes, and you know exactly what they are learning. Can you say that about any other type of training?

The VR technology can be used indoors and outdoors, even in low light. This was at a Black Tie Boxing event in Houston, Texas, 2019
The VR technology can be used indoors and outdoors, even in low light. This was at a Black Tie Boxing event in Houston, Texas, 2019

Individual donor cultivation

You get to have a very personal interaction with a donor when they use this experience.

This image is from demonstrating TRAPPED: A VR Detective Story at The Landing, a Houston-area drop-in shelter, on a special evening with their board and donors.

We have supported Freedom Church Alliance at their GoBox events in Houston, Texas
We have supported Freedom Church Alliance at their GoBox events in Houston, Texas

Public fundraising events

Donors get a hands-on experience using the VR application.

There are many groups that support on-site fundraising, like GroupRaise.

In the VR experience, you visit Lisa's room and she tells you about how she was broadcasting her vulnerabilities through her social media
In the VR experience, you visit Lisa's room and she tells you about how she was broadcasting her vulnerabilities through her

In-person visitors to licensees' physical locations

Our licensees always keep a headset charged at their physical locations for their guests.

We were with Southern Grit Advocacy in Wichita Falls, Texas, when they had their mayor and chief of police visit their office.

Wichita Falls Mayor Stephen Santellana discusses human trafficking in Wichita Falls with Chief of Police Manuel Borrego and Vicky J. Payne, MPA, President/Executive Director of Southern Grit Advocacy
Wichita Falls Mayor Stephen Santellana discusses human trafficking in Wichita Falls with Chief of Police Manuel Borrego and Vicky J. Payne, MPA, President / Executive Director of Southern Grit Advocacy
Demonstrating for the Mayor and Chief of Police of Wichita Falls, Texas at Southern Grit Advocacy's headquarters
Demonstrating for the Mayor and Chief of Police of Wichita Falls, Texas at Southern Grit Advocacy's headquarters

Fundraising gala support

Donors get a hands-on experience at the gala itself. Billy Joe has personally supported almost a dozen annual “gala” events for nonprofits across America.

Tony Robbins' 60th Birthday in Los Angeles at the Microsoft Center with Operation Underground Railroad
Our award winning virtual reality software has been featured on PBS, FOX, KLBJ, and other stations
Our award-winning virtual reality software has been featured on PBS, FOX, KLBJ, and other stations

Middle and high school human trafficking prevention training (in-school and after school)

Your software license allows you to use the training software anywhere you like, with as many headsets as you like.

Train students, parents, and administration in any class on your campus, day or night. 

Students at an Austin ISD Mental Health Day event in 2018
Students at an Austin ISD Mental Health Day event in 2018
At Greater Rockies Immersive Training conference, attendees were piecing together Lisa's story throughout the Wyoming conference, in 2022
At the Greater Rockies Immersive Training conference, attendees were piecing together Lisa's story throughout each session, in 2022

Parent Nights

After learning with the VR software themselves, middle school students at Vista Innovation and Design Academy (VIDA) convinced their teacher to allow them to have a Parents' Night, to ensure that their relatives were also taught to stay safe from human trafficking through the VR headsets.

The STUDENTS made Parents' Night happen. Unbelievable.

Read more about VIDA here.

VIDA Vista Innovation Design Academy's Principal Eric Chagala uses VR empathy experience
Vista Innovation Design Academy's Principal Eric Chagala uses the VR empathy experience
Student Parent Night at Vista Innovation Design Academy, encouraged by the students
Student Parent Night at Vista Innovation Design Academy, encouraged by the students
Collecting surveys on how much human trafficking education the students received during the school year at the 2018 Texas Association of Student Councils Annual Conference in Amarillo, Texas
Collecting surveys on how much human trafficking education the students received during the school year at the 2018 Texas Association of Student Councils Annual Conference in Amarillo, Texas

Medical student training enhancement

Medical students at University of North Texas Health Science Center (UNTHSC) use it alongside in-class training, so students understand the emotional manipulation behind trafficking.

Dr. Martha Felini became our first university licensee, and she was the first to use the Meta Quest headsets in a training session. We were able to serve a room full of students at one time, with 38 individual headsets.

University of North Texas Health Science Center at Fort Worth. Room full of students using virtual reality headsets and TRAPPED: A VR Detective Story. UNTHSC.
Our table was blessedly full for the entire JuST Conference from November 1-3, 2022, and we met some wonderful people that are very interested in using our software to train!
Our table was blessedly full for the entire JuST Conference from November 1-3, 2022, and we met some wonderful people that are very interested in using our software to train!

Research on VR Training Effectiveness

University of North Texas Health Science Center studied the effectiveness of how our Virtual Reality training can change real-world behavior and improve long-term retention of learning objectives. Initial results were amazing, but research remains to be completed.

Read more about Dr. Martha Felini, the organizer of the grant and license, here.

UNTHSC Group including Billy Joe, Jacqueline, Janelle, and Dr. Felini
University of North Texas Health Science Center - first class completed!
Talking to Austin ISD students at the Back to School Bash in 2018
Answering questions for Austin ISD students at the AISD Back to School Bash in 2018

Job Training

We are committed to investing in our future, so we share our materials with groups that are willing to commit to using them to train their students.

Austin Independent School District's McCallum High School uses the VR application's source code and art in job training classes. 

Principal Eric Chagala, from Vista Innovation and Design Academy (VIDA), was the first administrator to utilize our VR software at his middle school in 2017
Principal Eric Chagala, from Vista Innovation and Design Academy (VIDA), in Vista, California, was the first administrator to utilize our VR software at his middle school in 2017

Social emotional learning (SEL) and counseling

Social emotional learning (SEL) is a methodology that helps students of all ages to better comprehend their emotions, to feel those emotions fully, and demonstrate empathy for others. These learned behaviors are then used to help students make positive, responsible decisions; create frameworks to achieve their goals, and build positive relationships with others.

Guy Berry College & Career Academy

Guy Berry College & Career Academy in Arkansas plans to use the virtual reality application and its power to raise empathy to begin small group trainings and open up discussions with school counselors. 

Radical Empathy's VR software has licensees across America
Radical Empathy's VR software has licensees across America

Psychological discussion kickoff

The story in the interactive experience introduces you to Lisa, a young girl who is going through a variety of familiar and social-emotional situations, including the divorce of her parents and her mom having to work multiple jobs to make ends meet. The topics brought up in the story serve as a basis for therapeutic discussion, for learning, and for growth.

Effective therapy

An adolescent addiction specialist from the Austin area uses the VR app in his practice to give concrete examples of how easily children can be manipulated and also to open the door to talking about many other difficult topics related to the experience: divorce, abandonment, sextortion, social media use, abuse, rape, violence, pregnancy, etc.

Read more about how counselors are using our VR application to combat human trafficking in this article. 

Leading virtual reality publications have done interviews and features on the powerful empathy generated by TRAPPED: A VR Detective Story
Leading virtual reality publications have done interviews and features on the powerful empathy generated by TRAPPED: A VR Detective Story

Financial industry anti-trafficking training

In Montana, The Lifeguard Group trains small and large groups, from entire high school auditoriums down to intimate groups of bank employees. 

They have special curriculum to teach people in the financial system about finding human trafficking inside transactions, etc., and they decided to bring the headsets along to one of their recent trainings. 

While they were taking breaks from the regular course, they let the trainees try the VR experience. 

human trafficking financial industry

The result was an INCREDIBLE increase in interest and understanding of human trafficking and how people can become victims by no fault of their own.

Billy Joe Cain and Dawn Maglish at JuST Conference in Fort Worth, Texas
Billy Joe Cain with Dawn Maglish (who truly made the whole event happen for Radical Empathy!) from INsideOUT Cares, at JuST Conference in Fort Worth, Texas

A few words from Billy Joe Cain, the creator of TRAPPED: A VR Detective Story:

“We are so impressed to see all the ways our licensees have created educational opportunities with our learning tools! It's exciting be part of waking people up!

I want to highlight something most people don't consider, which is the vital importance of the mental condition of the people delivering training. Very few trainers have access to psychological support, which means that every training session is potentially injurious. And with the incredible turnover rate of people working to educate people in this field, everything we can do to keep trainers (especially survivors!) functioning at their highest level is critical.

Some groups ask survivors to speak to the public, and sometimes it's very hard to get some members of the public to acknowledge trafficking could happen to someone they love. 

Billy Joe Cain - PBJ Learning | Radical Empathy Education Foundation
Billy Joe Cain – |

In training situations, TRAPPED (the VR application) does the difficult work of teaching about the ‘invisible chains' without having to convince someone that this could be happening to their children.

This tool can help prevent survivors from having their lived experience questioned, which means they receive less mental injury during their training and can allow them to begin and continue discussions about trafficking at a higher level.


This is the strongest single case for this product to exist, in my opinion. Helping trainers stay psychologically safe is just another way to invest in the solution.”

– Billy Joe Cain

36 Meta Quest headsets are charging for the last time before they are used at University of North Texas Health Science Center in Fort Worth, in 2019
36 Meta Quest headsets charging for the first time before they are used at University of North Texas Health Science Center in Fort Worth, in 2019

About Radical Empathy Education Foundation

Radical Empathy Education Foundation (REEF) is an Austin-based nonprofit dedicated to ending human trafficking in one generation. To capture the attention of young adults, they use virtual reality experiences that include fully interactive, computer generated environments married with narrative, user-directed stories. To support REEF's work, please visit https://www.reefcares.org/donate/

About ONE GENERATION EDUCATION SYSTEM™

Radical Empathy Education Foundation (REEF) is dedicated to ending human trafficking in one generation. Our One Generation Education System™ utilizes cutting edge virtual reality (VR) technology that helps you make an empathetic connection to victims of the crime and understand how anyone could be tricked into being a victim. It also includes the interactive course, Human Trafficking Essentials, that can be completed anytime in your web browser.

Students experience our interactive VR application, TRAPPED: A VR Detective Story, and collect clues that tell a narrative story of how this happened to a young girl, from her perspective. The VR experience creates empathy for victims, making students more interested in the online course. It has been designed, maintained, and improved with advice from hundreds of subject matter experts and feedback from thousands of users.

Human Trafficking Essentials is based upon 15 years of Dr. David Deeds' teaching experience. He taught these materials for 15 years in his criminal justice classes at College of DuPage and Governors State University.

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