Content
Red Dot Digital Media, a specialty integrator in digital signage, along with a Bluefin touch-interactive display with BrightSign Built-In, played key roles in delivering a successful stress reduction therapeutic pod experience.
Photo courtesy of Red Dot
May 9, 2025 by Judy Mottl — Editor, RetailCustomerExperience.com & DigitalSignageToday.com
Audio visual technology, touch-interactive display and customized content are playing a big role in helping reduce stress and anxiety at a Florida retirement community.
The community, Shell Point, offers residents a resort-like lifestyle complete with a full range of medical services. It places a high priority on the well-being of its administrative personnel and staff members, as well as those who visit community residents, and provides tools and programs to maintain physical and emotional health for residents, staff and visitors.
The latest tool, initiated in 2023 and completed in 2024, is a mental health experience from Soul Happy called Mind Pod developed by Cara Hewett and Tracy Zboril.
Located in the community center’s lobby, Mind Pod is available to anyone at Shell Point.
The Mind Pod experience
Upon entering the pillow-lined darkened therapeutic enclosure, individuals are asked to rate their current stress level and choose from a series of different videos focused on helping reduce anxiety, boost focus and transform their attitude.
The enclosure creates an engaging, sanctuary-like environment designed to immediately reduce stress levels of those who enter. During the five-minute experience guests spend time browsing video content that includes deep breathing exercises, introspection techniques, faith-based content and other calming videos.
Individuals are asked again to rate their stress level before exiting the Mind Pod.
«The MindPod initiative emerged from Shell Point’s desire to support the mental and emotional well-being of its staff, residents and caregivers in a meaningful way. Recognizing the importance of stress reduction — especially for those in healthcare roles — the leadership team identified an innovative solution in MindPod,» Sarah Owen, vice president of business development, Shell Point, said in an email interview.
Technology in play
The Mind Pod deployment was a cross-departmental collaboration involving members of Shell Point’s leadership team representing healthcare, human resources, business development and IT.
Red Dot Digital Media, a specialty integrator in digital signage, was tapped to help Shell Point’s IT team create a custom workflow for the Mind Pod and customize the ‘in-pod’ experience.
Established in 2007, Red Dot is focused on global digital signage deployments, content design, programming and CMS integration. It is a BrightSign Top 10 Global Preferred Partner and, in 2014, created a global team to support its international projects.
Red Dot developed the content using Wallboard’s content management system, paired with a Bluefin touch-interactive display with BrightSign Built-In to drive the pod’s interactive experience.
The integrator specialist customized the Mind Pod workflow and provided a way to measure and report on the Mind Pod’s positive impact on employees, residents and guests.
The customization involved updating the hardware configuration to include a 32-inch Bluefin touch-interactive display with BrightSign Built-In. Integrating BrightSign media player capabilities into the display streamlined the hardware layout and ensured interoperability.
«Using a touchscreen with integrated media player capabilities decreases the need for additional wires and potential break points from the player to the touchscreen, resulting in a solution that offers unparalleled reliability,» said Darryl Kuder, president, Red Dot, said in an email interview.
Red Dot chose Wallboard CMS for its versatility, and the ability to bypass programming in HTML which reduces development timeline and ultimately reduces cost to Shell Point.
«We used the Wallboard CMS software to make it easy for Shell Point to update content and make changes to the interactive experience. It offers the best of both worlds as Shell Point can program basic touch-interactive commands and make updates via their cloud software, while the Red Dot team has the ability to manage and support any complex content changes remotely,» said Kuder.
Given the template designed layout, updates can be made by Shell Point IT staff without the need or cost of outside consultants.
«Their [Red Dot] role was key in delivering a seamless, user-friendly interface that could be easily updated by Shell Point’s IT team — eliminating the need for ongoing external technical support and ensuring long-term operational efficiency,» said Owen.
Shell Point’s Employee Ministry and Communications team worked together to produce original, faith-based content with videos called «Rest» and «Peace.»
«These are offered along with a guided breathing exercise and an introspection video called ‘Renew’ created by Soul Happy. This cohesive effort ensured that the MindPod would meet the needs of Shell Point’s staff, residents and caregivers,» said Owen.
Red Dot also created a reporting system to provide quantitative feedback on the Mind Pod’s positive impact.
«We programmed a custom solution that automatically generates and sends nightly reports that aggregate and anonymize the user data, giving Shell Point measurable data that quantifies the Mind Pod’s positive impact, while protecting the identities of individual users,» said Kuder.
The daily emails also show how many people use the Mind Pod each day, which videos were viewed during each visit and which videos are having the most measurable, positive impact.
«Shell Point can program basic touch-interactive commands and make updates via their cloud software, while the Red Dot team has the ability to manage and support any complex content changes remotely,» said Kuder.
The impact
The Mind Pod has been extremely well received not only by staff, but by residents and visitors alike, according to Shell Point.
Having the Mind Pod centrally located in the lobby is a visual reminder to staff that they have convenient access to a tool that effectively and positively impacts their mental health.
Family caregivers measured stress levels decreasing an average of 27%, while staff members experienced a decrease of approximately 20%.
«The MindPod quickly demonstrated its effectiveness, and Shell Point is exploring opportunities to expand access to other areas of the community,» said Owen.
Owen said involving a diverse team early on in the project (HR, IT, wellness and spiritual services) provided critical insight that led to success.
Organizations looking to deploy such a system should choose a CMS that an internal team can maintain and update, including original content tailored to the audience and celebrating the launch to build awareness and encourage use, according to Owen. She also offered up a ‘don’t do’ when deploying the technology.
«A ‘don’t’ would be relying solely on generic content. Personalization made a major impact for our users,» she said.
About Judy Mottl
Judy Mottl is editor of Retail Customer Experience and Digital Signage Today. She has decades of experience as a reporter, writer and editor covering technology and business for top media including AOL, InformationWeek, InternetNews and Food Truck Operator.
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