Association for Applied and Therapeutic Humor
Show your support and help spread the word for “Healing Humor” as a Way of Life — NOT a Band Aid, by wearing your “Healing Humor” button, along with a smile!
50% of all sale proceeds for each button sold is contributed to Association for Applied and Therapeutic Humor (AATH).
Great for every day wear, as well as on Clown Rounds! Quantity discounts are available. Eye-catching new multi-color ”tie-dyed” background with our “Healing Humor” logo and saying.
For more information, click on this link (here) for: HealingHumorButtons
Developing a character, clown or family entertainer persona is an ongoing process, with many interconnected considerations. First and foremost, it must come from within. The very essence of ‘being’ must be firmly-rooted from somewhere. If not, the character is so wispy and thinly-veiled, it seems more like a tumbleweed than a believable being to have fun and share a lighter moment with, in reality.
Structure for the character and performance comes in developing skill sets, while increasing knowledge base and understanding of the medium, message and venue. This is accomplished with ongoing education through books, multimedia, programs and conferences. A broad spectrum is recommended for the greatest Big Picture View, but care should be taken so as not to become weighted down or confused by “information overload.” This condition is caused by piling on more and more great good learning, with the frequent side effect of inertia and missed opportunities.
Many sources of tremendous information abound, but a plan of action will help anyone who wants to learn more about our special work that looks like play, to grow, develop and be able to provide maximum positive impact.
Goal setting is recognized as an effective means to develop, effect change and accomplish great things. This same strategy should apply in growing, learning and further expanding a character as well as a performance.
As for new things to learn, mind-reeling possibilities are endless. Just thinking about them gives the sugar-buzz feel of a kid set loose in a candy shop! Begin making your plan by listing out the aspects or areas you would like to explore. Let your mind run freely — it is hard to contain creativity, afterall… and why would you? Resist the urge to limit yourself, thinking you could “never do” something, or it would for some reason seem “unreasonable.” In this step, you are simply brainstorming with yourself, and laying out lots of ideas to consider.
Next: Using your list
Now Available!
Just released, “There’s a Clown in My Soup” video is a ‘Best Practices’ EduTrainment Clown Rounds module especially for hospital clowns, caring clowns and healthcare family entertainers.
Presented to integrate universal concepts for performers in the healthcare venue, this program makes effective learning enjoyable in a fresh, fun and new, memorable way.
No more ‘talking heads’, drab, dull or boring training sessions with this program! Instead, a sugar-coated, humorous presentation of: 21 Key Questions Every Healthcare Family Entertainer should be able to answer…
Details are included for registering product purchase to receive “Clown Soup” Facilitator Guide, Participant Question Booklet and corresponding Answer Sheet for this training program.
Click on this link (here) for more information about this new ‘Best Practices’ EduTrainment Video for Hospital Clowns, Caring Clowns and Healthcare Family Entertainers…
Performers sometimes must change their tune!
By the nature of their performance venue, hospital clowns and healthcare family entertainers must be versatile and quick on their feet. The personality traits of these special entertainers embody the true heart of a performer, with care and compassion for their audience.
The joy-filled interlude from a patient’s present situation at it’s best, usually appears spontaneous and sometimes even random. It may be spur-of-the-moment, or well-rehearsed, incorporating a number of possible outcomes with different avenues that may be taken. At final bow, the end result of the mini-production is always a special presentation just for that audience.
Sometimes further performer versatility is required by the venue itself, due to new regulations, procedures or newly-discovered potential risks. In case of of Swine Flu, new procedures were adopted at some facilities, while others cancelled Rounds until the epidemic was over. Either scenario causes a change in operations and modus operandi, doesn’t it?
In the case of new procedures or regulations, hospital clowns and healthcare family entertainers usually have to adapt their act or performance to conform. This change sometimes causes a major revision in the actual presentation, to fall within the prevailing guidelines. All segments of a presentation may have to be reworked or retooled accordingly to comply.
Hospital clowning is known to be one of the most difficult disciplines, due to the great number of regulations and restrictions surrounding the performer’s very existence in the setting. A performer in the healthcare venue has to be versatile in relation to the audience as well as to the setting in which they entertain. None of the conditions, observers nor the environment are ever set.
When a change in procedure or protocol causes an entertainer to revise their performance, this gives them an opportunity to become more proficient in the art, to develop a new presentation, and to become more professional in the process.
Facility policy changes may require a healthcare performer to review their act and rewrite accordingly.
The challenge — and the benefit is actually 3-fold:
- Performance must comply with the newly-mandated practice or procedure parameters
- Presentation must effectively deliver entertainment and humor to the intended audience
- Performer learns a new method or means to produce and present in a fresh, new way
As synonymous with the concept of “change,” sometimes entertainers get stuck in a rut and want to avoid revising their act. This stunts their development as a professional, keeping them fresh and learning ongoing, and withholds the needed relief and refreshment they could otherwise offer.
Applied Humor in the healthcare setting has tangible benefits!
Therapeutic Clowns are gathering in Toronto this week to learn more about delivering Applied Humor Therapy through clown arts in the healthcare venue!
Here is an insightful interview dicsussing the health benefits of healing humor by CTVglobemedia with Dr. Peter Spitzer aka “Dr. Froot Loop,” a medical doctor from Australia and co-founder of The Humour Foundation, and Fools for Health founder “Dr. Haven’t a Clue,” professor Bernie Warren of Canada, on this week’s conference and tangible research-based results of Applied Humor Therapy:
Click on this link here, to view the online interview…
Take-away Points from this great interview:
- Therapeutic Clown’s Perspective is what’s “right” in the situation.
- The Applied Humor Therapy is referred to as “Open Heart” Sugery.
- Today, there are thousands of clowns doing this important work around the world!
Follow the Big Top spotlight to find AHeart4Clowning TalkRadio Show on Monday, March 15th at 10:30AM PT/12:30 CT/1:30PM ET L-I-V-E, as host Becky “CarroTop Rainbo” Cortino interviews special guest Cheryl “Tic Toc” Lekousi, exceutive director of Hearts and Noses Hospital Clown Troupe in the Boston area.
Cheryl Lekousi ‘officially’ added hospital clowning to her life in 1999, although it seems to be a bit of a family legacy. Her ‘day job’ as a playgroup teacher for preschool children in her own inclusive program was a natural fit.
Clowning for children in many Boston area hospitals led to clowning at area events for ill and disabled children such as the Special Olympics and Why Me? Kids with cancer. In 2005, Cheryl became the executive director of the newly-focused “Hearts & Noses Hospital Clown Troupe,” formerly-known as “Jeannie Lindheim’s Hospital Clown Troupe.” She added artistic director to her job description the following year.
In this Center Ring interview, Cheryl will share how she was first introduced to and drawn into Caring Clowning, her ‘work,’ and the 4 areas “Hearts and Noses” now concentrate their efforts on, after the group’s recent refocus. Got questions? Call-in or join the chat and text-in your questions during the show!
Catch the show streaming L-I-V-E, or catch this show after the broadcast, from the archive.
What a blessing and a privilege to enter a space few have the opportunity to even stand at the doorway peering inward! That is what it is like for a hospital clown or family entertainer in the healthcare venue. Often, the patients are not at their best, but they welcome us in along with our varied partners in crime, trappings and miscellaneous props. Realize — we are complete strangers, yet we are welcomed in as if we are old friends!
And so it is, and how it goes…. on most rounds. The point of our visit is to brighten a patient’s day if just for that moment in time. In doing so, through the healing humor freely and generously dispensed, it is with the hope and prayer of relieving their pain for at least a second.
Of course to be able to do this, the audience — the patient, must be willing to take in the performance. Usually, they are. We have learned that in asking if we may enter their room, we are requesting their permission first, seeking engagement and acceptance by them. In doing so, we risk being turned away, of course.
Every reaction and most welcomes are as different as the performance, group interaction, and each individual patient visited. The bottomline success realized in most visitations is mission accomplished, signified by even the smallest glimmer of a smile by the patient.
A Hospital or Caring Clown’s mission has always been to do nothing more than to cheer patients through a gentle presence as a means of taking the patient’s mind off their current health condition or painful situation.
Patients are always our primary focus during visitations.
The rule of the day in Rounds is simple is always best. If the patient is under heavy medication, he or she will not really be able to fully participate or grasp the concept of a long or intricate presentation. If a patient is able and seems a likely candidate, we perform nose transplants on the spot, with their visitors participating in the procedure. We often perform along with the visitors, drawing everyone into the act.
Sizing up the audience, including the patient’s condition and alertness, is the second rule of the day on Rounds. Analyzing the environment in the room also plays an important part in determining our performance – are there visitors? What is the mood in the room? Sometimes, our gentle presence is enough, with a smile and wave, to brighten a patient’s day. Sometimes that is all the energy they may have to take in what we can offer.
We entertain the staff at the nurse’s station and in the hallways, as schedule allows. The staff enjoys their joy-filled interlude and comedic stress-relieving moments with us.
Visitors are often treated to entertainment in the patient’s rooms, but sometimes we catch them by surprise in the hallways, waiting rooms, elevators and lobby.
How can you entertain in a place like this?
The question often comes up. In fact, it seems only natural that folks would wonder how in the world anyone could entertain — let alone “clown” in the midst of sickness, sadness, sometimes even dying. Not an unusual query at all.
Even as the seasoned hospital/caring clown that I am (13 years, at this writing), I must admit if I stop to ponder this thought long enough — it makes me consider as well. But then, I know I have been doing this for many years and seen the joy and wonderment in the faces and eyes of so many. I guess that is how I can do this type of entertaining.
However, performing in the hospital does require special training. By their very nature, pediatrics, cancer wards and also hospice settings require extra preparation for entertainers. Many special situations and particular needs take entertaining in these venues well out of the norm or mainstream of performing even as compared to other healthcare settings.
Clowns who perform for patients usually agree the experience is humbling. The audience is not at their best, yet they usually welcome us in and thank us for our presence in the sweetest of ways. Our meager performances – no matter how grand, are dwarfed by the incredible strength and courage we appear in the face of, room after room, patient-by-patient. Sometimes the patients join in the celebration, sometimes quietly or just casually observing. I have even seen a patient or two take in our performance with all the energy they could muster — with eyes closed. They were there — right there with us, all along, I assure you.
The truth is, this kind of performing is very serious business. Hospital/caring clowns and healthcare entertainers may appear to be colorful and full of light, but a gentleness must pervade their spirits, as they wait and watch their audience watching them, adjusting, tweaking and fine-tuning their performance accordingly.
Similar to street performances, each presentation is always a little bit different even from the last, according to the audience, based on the patient’s interaction, as observed by the entertainer. Training and preparation help an entertainer to know what signs to look for, as cues to a patient’s ability to take in more of a show or if it’s time to pack it in and bid them adieu.
I often joke that I play best before a ‘captive audience’ – meaning one that can’t get away. Truthfully, I prefer entertaining in the healthcare setting for all of the intrinsic nuances and needs. The one-on-one performance behind the world’s smallest mask (clown nose) is my stage and my greatest Joy.
So when asked how in the world could I perform in a place like that — I answer, how could I not?
Clowns exist to entertain, and in doing so, freely offer joy-filled wonder and exploration to discover the possibilities that exist amongst all of us.
What a blessing and a privilege for hospital clowns or caring clowns to do the important work we get to do. It may be to share only a brief moment… a light-hearted exchange, sometimes merely sharing a quiet presence offered as a means to break the monotony, or a peace-full interruption of unceasing pain for a patient.
Hospital clowns and caring clowns take their funny biz very seriously, as they spread contagious laughter, cheer, mirth and merriment wherever the meandering path may lead. As they cheer the patients, visitors and staff, hospital clowns not only do the important work of sharing healing humor, but also make friends and memories with children of all ages, all along their merry way!
Special moments leave heartprints long after the event. As for clowns on rounds, many experiences leave indelible prints on their collective clown hearts. Countless memorable moments happen during hospital visitations. The patients, visitors and staff often share how much they enjoyed the performance. Even when a patient is unable to express appreciation in a way that might be discernable by most, we get the message – from their heart to ours.
We feel immeasurably blessed.