From conflict zones to hospitals, clown therapy is bringing the ‘circus of life’ to areas that need it the most.
When I was 18 years old, my father sent me to clown therapy training in a small village in Italy. In the beginning I had no idea of what I was doing. But after a full-immersion and a visit to a hospital, I saw how clowns could express their creativity in crisis zones with exceptional results.
Unlike other relief workers, Briar Seyb-Hayden prepares herself to step in a refugee camp applying makeup and putting on a red nose. She is part of Clowns Without Borders, a group of artists with a clear mission: bringing psychological relief to communities in crisis zones around the world.
CLOWN THERAPY BRINGS ‘COMIC RELIEF’
As a professional clown she has spent weeks in disaster zones, bringing ‘comic relief’ – to children in particular. “The stress and trauma children have to overcome is very different from that of adults. Laughter is a contagious emotion and it is an effective method to heal emotional distress,” Briar told me.
CLOWN THERAPY BY PROFESSIONALS, NOT AMATEURS
It is one thing to be a performer, and another to be right for kids in a crisis setting. CWB has been to refugee camps in Lebanon, parts of the Philippines ravaged by super-typhoon Haiyan, and remote Indigenous communities in Mexico.
Over the last two years, this bunch of enthusiastic clowns has performed 211 shows across the world, reaching over 65,000 children and families.
Participation is on a voluntary basis, but clown therapists need to be professionals, with experience in both the performing arts and social work.
“Performers need to be emotionally grounded and must have a good understanding of the trauma communities are dealing with. If not they can do more damage than good,” Briar explained.
MEDICAL CLOWNS
If you imagined that the only place you would find a clown was in the circus, you will be surprised to see the extent to which things have changed. Indeed, each of us has quoted the well-known chestnut, “Laughter is the best medicine,” at one point or another.
In real Patch Adams’ style, a team of medical clowns is ‘prescribing smiles’ to children in emergency areas. Research on the impact of clowns in hospitals is limited, but what is available, shows that their stress-busting efforts have a measurable effect.
Following the devastating 7.8-magnitute earthquake that hit Nepal in April, a small yet significant part of the Israeli rescue team was the “Dream Doctors”. This group of clowns brought laughter to kids recovering from injuries sustained during the quake.
In the past ten years, they have worked in areas hit by natural disasters, from Thailand after the Tsunami, to Haiti in 2010. “Our work helps to significantly reduce the patient’s trauma, memories of the often painful treatment, and the hospital stay,” Karin Schneid, of the Dream Doctors project, told me.
THE DREAM DOCTORS
The empowering process, along with sensory and cognitive distractions, bring about a “transformation of reality,” helping the patient to overcome states of pain and anxiety.
Wherever they go, language barrier is not an issue. “Clowns in general do not require language in order to communicate–they use Gibberish and gestures, and rely on emotions and their exceptional ability to “read” the situation and relate to the people around them,” said Schneid.
Clowns within hospital walls radically change the doctor-patient relationship. Dream Doctors cooperate fully with the medical staff and they are incorporated into the procedures in order to advance the treatment in the easiest way for all involved, Schneid explained.
In Israel, there are doctors who insist on having a Dream Doctor with them for specific procedures- accompanying to surgery, ear-nose-throat examinations, examinations of children after sexual abuse and much more. Several countries have recently passed laws that require clown therapy to be available in an effort to help treat young patients.
To really test your humor, you can try to make A.I. laugh:
Clown Therapy: The Best ‘Prescription’ for Crisis Zones
No comments:
Post a Comment