Smiles Are Everywhere Integrating Clown-Play into healthcare practice

The role of humour, laughter and play in healthcare and wellbeing is a hot topic. Smiles are Everywhere: Integrating clown-play into healthcare practice is a practical handbook aimed primarily at healthcare professionals and those working in healthcare settings who wish to bring play and humour into their work. Drawing together the authors’ considerable experience in practice, research and training in the use of humour in healthcare settings, this book works to bring theory into practice in a simple, user-friendly manner. Central to Smiles are Everywhere is the understanding that healthcare professionals are striving to deliver patient-centred care and that the activities suggested can be integrated into existing methods of care delivery. The book includes: A rationale for why and where laughter and play are beneficial in healthcare settings Guidelines for integrating clown-plays into your own practice Advice on strategies and approaches More than fifty clearly laid out activities and ideas developed and adapted by the authors. Ideal for healthcare professionals as well as anyone working in a healthcare setting, the ideas presented here can also be translated to educational, corporate and training environments.

Table of Contents. List of Illustrations. Acknowledgements. Preface. Why Clown-play Belongs in Healthcare. How Clowns Play – A Brief History of Clowns Using Laughter and Play for Health. Clown-Play 101 - Integrating Clown-plays into Your Own Practice. Strategies and Approaches. Key to Clown-plays. Clown-plays. Next Steps - Replenishing Your Humour Quotient. References. At-a-glance Guide to Clown-plays. Index.

Bernie Warren is an internationally respected researcher, teacher, and writer on the role of the arts in healthcare and education. In 2001 he created Fools For Health, which runs clown-doctor programs for all ages and for more than 10 years worked in hospitals and healthcare facilities as "Dr. Haven’t-a-Clue". Peter Spitzer is the Medical Director, co-founder and Inaugural Chairman of the Humour Foundation charity dedicated to promoting the health benefits of humour. He delights in teaching humour techniques to healthcare undergraduates and postgraduates as well as the education and corporate sectors.