Saving smiles

Because it is a different profession that works with different goals and objectives. Clowndoctors do not “entertain”. They enable a child to get rid of stress, anxiety and tension through play. The work of Clowndoctors is psychotherapeutic in nature, and their task is not just to “distract, occupy, amuse” the child, but to give emotional support. This has been scientifically proven to help children get better faster!

Firstly, smiling and laughing has an effect on a person’s physical condition: endorphins are produced (painkillers), production of T-cells (immunity) is increased, blood levels of cortisol are reduced (and with it, the stress level). 

Second, Clowndoctors turn a “hostile” and intimidating hospital environment into a space with room to smile – children stop being afraid of doctors and get through procedures faster (and more painlessly!).

Thirdly, Clowndoctors help a child (and sometimes parents and doctors too!) through play to live out those emotions that they cannot cope with right now. It works like art therapy: the clown “picks up” the state in which the little patient is in, and helps him to “play it out”, and thus to live it out.

Of course there is! Israeli scientists have done a great job researching the impact of hospital clowning on the condition of patients. 

Learn more 

A Clowndoctor is a profession! Future Clowndoctors are taught both acting (improvisation, clowning, etc.), psychology and hospital psychology, explaining the specifics of working in a medical facility. In some countries, you can even get an advanced degree in hospital clowning! In addition, Clowndoctors undergo regular supervision and additional training. (This is not a profession where you can afford to burn out).

The originator of hospital clowning is considered to be the American Dr. “Patch” Adams, played by Robin Williams in the film Healer Adams. The movement itself began in the 1970s, and hospital clowning emerged as a profession in 1986. Today there are more than 30 hospital clowning organisations around the world.

Bilderlings is a British company, one of whose offices is in Latvia. So we chose two organisations, British Clowndoctors Hearts&Minds, and Latvian Dr. Klauns. Both organisations have been in business for more than 10 years and have impeccable reputations.

The aim of Hearts & Minds and Dr. Klauns is to provide as many children in hospitals as possible with the emotional support of a Clowndoctor. This requires more clowns. Therefore, a major part of the organisations’ expenditure is to pay for the training and working hours of the Clowndoctors. 

Secondly, like any company, charities have administrative costs: so that as many people as possible become aware of them and join in the support, they need to spread the word. You have to pay for a website, design, newsletters, booklets etc. 

Charity is when the final recipient (beneficiary) gets help for free, not when the help itself is not worth the cost. 

Don’t be afraid that the amount will be ‘too small’! All great causes are built precisely on “small” help. Even 1 euro is important!

Most often, Clowndoctors work in children’s hospitals, but they also come to old people’s homes, orphanages and children’s homes, and juvenile detention centres. In spring 2022, Latvian and British Clowndoctors worked on the Ukrainian-Polish border with refugees. In fact, hospital clowning can be both humanitarian clowning and therapeutic clowning in general – and would be useful for any people who are under stress.

No government can solve all social problems. Some of them we have to take on ourselves – that’s what charity does. The world in which we live and our children will live depends on us. An analogy can be made with blood donation. Why is it important to constantly replenish the blood bank? Because we never know when we might need donor blood ourselves. That is why we take responsibility and go to donate blood, so that we always have enough. It is the same with any problem. There are problems, there are many of them, and we have to solve them.

Because problems have to be solved firstly, professionally, and secondly, systematically. It is important not only to “give a child a smile” in hospital, but to make the hospital space itself more humane and friendly. Helping one particular person is important. But it is much more important to address the problem at the system level. This is what charities do: they study the issue, look for the root of the problem and try to eliminate or minimise it.

Hearts & Minds

Dr. Klauns