December 11, 2023
Sponsor a Clowndoctor
By
bwinger
About
This is my Clowndoctor character. Though the photos here are slightly out of date. I wear much much faster more athletic clothes these days.
I work for the arts-in-health charity Hearts and Minds as a therapeutic clown. As a Clowndoctor with Children and young people and as an Elderflower with people living in care with dementia.
It’s the greatest job. I get to play and connect with such incredible people and it brings such joy to my life. I’ve learnt so much from my time at Hearts and Minds and from everyone I’ve ever visited. All our interactions are improvised and person-led. It is a great feeling to be able to make people laugh or smile *but * in reality the work is much deeper than that. Our work is about making connections. We’re expert listeners and communicators no matter if you’re verbal or not. It is our job, to see you, to hear you and acknowledge you.
Clowning is a perfect art form for facilitating communication and the work that Hearts and Minds does fills me with shed loads of pride.
Dr Squash - A visit
[Names have been changed]
A hush descended in the playroom of Ward 7. Everyone had gathered for Dr Squash’s unmissable World Premiere performance… Unfortunately for Dr Squash, he wasn’t aware that he was expected to perform, and hadn’t prepared anything. Not wanting to let twin sisters Betty and Billie, and 5 year old Martin down, he took a deep breath and readied himself. Drs Mousse and Squash had already had great difficulty getting into the playroom and only managed it thanks to the good graces and instructions of Martin, so Squash was keen that everything should be perfect for the performance… whatever it was the performance was going to be… Mousse took up her Kazoo and with much fanfare announced the arrival of Dr Squash. Squash entered full of confidence and with the immense presence of a great Shakespearean actor, promptly tripped on a chair and ended up bundled over a nearby bookcase. A slight wave of embarrassment washed over him but he comforted himself with the fact that in all likelihood no one had noticed his stumble. Amazingly it seemed fortune shone on him once more… he had not only landed on a bookcase but upon the perfect idea for his performance. A dramatic reading of “That’s not my pig”.
Squash stepped forward nervously, and with an encouraging glance from Mousse and the twins, and Martin, and Grandad, and Audrey the play specialist and the rest of the audience who had gathered outside… he began.
“That’s not my pig, its tail is too smooth”
The room erupted with beautiful laughter, Mousse was awestruck by such stupendous idiocy and Squash felt his heart swell.
“That’s not my pig, its hooves are too bumpy”
Tears rolled down the twins four cheeks, and Martin was struggling to breath, Squash continued;
“That’s not my pig, its back is too rough”
He’d rolled the ‘r’ in ROUGH with such skill and dexterity that the audience had fallen into a reverent silence. Heads, shoulders, knees and toes shook in what he assumed must be disbelief. Mousse’s head hung in pride as Squash reached the final page.
“THAT’S my pig, its ears are so soft”
Basking in the whoops, cheers and adoration of the playroom Squash bowed deeply. Mousse’s apologies echoed around the room. “I’m sorry the other wards didn’t get to see this too” Squash thought, nodding in agreement. He’d done what everyone had thought was impossible. Squash had saved Christmas. In April.
Clowning during Covid-19
In order to continue with Clowndoctor visits during the pandemic we had to go online. Below are some examples of online visits and bespoke video content.
