How we work

	The clowns visit every week for eleven months of the year.  It’s not too often - so patients look forward to the visits – nor too infrequent – so patients won’t worry about whether the clowns will come again.
	The clowns always work in pairs, supporting each other artistically and emotionally.
	A performance is improvised and personalized for each patient.  We prefer to work with individuals rather than give performances to larger groups.
	Patients decide whether they want to see the clown doctors; the clowns do not force themselves upon the patients.
	The clowns are not there to be the stars of the show: the patient is at the heart of the performance, whether as a director or as the hero of the story.
	The clowns give priority to patients referred to them by the health-care staff.
	The clowns keep a record of all the patients visited and a log of their activities.

Respect

Work in a hospital environment must be carefully planned, with particular attention to hygiene, confidentiality, and hospital protocol.  Furthermore, our artists are committed to coordinating their performances as closely as possible with medical procedures, without competing with or hindering the organization of a treatment plan.  It is important for therapeutic clowns to be able to adapt their performances, gently and tactfully, to the unexpected events and changes that are inevitable in a hospital environment.  Dr Clown’s artistic and psychosocial staff observe the clowns’ work at different times and make adjustments to the program so that it meets the needs of the department both in the quality and the appropriateness of the visitations.  We distribute questionnaires and conduct interviews to get a precise reading of how well the artists fit into the facility’s care system.  The patients’ health and happiness are the main objective for everyone involved.  Our code of ethics governs each and every action of our clown doctors in this regard.   

Chaos

But clowns must be clowns!  Even with their high level of respect for the rules and their serious psychosocial training, therapeutic clowns are enjoyable to watch because of  the particular chaos they create by playing with the routine of hospital procedures and by re-energizing the staff.  When hospital staff open the door to a therapeutic clown program, they must be flexible and expect the occasional mishap . . . and even hope for signs of human foibles, because a shared sense of humanity  is at the very heart of the clown doctors’ work.


And the staff?

To make patients feel better, their entire environment needs treatment.  From this point of view, it is the clown doctors’ duty to tackle members of the health-care staff!  They are often asked to take a few minutes to watch the clown doctors’ hilarious antics or to enter into the fun with a patient.  No wonder staff members often ask clown doctors to visit a colleague!

Collaboration between clowns and health-care staff

The clowns don’t meet the patients by chance.  A liaison is chosen by the health-care facility to coordinate Dr Clown’s work with the staff.  Everyone knows who this officer is so that he or she can be made aware of the clown doctors’ successes – or of their less successful efforts.  The co-ordinator also arranges meetings between the clowns and staff before the visitations, so that the artists get a feel for the department, its needs and priorities, and the characteristics of certain patients.  The clowns will eventually share their observations with the staff.

Our artists may also communicate their observations at regular meetings of the health-care team to assess patients’ medical and psychosocial condition.  The clowns can, in fact, take advantage of their particular relationship with patients to notice various aspects of their emotional state or their cognitive or motor skills.

What makes a program successful?

	The quality of the relationship between the artists and the patients.
	The broader effect on family members and staff.
	The degree to which the therapeutic clown approach complements pre-existing services.
	The staff’s acceptance of the artists’ involvement in treatment and educational programs.

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