The Winnipeg Child Life Humour Program
The Program:
The Winnipeg Child Life Humour Program began in May of 1986, and is the longest running therapeutic clowning program in Canada. It was initiated by Karen Ridd, a community based clown, who approached the child life department regarding her innovative idea of clowning in hospital. After an initial pilot project was launched, therapeutic clowning quickly became a child life staple at Winnipeg Children's Hospital for which further funding was found.Children's Hospital is a state-of-the-art, 116 bed facility that annually treats more than 130,000 children from every part of Manitoba, Northwestern Ontario and the Keewatin District, Nunavut.
As part of the child life department, the clown program shares the mandate to strive to reduce the stress and anxiety of hospitalization on children and their families. Through the medium of clown and the use of child-directed play activities such as music, mime, magic, juggling, bubble blowing, face painting, and physical comedy, the clown offers patients experiences that are creative, humorous, and supportive. The clown also interacts with patients' families and members of the healthcare staff.
The child life specialist/therapeutic clown is responsible for the development and implementation of the clown program. He meets with child life staff and other health care professionals to discuss and develop patient care plans. The humour specialist develops therapeutic relationships with long-term, chronic and high priority patients when appropriate. He provides one-on-one and group visits. The therapeutic clown supports public relations activities and media involvement that relates to the child life department and to the humour project in particular. He also provides medical procedural support to patients when requested or referred.
The Clowns:
Currently there is one therapeutic clown practitioner, David Langdon, who uses two clown personae, Hubert and Onri. He clowns three days a week and works the remaining two days as a child life specialist in the Children's Hospital Television Station.
Hubert is a non-speaking clown modeled initially on the work of Karen Ridd and her clown Robo. He is
playful, vulnerable, and in need of direction and much help. Hubert provides many opportunities for
the child to care for or to teach him, thus empowering children in an environment that can often be
overwhelming and mysterious.
On the other hand, Onri is a speaking clown. He wears a lab coat and presents himself as a researcher
with Banana Nirvana Research and Development. He is a friendly jester figure of the medical world that
the children find themselves in. Both clown characters provide supportive interactions characterized
by warmth, empathy and unconditional acceptance.
Contact
email: dlangdon@hsc.mb.ca