How Therapeutic Clowns Make Sick Children and Seniors Smile ft. Melissa Holland Purposeful Empathy Hosted by Anita Nowak

How Therapeutic Clowns Make Sick Children and Seniors Smile Watch this episode to be moved and inspired by a professional therapeutic clown discuss her work. Melissa Holland is the co-founder of the Dr. Clown Foundation. She and her team of therapeutic clowns work with children and seniors in hospitals and other healthcare settings. In this episode, she shares touching anecdotes about the impact clowns have on patients’ wellbeing and describes how clowning has changed her perspective of life. 00:00 Introduction 00:23 About Melissa Holland 01:52 What is a therapeutic clown? 02:44 Why Melissa went into clowning 04:34 A poignant clowning moment 11:27 Melissa's self-care practices 14:28 How her work has changed her life 17:27 Clowning in refugee camps 18:04 The physiological impact of laughter 22:04 Why is empathy so important to clowning? 26:39 Training to become a therapeutic clown 29:31 Melissa’s work with seniors 32:57 Has healthcare has become more patient-centered? 35:13 Clowning online and virtually 39:50 Melissa Holland’s Purposeful Empathy story Listen to the audio version here: https://anchor.fm/anita-nowak CONNECT WITH MELISSA HOLLAND ✩ Linkedin https://www.linkedin.com/in/melissa-holland-5b847239/ ✩ Website https://fondationdrclown.ca/ CONNECT WITH ANITA ✩ Email [email protected] ✩ Website https://www.anitanowak.com/ ✩ LinkedIn www.linkedin.com/in/anitanowak ✩ Instagram https://tinyurl.com/anitanowakinstagram ✩ Twitter https://twitter.com/anitanowak21 ✩ Facebook Page https://tinyurl.com/PurposefulEmpathyFacebook ✩ Facebook Group https://tinyurl.com/PurposefulEmpathyCommunity ✩ Podcast Audio https://tinyurl.com/PurposefulEmpathyPodcast This episode was brought to you by Grand Heron International REACH THEM AT ✩ Website www.grandheroninternational.ca; www.ghi.coach ✩ LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/company/grand-heron-international/ ✩ Facebook https://www.facebook.com/grandheroninternational/ ✩ Instagram @Grand_Heron_International ✩ Twitter @GrandHeronIntl ✩ https://twitter.com/GrandHeronIntl Video edited by David Tsvariani