The Therapeutic Value of Clowning Around

McGill News recently published an article featuring Faculty of Education Alumni, Melissa Holland, BEd’98, the co-founder and co-artistic director of the Dr. Clown Foundation.

Her troupe of trained therapeutic clowns bring comfort, compassion, and plenty of laughs to hospitalized children and seniors in care facilities.

In 2002, she co-founded the foundation, which uses therapeutic clowns to provide joy, relief, and comfort to hospitalized children and elderly people living in care homes. Today, the foundation employs 56 clowns working in 65 establishments, guided by a team of medical experts with specialities in neuropsychology, pediatric care, and geriatric care, among others. Their clowns visit more than 40,000 children and 45,000 seniors each year.