Clowns are doctors. “You can even joke about illness”: how hospital clowns work in Russia
A close-knit team that has mastered this difficult profession and once a week tries on a red nose, bringing out its “inner clown” to help children cope with long-term medical treatment and make this world a little better.
How did the idea of creating such a project come about? What inspired you?
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Yana Sexte , Russian actress theater and cinema, project organizer:
One day we Maxim Matveev(theater and film actor, artistic director of Doctor Clown) friends called, and now partners from charitable foundation“Give life,” and they said that at the Research Institute. Burdenko is an eight-year-old girl who has become severely depressed, and tomorrow clowns need to come to this girl.
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In the morning, we bought some stupid costumes at the first carnival store we came across and went to the hospital. I don't remember what we did or for how long. I only remember the smile of the girl Inna, a huge crowd of children in the postoperative block, laughing and not letting us go. That day we did not yet know that hospital clowning is an amazing movement that has existed all over the world for many years. But we intuitively felt that it works great!
In Russia, this movement turned out to be, one might say, innovative, but the doctors and young patients were unprepared?
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Yulia Raiskaya, director of the Doctor Clown charity foundation:
Nowadays the attitude towards charity is changing. I would even say that a new mentality has begun to form. As 25 years of experience of foreign colleagues in Holland shows, the idea of hospital clowning was also not immediately accepted by the medical profession. staff and society as a whole. Now they are “complaining” that they don’t have time to implement their new ideas!
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For a long time, hospital clownery in Russia was at the amateur level. A couple of years ago Svetlana Sandrakova(theater and film actress, artistic director of the Doctor Clown school) and I went to a month-long training course at the University of Haifa in the department of hospital clowning. This changed our understanding of the possibilities, effectiveness and necessity of hospital clowning.
Tell us about your team
Yu. R.: There is not a single extra person in our team. Everyone knows what they are working for. Each of us has had sometimes difficult experience working in a hospital and is ready to use our professional knowledge to develop the foundation. The face of our foundation - Maxim Matveev. He is one of the first clown doctors in Russia. Now, despite his busy schedule, Maxim continues to do this business. Yana Sexte, head of special projects, an amazing actress of the Tabakova Theater, a master of her craft and a person of incredible soul - our engine. Svetlana Sandrakova- artistic director of "Doctor Clown". She knows how to unite, inspire and teach new volunteers the intricacies of this difficult work. With such a team, you don’t have to worry about the quality of the work of the new clown doctors. Responsible for the financial part Ivan Tutunov, - financial director and fundraiser, educated at the Sorbonne and the Rouen Business School, Ilya Levin is responsible for the website, social networks, and oversees joint promotions with other funds. Maxim Vorobiev- the most serious member of our team. He is our “lifesaver”. In, it would seem hopeless situations, he, in his characteristic calm manner, more than once suggested right decisions. The most main part our team are the clown doctors themselves, without whom all our organizational work would have no meaning. Among them there are professional actors, musicians, directors and representatives of other professions. We are all united by a common cause that we live by, and everyone contributes to its development. We are a real team of like-minded people.
I'M WITH.: We are united, inspired, given strength to grow and develop by the absolute confidence that our work is necessary for children in sterile hospital walls. This is more than confidence - it is our faith. And all our independently accumulated experience and the experience of our foreign colleagues and friends show that hospital clowning, if we are not talking about animation, but an integral part of the treatment process in children's hospitals, can only develop thanks to a team of professionals.
Is that the goal?
Yu.R.: Our goal is to help children. We know how emotionally and physically difficult it is for little patient the procedure of hospitalization and awareness of the diagnosis, therefore our task is to help the child and his parents overcome stress, create a positive atmosphere and help the child at all stages of hospitalization not to lose his smile and positive attitude.
How often do you manage to visit hospitals? In what cities?
Yu.R.: One of the basic rules of our work is regularity. Each pair of clown doctors visits their assigned department regularly once a week. Previously we worked in Moscow and St. Petersburg, but more recently we decided to focus only on work in Moscow. We are committed to developing and improving the quality of work. We are currently working with five centers: the Russian Children's Clinical Hospital, the Russian Research Center of X-ray Radiology, the Russian Cancer Research Center named after N.N. ) medical care for children with developmental defects of the craniofacial region and congenital diseases nervous system.
You mentioned the new clown doctors. How does selection happen? Who can become a clown doctor?
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Svetlana Sandrakova: A person over 24 years old can become a Doctor Clown volunteer, preferably with a creative education and experience working with children. There are no other qualifications, the rest is a matter of selection, which consists of 3 stages: a questionnaire, a creative test and, finally, an interview. From the questionnaires we get the first idea about a person, his education, age, motivation. Target creative competition identify the candidate personal qualities, abilities, knowledge, skills and abilities necessary to master the profession of a hospital clown.
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During an interview, we focus, first of all, on the feelings that candidates evoke in us. If a person is clear to us, his motivation for work, in our opinion, is logical and transparent, if he has the capabilities (I mean time, energy and the reaction of loved ones), if he normally and calmly withstands the interview situation and can give an intelligible answer to the question: “Why do you need this?” - most likely it suits us.
What is a sample list of requirements?
S.S.: The adequacy of the assessment of the situation, the partner, that is, how well the person fits into the space and the team. Communication skills, that is, the ability to exist in a group, flexibility, empathy. Interaction in a couple - the ability to adapt, the ability to be a leader. Contagiousness - the ability to influence, charisma, plasticity. The ability to learn, imagination, ability to react, and, most importantly, resistance to stress are very important.
How many people are involved in the foundation's work at the moment?
Yu.R.: The DC team consists of seven organizers, four of whom continue to work in hospitals. And twenty clown doctors. As a result of the last selection, we received one hundred and fifty questionnaires. We looked at eighty people and retained eleven for training; seven graduated. IN this moment Five more new hospital clowns are in training. That is, we select very carefully.
Are there any stumbling blocks?
I'M WITH.: The volunteer movement is beautiful in its essence, selfless. Thank God that it appeared in Russia and is gaining strength. But it is precisely our niche in the charitable world that cannot develop, relying only on today’s desire to help and the opportunity to do so. A hospital clown is much more than a kind, caring, sympathetic person. This is more than multi-colored knee socks and a red foam nose. It takes more than six months and a lot of money to train one hospital clown. But the preparation does not end there. After training, the clowns undergo a mandatory internship, then they begin going out into departments on their own. Professional development trainings, visiting schools, and seminars are constantly held. That is, it is undoubtedly time and budget.
What plans does the foundation have for the future?
Yu.R.: I think one of our main plans was and remains to become a professional organization. Make a profession out of this type of activity!
S.S.: Create an educational base and optimal syllabus. Collect a library that will include materials on gaming technology, psychology, fairy tale therapy, the history of clowning, etc. Expand the range of training (introduce new disciplines, for example, pedagogy, as well as develop old ones). To form a cohesive, professional team of clowns and teachers.
Doctor's look
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Anastasia Zykova, Doctor Zyuzya, 32 years old, GITIS graduate, works at the Moscow drama theater"Aparte."
About the beginning of the journey. I wanted to become a volunteer for a long time, but I didn’t dare take the first step. And then, at some point, I came across an article about hospital clowns, in which it was written about recruiting hospital clowns to the school and that my acting education could be useful in this case. Here, as they say, there was “no way out.”
About difficulties. Now, working as a clown doctor, I understand that there are a lot of difficulties in this work. By putting on a clown nose, you cannot maintain an “everyday” view of the world; you bring out your “inner clown.” So, sometimes your “inner clown” doesn’t want to come out into the light. Sometimes he hides for a long time. I had a period when I didn’t go to the hospital for six months, it was very difficult for me to exist “in the nose”, I felt like I was being fake. For me, overcoming this state is the most difficult thing in my work. Until I learned to deal with it one hundred percent. I'm studying.
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About the most important thing. But children help overcome all difficulties. Their readiness for joy, no matter how difficult the situation they are in, no matter how tired they are from illness. For me, this is an example of that very Light that “shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not overcome it.” This may sound too pretentious, but for me it is so.
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Tatiana Gorodentseva, Doctor Tusya.
About the position of the Clown Doctor. Before the first trips to the hospital, Marina, my main partner, and I sat for hours (if not days!) and prepared for the trips, thinking through all sorts of scenarios for the development of events and making props. Over time, of course, we got used to it and relaxed, realizing that it is still impossible to predict everything, and it is not necessary. All the same, in the hospital you always have to improvise and invent everything on the spot, based on the specific child and circumstances.
“Hospital clowns” are preparing a big celebration “Red” in Moscow, which will take place on Sunday, July 28 in the Hermitage Garden. Last month their Facebook page is full of announcements about this. The main organizer of the holiday is Konstantin Sedov, artistic director of “Hospital Clowns”. As part of the Who's Who in Charity project, we talked about who hospital clowns are, how they become one, and the joy they bring to sick children.
Konstantin Sedov has been performing hospital clownery for eight years. Once he came as a volunteer to the charity group at the Russian Children's Clinical Hospital (RCCH) with the question of what kind of help was needed. He was told that “someone with the letter “k” is needed,” but not a “creditor” or a “blood donor.” So, unexpectedly for himself, Kostya Sedov became Russia’s first specialist in the field of clown therapy, or simply a clown doctor.
– Clown doctor sounds very unusual. In general, what abilities should a person have to succeed as a hospital clown?
“Of course, we don’t take everyone in.” People over 24 years old come to us. It is important for us that these are already formed individuals, not students.
We believe that the range of professions from which one can come to hospital clowning is limited. And for now the list is closed. There are only five of them: psychologists (clinical and children’s), teachers (but we don’t take all of them, because it’s rare that a teacher can be good actor), actors, directors and musicians. That is, those people who are closely associated with creativity and working with children.
This person must first of all be trainable. Must be interested in and love children. Must be flexible and tolerant, because children are different. This should be a partner-oriented person (clown partner, child partner). Able to see not only an object, but also a partner in the person of a child, parent, doctor. These are skills that are very difficult to develop. They either exist or they don't.
Hospital clown is a profession that requires constant increase qualifications, constant training, pair work, special and serious training. This is a serious profession that can have a positive impact on the child and his health. But all this requires great creative and even physical expenditure. Therefore, we, like our colleagues from Germany, Italy, France, Australia, New Zealand, and Switzerland, do not see volunteers in this profession. Hospital clowning is strictly skilled work.
Today this is a job for three to four hours a day, twice a week. But we intend to increase the number of hours and appearances of the clown over time.
– Do you hire someone to work for you after graduating from your school?
- No, we are not hiring. First we select it. We have a very strict casting process. Then we train him, give him an internship, and only then, based on the results of the internship, do we say “yes” or “no.” After an internship, we tend to say yes to everyone. Because “no” is said at the seminar stage if it becomes clear that a person is unnatural. But if a person has completed an internship, then most likely he gets the go-ahead, a contract is concluded with him, and he is paid for his work. Of course, this money, both at the regional level and by Moscow standards, is very modest. We cannot say that this is a salary and that one can live on it. Of course not. 10-16 thousand rubles per month for two to three times a week in very difficult conditions emotionally work. Therefore, for actors, hospital clowning is often a second or third part-time job. But by no means a hack.
– What about the rest of those who want to be clown doctors?
– In Holland, there is only one organization in the whole country that deals with hospital clownery. Moreover, each of the hundred hospitals has its own clowns. True, you can travel the length and breadth of Holland on a scooter in two hours. In the case of Russia, this number does not work.
We see that we have many followers in the regions, as well as great amount those who are going to become a volunteer or are “volunteering” now. We also started organizing free seminars for them.
For such a seminar (a school of hospital clowns in a light version), which will be held on July 25-27, 80 people from Belarus, Ukraine, Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan, and fourteen regions of Russia, including Sakhalin, will come to us. We will give students the basics of how professional hospital clowns work. Talk about how to build your own professional organization. My colleagues have just returned from Holland; we recently visited Israel and France. In a word, we have enormous experience. We are ours own organization built on the example of European professional organizations. Therefore, we intend to share our experience so that in the regions we can have our partners, the same professional hospital clowns.
And then, on July 28, in the Hermitage Garden, a stunning family holiday “Red” will be held, coordinated with the capital’s Department of Culture. Where the guys whom we have already trained, who are already “working” in the regions, will work with us. This will be an inclusive holiday. We will gather a wide variety of children - special needs, sick, with cerebral palsy, wheelchair users and the simplest healthy children. Over the past five years, this will be the first non-profit festival in Moscow, at which there will be no sale of goods, only fun. And all the children will be doctors. And then we have four days of master classes for our clowns. We will be taught by Dutch specialists, masters from Germany and the USA. All this costs a lot of money: invitations, organizing the festival, a seminar for volunteers, food and accommodation for the artists. But our organization pays for everything, because we understand that volunteers need to be supported. Participants will only have to fly at their own expense.
– Where do you get so much money?
– All our sponsors are mainly private individuals. Since August, however, the Megafon company plans to support us, and 2/3 of the budget is covered by private individuals. People I know who know me and invest their personal money. This, of course, is all very pleasant and honorable for us, but at the same time it is very precarious, especially if we're talking about about support from businessmen. It is unknown where the wind will blow tomorrow, so we are constantly looking for new sponsors.
The staff of the Hospital Clowns organization includes a director, artistic director, assistant artistic director, and accountant. But there are no professional fundraisers. In Holland, for example, a whole staff of 45 employees is engaged in searching for funds. More precisely, the hospital clowns there collaborate with an agency that attracts donors for a percentage. That's why the Dutch organization of hospital clowns manages to creative projects engage, and economic problems decide.
– What is your specialty? How is a clown doctor different from a circus doctor?
- Yes, this is heaven and earth, completely different things. Circus clowns work in the arena. This large form and a completely different dramaturgy. This is a plot that has already been thought out from start to finish. Hospital clowning is primarily improvisation. Not everyone, even a very good circus actor or clown, is able to improvise. And with us everything is built on this. We work with the child face to face in a room or lobby of a medical facility. For us, a child is a partner in work. And this is really very serious and difficult. There is not even a bit of a theatrical atmosphere in the hospital. Here constant movement: children are walking, doctors are walking, nurses are walking, someone is being given IVs, someone is crying, and someone is throwing up. All our children are very difficult patients. And we work in the environment and situation of a real hospital. We cannot say: “Stop! No one is crying, no one is injecting anything, and everyone has stopped vomiting!” We always ask permission if we can enter (the specifics of hospitals and the situation of patients are such that they are deprived of expression of will. No one cares about their desires and fears. The doctor must perform certain manipulations, often painful, in order to bring the child closer to recovery). We are tolerant and tolerant. We have our own approach to each child that will help him survive painful sensations.
– How do children in hospitals generally react to clowns? Is it possible that they are afraid of them? After all, many adults have childhood fears associated with clowns?
– Everything is very relative. This is a really common myth about childhood fears. But our clowns work with children regularly. It’s not just working off a holiday, entertaining the kids, packing up and leaving. We work with each child in oncology for two to three, five months, a year and find our own specific approach to each. Children may be afraid of clowns at first, but after a month of work, we don’t have a single child who doesn’t respond to the clown’s work and doesn’t reciprocate.
We have protocols for working with children. We are seriously studying the nursery developmental psychology and performances are graded by age. We understand, for example, that a child under two years old is afraid of not waking up, afraid of overloaded information, afraid of noise. From two to three years old, children are afraid of loud and sharp sounds, they are afraid that their mother will leave and leave them alone. When working with children, we clarify all these points for ourselves and do everything very carefully and professionally.
When I started working as a clown eight years ago and was inexperienced, my children actually cried. True, one in thirty cried. Now one in a hundred cries. However, my colleagues and I understand that these tears are often necessary for the child. The clown acts as an irritant that makes it possible to give out an emotion, because the experiences of a child in hospital bed, extremely sharp. The function of the clown in this situation is very important and useful.
We have no illusions that everyone loves us. We are not gods, not doctors, not healers, but we are the ones who can here and now, in this ward and in this department, make it easier for the child, help overcome what is very difficult to overcome.
– What are the specifics of children in hospitals? What do they need?
– How do they differ, for better or worse, from children who are not there? They, just like their healthy peers, need childhood when, according to external and formal signs, it disappears, because they are in a secure hospital room with painful and difficult procedures. A clown is one who plays with a child according to his rules and his games, with his ideas and his fairy tales. Not at the request of the clown, but according to the script of the child himself. And this grows into a partnership in which a child can, even simply commanding a clown, show will, thereby developing his own will. Through the game, show some character traits that he could develop and show in normal childhood, he is playing at this time in the sandbox, in the camp, in the kindergarten, at school. The child’s condition in the hospital is total dependence on medications, mother, and doctors.
– How do you come up with stories for children? Where do they come from?
“The fact of the matter is that we improvise from children. Before entering the room, we communicate with the doctor and find out everything about the child: age, condition, mood, hobbies, who the parents are, etc. And based on this information, you can assume and invent something. We enter not into unfamiliar space, but armed. We are flexible in our performances. We can start from the child, or we can, seeing that the child is not ready to communicate, so as not to put pressure on him, work from the clown partner with whom we are paired. And then the child becomes a spectator.
– Please tell us about yourself. Where did you get your profession as a hospital clown?
- I'm self-taught. I am a lawyer by training and a graduate of the Higher School of Economics. I have been working as a clown for eight years. For the first two or three years I worked alone. Then I had a volunteer organization, a volunteer school (where the basics of acting and communication with the audience were taught). And two years ago, the non-profit organization “Hospital Clowns” appeared, one of whose programs is a school for hospital clowns.
In general, I studied with the clown Antoshka (Andrei Kizino) from the Swiss Theodora Foundation, with clowns Peterson and Legostaev from the Moscow Circus on Tsvetnoy Boulevard, and separately learned the technique of magic tricks and balloon modeling. Then there was training in France, studying with Swiss clowns. I also went to study in Israel. Well, the school-studio of theater arts at VGIK. I'm already trained, but I'm ready to learn further. And I really want this. And learning.
My lawyer colleague Galina Shatilova helped create “Hospital Clowns”. She is the director and my friend. The third with us was another friend of mine, Vadim Larchenko, an actor, director, hospital clown since 2008. Gradually we grew and turned into a truly large organization. Today, the ANO “Hospital Clowns” includes 52 people. 26 professional hospital clowns in Moscow, 8 in St. Petersburg, 12 in Kazan, 4 in Rostov and 2 in Orel. All these people are graduates of our school of hospital clowns.
– What is your school like?
– The school lasts three months. And our training program is very diverse. These are either three blocks of seven days, or five blocks of four days. Each block is dedicated to a specific topic with exercises. There is a block of physiology, defectology, a psychology block with lectures by epidemiologists and oncologists, a medical block where we introduce sanitary standards, a body-oriented therapy block, a fairytale therapy block, working with sounds, working with voices, acting, creating an image, teaching magic tricks and modeling, communication skills with children, practicing hospital situations.
These are all qualified items that are for ordinary person quite complex. Therefore, in order to train effectively, we hire only those people who, due to their education, are already familiar with the basics of this profession.
Then a mandatory approximately six-month internship for students. The duration of the internship depends on the number of exits that students make. By exits I mean working with senior clowns, observing clowns while working with comments. Further, approximately every six months we improve our skills, conduct seminars, and invite foreign specialists for master classes.
– If we are talking about a school, then you have your own building?
- No. The school is actually a set of master classes and trainings that we give regularly and on schedule. We coordinate the time with the recruited group and spend it in the agreed room. We are helped by the cultural center of the Higher School of Economics, where I studied, the Federal Scientific and Clinical Center for Pediatric Hematology, Oncology and Immunology named after Dmitry Rogachev (FSCC DGOI), RDKB. IN large hospitals There are always assembly halls in which we can study in our free time from lectures and medical conferences.
– Several years ago, in one of your interviews, you said that hospital management was a big problem and obstacle in work. Does this problem exist now?
- No, she doesn’t exist now. It is at the management level that everyone understands the necessity, usefulness, effectiveness, and most importantly, the harmlessness of what we do. Especially when it comes to professional, systematic and regular hospital clowning.
Another question is if a cheerful boy Petya comes to the children from out of nowhere, a perky clown who promises everyone gifts, and after a week never returns. Unfortunately, many volunteers are guilty of this. Such situations not only cause noise, hysteria and scandal, they undermine faith.
It's another matter when clowns come regularly. Here is my colleague Sasha, every week on Wednesdays at Kashirka (at the Russian Cancer Research Center named after N.N. Blokhin - Ed.), and every week on Tuesdays at the Burdenko Research Institute of Neurosurgery. The children are waiting for us, and they are waiting for us on Tuesday, Wednesday. And we cannot betray them. If I get sick, they will find a replacement for me, another clown will come. But children who wait will get a clown anyway. This is systematic work. We don’t set children up, we don’t let them down. We maintain discipline, order and subordination. This is also what we teach in our school.
– What hospitals are you working with now? And do you have any written agreements with management?
Yes, we have agreements on the provision of free services with the Russian Children's Clinical Hospital, the Federal Scientific Center for Children's Neuroscience, the Oncology Center in Kashirka, the Research Institute of Neurosurgery named after. Burdenko, Morozov Children's City Clinical Hospital, Children's City Clinical Hospital named after. G.N. Speransky, Regional Oncology Center in Balashikha and others. There are only 7 hospitals in Moscow, 5 in St. Petersburg. In addition, large regional hospitals in Kazan and Orel, in Rostov region; we also supervise an orphanage for children with physical disabilities in Novocherkassk. We supervise the most difficult hospitals and the most difficult departments of these hospitals: transplantology, urology, orthopedics, where children stay for months and even years. We cannot take care of everyone, because we do not yet have enough personnel and funds.
Unlike the Dutch, we in Russia practically do not work with children with cerebral palsy, Down syndrome, or autism. We're trying to work, but it's a very specific thing. Because the audience reaction for such children is completely special. In Holland, they work closely, well and a lot with such patients; we have something to adopt and learn from them. In general, there are special rehabilitation centers, in which such children are taught so that their parents can work at this time. They have all the conditions created for both children and clowns.
– Who is this hospital clown for a sick child?
– A clown is a partner in joy. But only until he took off his red nose. With a nose - everything is possible, without a nose - no, no personal contacts and close communication. The maximum is an innocent smile in response to a greeting.
In Israel, for example, on social networks, clowns create their own avatars and communicate with children through them. In Holland they went even further. There is a site that brings together many various technologies, its functions are similar to Skype and is intended for children who are not currently in the hospital, but want to communicate with a clown. They even have a special studio - a clown house: an apartment with a kitchen where you can watch his life. There is also a clown radio and a clown musical ensemble that plays adaptations of popular Dutch melodies. There is a forum where the child communicates with the character. It turns out that the clown can accompany the child at all stages of his rehabilitation.
- What do we have?
– First of all, let’s buy all the children an iPhone or a tablet... In fact, the Federal Scientific Center for Children’s Orthopedics has Wi-Fi, and the children there communicate on Skype, although mostly with relatives. It is still difficult to do as in Holland. There was an idea to make children's television with clown programs at the Federal Scientific Center, but we are stopping everything for now. We do too much at the same time, and the resources don’t allow it. Then don't forget that the Dutch clown organization has existed since 1992. That is, twenty years, and we have only existed for two years. And of course, not everything worked out for them right away. So we need to strive for everything, dream about everything and achieve it over time.
Interviewed by Daria Roshchenya
Who is the clown doctor?
Yulia Tarasova is visiting Growing Up in St. Petersburg. Julia is the Clown Doctor who comes to the hospital to see children and brings them joy and hope. What children are really waiting for, and what the clown doctor can do, read on.
Julia, please tell us how you became the “Clown Doctor”?
It all started by chance, I saw a link “in contact” and left a request. The Clown Doctor project has existed since 2008 with the association of several people who had experience in the field of hospital clownery; later they became the initiators of the movement and the founders of the Clown Doctor project in Russia. This is a charitable organization. The goal of our work is to ease the well-being of children, both moral and physical. The company reserves the right to select the best volunteers.
Our training took place in Moscow for 2 months, the expenses for accommodation and training are covered entirely by the organization.
−I wonder how hospital staff in Russia react to your activities?
−Similar experience in world practice has existed for about 30 years, so in general the attitude is positive. But there are times when the nurse and doctors are not welcoming. We listen to the opinions of doctors so as not to interfere...
It happens that clowns help distract a child from some unpleasant procedure, which has a positive effect on the child’s well-being.
−Today, we go to oncology and burn departments where children are long time, sometimes children lie there for 2-3 months. Our goal: to brighten up their time in the hospital or simply distract them. So far we are collaborating with 4 hospitals in St. Petersburg. City Clinical Hospital on Avangardnaya, in the burn department, 31 City Clinical Hospital on Krestovsky Island, Oncology Research Institute on Pesochny, Institute of Pediatric Hematology named after Raisa Gorbacheva.
− Do you cooperate with the children's hospice in St. Petersburg?
− In Moscow, such work is carried out in hospices, but not yet in St. Petersburg. In world practice, pensioners' homes and psychoneurological dispensaries are covered.
− How often does the Clown Doctor come to children, how does communication happen?
−1 time per week for an average of 2-3 hours. It is difficult to work well for more than 3 hours. We have two options: the first is to go through the wards. In the wards, as a rule, there are from one to four children, communication takes place interactively. The second is when children gather in the hall or playroom and it’s like a performance. We don’t try to make them laugh, some are after surgery, they can’t laugh. The clown creates an environment Happy Wednesday. We don’t have scripts, we don’t prepare anything in advance, it’s always complete improvisation. Because you never know what condition the children have, their age and conditions. There may be a baby with his mother and a 14-year-old teenager in the same room; one needs to be distracted (or let the mother leave for at least 5 minutes) and the other needs to be given the opportunity to speak.
− Yulia, tell us about your first appearance?
- Our first exit was at the Moscow Clinical Children's Hospital, and it was an examination. We worked in pairs, it was interesting, exciting and scary. In general, the Clown Doctor always works in pairs. Together it is easier to generate ideas and cope with difficulties that arise. We show tricks, make figures out of balloons, for the little ones it's bubble. These are various sketches, interaction with parents, staff, objects. Parents sometimes need emotional release more than children. Mom, like the child, lives in the hospital for months...
− Each artist has his own images. What images do you work in?
- Each clown has its own image. The image is thought out based on personal organics. For example, I have an Indian image. Every clown has a clown name. A costume is created, and a white robe embroidered with bright fabrics is put on top; many pockets are needed for props. The Doctor and his name must be written on the back (for me it’s Yuma). Our clowns are different from circus clowns because our makeup and costumes are calmer.
− What does volunteer work mean to you? clown doctor?
− I watched a film about the founder of this trend, the American doctor Hander Pench Adams, called “Healer Adams.” The film is based on real events, and made a strong impression on me. Since then, I was interested in whether we have such a direction in Russia, and then I found an advertisement. This is an example for me real help, which comes directly from “hand to hand”. If I wanted to transfer money or donate things as part of a charity program, one thing confuses me: I don’t know who it will go to. I don't see any return. For me, clowning is a type of help in which I can give joy and hope to a person in need. In the hospital I see children, not their illness. Many people ask me: do I feel sorry for them? No, this is not pity.
Joy in children's eyes and interest bring satisfaction. If a child is distracted from what happens to him every day, then this is good luck. This is interesting to me from the point of view of self-exploration. In the clown image, I discovered new facets of myself, previously unknown to me. There's a lot of psychology in this for me. Empathy, intuition, reaction speed, and flexibility develop.
- In short, what is a real clown doctor?
-He’s a real clown doctor, he’s very curious, with a wide with open eyes. He is like a locator that picks up everything that happens around him and reacts quickly. The clown doctor has no gender or age, he lives in the game.
The child here is the most important person in the game; the further course of development of this game depends on him.
At the Russian Children's Clinical Hospital (RCCH), not only doctors, medical staff and parents help children recover. Here, children are treated with laughter by a tall man in a multi-colored suit and with a red nose - the only professional hospital clown in Russia, Konstantin Sedov, or clown Kostya, as the children call him. Ship human destinies. We walk along a long hospital corridor, moving from floor to floor along dull walls and a string of wards. It seems like I will never find a way out of this labyrinth. It’s good that I have a guide in bright clown clothes and with a pipe in his hands. Someone is standing at the end of the corridor against the light. Suddenly, a small lump with a white mask on its face separates from there and with uncertain steps, arms outstretched for a hug, begins to move towards us. - Meeting on the Elbe! - Kostya proclaims and blows the trumpet.
The figure begins to move faster and faster, trying to run, and Kostya has to hurry to pick up the little girl in his arms. Olya is only two years old. She smiles only with her eyes, because the child's mouth is covered with a white mask. Without saying anything, she simply holds on to her favorite living toy - she is happy to meet an old acquaintance. Having received a balloon as a farewell, Olya kisses her clown and waves to all of us.
Is this your favorite?
I don’t have favorites... Although there are special children, and Olya is one of them. They open their soul to you, and you unwittingly open yours to them in return. You don't just make them laugh - you rejoice with them. It feels like they understand you, an adult, completely, deeply. Such warmth cannot leave anyone indifferent.
We continue our journey, walking as if on a ship, in the cabins of which children and parents are saved from misfortune and death. Our goal is a “boarding house,” as Kostya calls it, a place where children are on the mend, recovering from heavy operations. On the way we come across “passengers”. Someone walks, dragging an IV with them, someone simply stands at the window, peering into the faces of people walking past the hospital. Near the doctor's office - a mother and her son. Both are crying. The clown cannot pass by such a scene; he takes out the most beautiful ball and hands it to the child. But the boy is scared, and even the unexpected gift does not please him; he buries his face in his mother’s hand. And my mother said through tears: “They gave us an injection when we were sick...” Kostya leaves the ball to his mother, and she smiles.
Finally, going down the next staircase, we reach our goal. Kostya loudly announces his arrival to the children. Everyone gathers in a small hall. The performance begins. Games, riddles and amazing tricks await children and parents. For an hour, the hospital, which has become home for many, will be filled with laughter.
Clown in a hospital gown
Kostya the clown has been working at the Russian Children's Clinical Hospital for four years. And many children cannot imagine how this could not happen in a hospital tall man in a multi-colored cap. However formerly Konstantin and did not think about clownery and worked as a lawyer.
“I very quickly became disillusioned with jurisprudence,” says former lawyer Konstantin Sedov. - I didn’t see any benefit in my work, and therefore I was a completely uninitiated employee, running away from the office as soon as the working day ended. Often the work went against my conscience, and this is always difficult to overcome. And is it necessary? Now my conscience itself is working for me. And now I’m afraid not of a reprimand from my superiors, I’m afraid of not doing enough work. It becomes hard on your soul if you know that you didn’t do everything you could. If you wanted to go to three departments, but only visited two, then the next day you run to the one you missed. After all, there are children waiting there, and they need you...
The clown Kostya remembered his first performance for the rest of his life:
It was terrible: terrible makeup, orange overalls like a road worker, grandpa's yellow shirt, and, to top it all off, a nose made of half a tennis ball. But when I entered the children, no one was afraid, they surrounded me, watched all my manipulations with great interest, and when they said goodbye, they hung around my neck. I left completely satisfied and realized that this was my real job.
Over time, the image has changed. Now this is a clown doctor who walks around the hospital exclusively in a hospital gown, over a clown suit.
The will of the child is the law
Oddly enough, such a new combination of words for our ears as “doctor clown” has long been familiar to people, both in Europe and in America. There, clowns have been working in children's hospitals for more than 25 years. And a question asked to a doctor, for example, in Spain, about whether such clowns are needed will only cause bewilderment. Specially conducted studies have proven that children's health improves in proportion to the improvement in their mood. Children who are constantly visited by a clown recover faster than those who are deprived of the attention of a cheerful friend. That is why in Europe a clown and a psychologist work in tandem. The first partly builds his communication with the little patient based on the advice of the second.
Unfortunately, in Russia the need for hospital clowning has to be proven. Many do not take this innovation seriously or look past it as a fun and short-lived game. Of course, there is no talk of any government support yet. How many children can wait until society gets used to hospital clowns?
Often children who have refused to eat for many days begin to happily gobble up their breakfast if I claim it or play it as a prize among other children. I also try to take my kids to treatments. They don’t even notice that they are being injected with something, if at this time they are watching the next trick or trying to understand how a dog appears from an ordinary ball.
He is even allowed into the intensive care unit, to the sterile box where the child is being prepared for complex operation, for example, for transplantation bone marrow. Only a doctor, one nurse, a mother and... a clown enter there. Kostya works even with those children who are on devices artificial respiration. They don’t smile, but Kostya can see in his eyes that he is heard and understood.
Does it happen that the children don’t want you to come?
Yes, sure. A huge number of people come into the child’s room every day. And not one of them asks the child's permission. It is clear that doctors and nurses are doing their job and they have no time to talk at this moment. And the child endures, constantly endures endless injections, catheters, enemas, punctures. Often children do not want to shake hands with any of the adults when they meet, because they are afraid of an injection. All this fits into the concept of “aggressive medical intervention in the child’s body.” And when I enter the ward, I always ask the child for permission. If he is against my visit, then I immediately disappear. And the child understands that for the first time in the hospital someone heard his protest, some adult listened to him. He understands that he has the right to make decisions and exercise his will, and this in itself is a positive therapeutic experience. And I will come to him again when he himself wants it.
Why does a clown need school?
At the Children's Clinical Hospital in Moscow there is a Regional Public Charitable Fund for helping seriously ill and disadvantaged children. The foundation and volunteers not only raise considerable funds for the treatment of children, but also organize their leisure time. Right in the Russian Children's Clinical Hospital, next to the hospital church, classes for children are held in several rooms, and sometimes even in the church itself outside of services. Now there are several classes: guitar, drawing, handicrafts, computer class and acting. Acting is the youngest project. It is hosted by two professional actors from Moscow theaters. One of them was treated at the Russian Children's Clinical Hospital as a boy, and, having recovered, graduated Theatre Institute and now helps the hospital.
At direct support The Foundation is now opening the first School of Hospital Clowning in Russia, “Doctor Clown”. IN new school people with theater education who are ready to devote themselves to helping sick children.
Kostya is the jewel of our team, he has been working wonderfully with children for several years now,” says the director of the fund, Lina Zinovievna Saltykova, “but he cannot cope with all the requests of the Russian Children’s Clinical Hospital. After all, he still visits the Morozov and Kashira hospitals. There is also an Oncology Center in Balashikha, Research Institute named after. Burdenko, Institute of X-Ray Radiology, as well as many other hospitals where clowns are needed. We want to work on specific requests from different departments. The clown needs to know his little patients, their capabilities and preferences. After all, in one department it is difficult for children to perceive information, and you need to speak to them very slowly and explain everything, in another department there are children who cannot see, and there is a completely different approach to them. Recently, an operating unit approached us with a request. They want the clown to be next to the child until the moment he falls asleep, so that the baby does not get scared, cry or get negative impressions. But Kostya can’t make it everywhere, and there’s no one else yet.
“I sincerely believe that hospital clowning is a profession that needs to be mastered,” says Kostya. “This includes drama, and pantomime, and pop, and the circus, and illusion, and even psychology.” But the main thing is that a hospital clown must want to serve and help children, must give himself to them without reserve. And also to understand that sick children deserve happiness, and perhaps even more than healthy ones.
Maybe people are afraid to go to work in a hospital? After all, the main burden here is not physical, but moral...
Everyone thinks that a hospital clown is difficult to work with. It seems so from the outside. But the Lord gives strength. Yes, as during any acting work, you get very tired, because you give yourself, you give all your vital energy to the viewer. But in the theater it happens that the auditorium only absorbs you, without giving anything in return. With children everything is different. Sick, weak, small, exhausted people amazingly return your strength to live, and even increase it. People often think that a children's hospital is a hospice where little patients are seen off on their last journey. But that's not true! Children are treated here and they recover! And it will be strange not to help them with this, if at least a small share of this help is in your hands.
Often from different people You may hear the question: why do children get sick? How will the hospital clown, who sees children's grief every day, answer this?
I, of course, asked myself this question too. And I realized that you can answer it only by being on the side of faith. I came to faith not so long ago, six years ago. And, probably because of my work, there were no doubts or hesitations - I just felt that the time had come... It seems to me that in the hospital it is impossible not to believe. God is Love, universal and all-encompassing. And He will not harm anyone. And if it seems to us that He is unfair, then this only means that we do not understand everything yet. Many mothers come to this answer when their children are ill. And they remain firm in the faith even after their departure. I bow to them and believe that they are right.
P.S. During the preparation of this material, the Clown School began its work; now seven people are studying there and preparing to graduate.
I am very pleased that talented people with a pure heart, a warm, sincere and open soul and faith came to us,” Kostya rejoices. “For me, these people have become a second family. Now a real team is being formed, the value of which I hope to understand in the future. But now I would like to call them by name - Nadya, Yana, Alena, Maxim, Elina, Ivan, Veronica...
Photo by Vladimir Eshtokin
"Doctor Clown began his work in 2006. And as an autonomous non-profit organization - since 2011.
What are we doing?
Our main task in the process of work is to alleviate both the physical and moral condition of children who are being treated in the hospital. We provide assistance in rehabilitation: - during long-term and aggressive medical treatment(oncology); - V crisis situations when psychological discomfort arises in children and parents who have been in the hospital for a long time; - children when adapting to an unusual and new environment, in particular on the hospital premises. The hospital doctor-clown (as the volunteers of our organization are called) bases his performance on improvisation in the field of clowning, which allows children (to the extent of their physical capabilities during treatment) to participate in the ongoing action, of which they are the center.
Our activities have two main directions: - group work(in the lobby of each hospital department), which includes role-playing games, magic tricks, fairy tales, interactive; - individual work(in the ward) with each child. Our main task in the process of work is to alleviate both the physical and moral condition of children who are being treated in the hospital.
Who are we?
Currently, the Doctor-Clown organization employs 3 professional clowns: Honored Artist of the Republic of Sakha (Yakutia) Alexander Berezkin “Sashulya”, Honored Artist of the Republic of Sakha (Yakutia) Rostislav Lebedev “Rostik” and Irina Kornilova “Iriska”. And also the artist of the Theater of Illusion (Moscow) Evgeny Noenokhov “Tosha”. Khatass children's circus studio "Cascade", director A.D. Kostantinov
We are a non-profit charitable organization providing socio-cultural rehabilitation to children with serious illnesses “Clown Doctor”.
Every child in need of long-term treatment experiences the psychological pressure of medical intervention in his body and needs psychological release and distraction. A child facing prolonged physical illness, may experience a feeling of detachment and psychological discomfort even after undergoing treatment. Playing, talking, laughing - can help by returning to daily life child has an ordinary childhood. The employees of the Clown Doctor organization are volunteers whose work is free of charge. Each of the volunteers is called a “clown doctor,” and each clown doctor has his own clown name, which certainly helps in working and establishing contact with children. The main goal of our hospital clowns is to help children in hospitals cope with the negative consequences of severe and long illness, pain, fear, various negative emotions, give them a feeling of a normal childhood.
Our goals
In addition to the fact that we train our volunteers, we also try to create comfortable conditions For professional activity. For this purpose, meetings are held every month to update the repertoire, improve skills, and solve current problems. If necessary, meetings are held between hospital clowns and psychologists and doctors, and there is a detailed discussion of the intricacies of working with children.
The Clown Doctor Code
The clown doctor is a member of the Non-Profit Organization "Doctor Clown", as well as a professional hospital clown, trained by the organization in all areas necessary for full-fledged work in a hospital. The work of the hospital clowns of the Clown Doctor organization is volunteer and free of charge. For his activities, the Clown Doctor does not receive remuneration or financial incentives from hospital patients, their relatives, hospital medical staff or administration.
To ensure the quality of work, each Clown Doctor constantly improves his professional skills in the field acting skills, artistic methods clowning, knowledge of the psychology of children, the peculiarities of being in hospitals/departments of various medical profiles. The clown doctor is responsible for all his actions in a medical facility. The clown doctor observes internal rules, safety rules, the regime of a medical institution and works in a hospital/department only in coordination with the medical staff.
The clown doctor is obliged to keep medical secrets that become known to him during his professional work. The Clown Doctor hospital clown uses his presence and work to help hospital patients and their families cope with their hospitalization. The clown doctor has no right to be aggressive and performs his work with kindness and professional integrity. regardless of origin, gender, nationality, religion, customs, marital status, social environment, education.
The work of a hospital clown can be an excellent opportunity for those who, in addition to their main professional activity, want to help children who find themselves in difficult life situations.
Clown doctors are specialists who perform a common task with doctors. Art therapy, games, clownery and magic tricks do not replace surgery or chemotherapy, but help consolidate the medical effect, relieve and distract from pain and suffering.
After communicating with the clown doctor, children who refused to eat begin to eat. They agree to unpleasant procedures. It is difficult for a small child to understand that doctors with needles, catheters, and tubes wish him well. The foundation's staff helps people get through the fear and pain that accompany difficult treatment.
Experience shows that the most successful clowns are people who havesociability,able to adapt to the situation, partner, team; whichthey know how to persuade, can be funny, charismatic and charming, and have imagination. A also about learning, with stress-resistant and older than 24 years.
Creative education and experience working with children may be a plus.
Join the charity foundation team: fill out an application, take free training at the School of Hospital Clowning in September and become a professional clown doctor.
You can respond until August 31, 2017.
Lectures and master classes are given by the best experts in hospital clownery in France and Russia.
Those who regularly conduct creative activities in hospitals receive a cash bonus from the Foundation.
One day in the life of a clown doctor.
The clown team “Doctor Clown” appeared in 2008 thanks to collaboration with colleagues from Israel, France and Holland.
For 10 years, a team of clowns, consisting of professional artists and caring talented people, has been coming to hospitals and, along with doctors, helping young patients recover. The fund works for children undergoing long-term inpatient treatment who find it difficult to endure a long stay within the walls of the hospital.
It took the foundation several years to move from the skepticism of medical staff to openness and a desire to cooperate. Today, more and more children's hospitals are inviting clowns into their departments. We work on an official contract basis with the Russian Children's Clinical Hospital in more than 20 departments.
The team in Russia is part of a friendly multinational family of hospital clowns. TO Our colleagues successfully work in the USA, the Netherlands, Israel, France, Italy, Belarus, Great Britain, and Germany. More than 30 volunteer and professional organizations around the world.
In some countries, the clown is a staff member of the hospital.
In 2015, in France, “hospital clowning” received the status of a profession, and in Argentina a law was passed introducing a clown doctor into all children’s hospitals. At the University of Haifa (Israel) there is a department of hospital clowning, which annually produces certified doctors with red noses.
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