Author: Megan

Dream Doctors Roni Vidman and Nimrod Eisenberg held a series of clowning workshops for refugees from Arab countries who are part of the Imagine Center in Greece. This program taught clowning tools that the refugees can use in their communities to bring joy and relief to children and adults in distress. And throughout the week, Dr. Ofer Ravid and Dr. Noa Vaisman of the Aarhus Universitet in Denmark conducted research on the work of the clowns with refugees and focused on the ways in which play is created and how it affects refugee life.

Dream Doctor Shoshi Ofir was invited to Australia by the Humour Foundation’s Clown Doctors and the The Royal Children’s Hospital, Melbourne. She taught the clowns how to combine medical clowning with accompaniment and treatment for victims of neglect, physical violence, and sexual violence, and also taught doctors how to work with clowns.

One of the doctors said she felt that the presence of the clowns helped not only the patients but also herself and everyone else on the team. The Director of the Victorian Forensic Pediatric clinic thanked Shoshi on her behalf, on behalf of the patients and their families, and on behalf of the entire staff. She said that in the last week, since the clowns got into the work, there has already been tremendous positive change!

Dream Doctor Nimrod “Max” Eisenberg joined host Jonathan Van Ness on the highly-rated podcast “Getting Curious” to talk about the power and philosophy behind clowning, using clowning and humor as therapy, his work in the Dream Doctors Project, and more! Listen here now!

Dream Doctors Shimrit Lugaci and Limor Eshayek had a fun and deeply meaningful visit to the Ibim Village which is home to new immigrants to Israel from Ethiopia. Being so close to the border, the Village was a target of recent rocket attacks, which caused great stress and anxiety for its residents, especially the children. An evening of therapeutic clowning with Shimrit and Limor made a huge difference for the children, as well as parents and staff, and we hope to return!

Dream Doctor Aviad Sharfstein gave an engaging and informative TED style talk during the TEDM Event at Kibbutz Maagan Michael. Watch the video (in Hebrew) to learn about Aviad’s unique experiences working in the maternity rooms of Bnai Tzion hospital…

Dream Doctor Alex Vinegart was recently interviewed for the Israeli show “The Professors” and speaks beautifully about medical and therapeutic clowning.

We invite you to watch the clip in Hebrew. The gorgeous photos you see in the background of the video are courtesy of our dear friend Hezi Penet.

From our friends at The Jewish Press:

The medical clowns Florina and Dr. Till came to spend a morning of laughter and conversation about pregnancy, the experience of childbirth, and post-natal emotions with the new mothers at the maternity ward of Baruch Padeh Medical Center near Tiberias.

The week-long action and surprises in honor of Hanukkah is being sponsored by the Baby Start Club.

 

We had a wonderful visit with our friends from Association Docteur Clown​ at the Tene Center in Poriya Hospital.

Learn why the medical clowns of Lyon, France are planning to bring Dream Doctor Shoshi Ofir’s important and unique work to their hospitals in this article from the The Jewish Press​.

The Jewish Standard has published a beautiful, in-depth cover story about the history and many various programs of the Dream Doctors Project, both inside Israel and abroad. This special article, available on their website, also includes the story of how one of our original Dream Doctors became a medical clown!

A study supported by the Dream Doctors Research Fund was recently published in the International Journal of Disability, Development, and Education. Dream Doctors Yuval Ben Eli and Esti Mittleberg were co-authors of the study, “Intervention of Medical (Therapeutic) Clowns in a Kindergarten for Children with Intellectual Disability” which was conducted by Haifa University. Visit our Research Page for a link to this study as well as all of our published research.