Clown therapy: India

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As in 2019

Sindhu Hariharan, May 29, 2019: The Times of India

Clown therapy in India, as in 2019.
From: Sindhu Hariharan, May 29, 2019: The Times of India

As hospitals see value in alternate forms of patient care, a new therapy involving clowns — called medical clowning — is gaining ground. This involves clowns engaging with patients to ease the anxiety that comes with a hospital experience and promote optimism in grim wards. The emerging vocation has now got a shot in the arm as a one-of-itskind course to train and groom a pipeline of therapeutic clowns goes live in India.

Chennai-based Saveetha University in partnership with Puducherry-based MeDi Clown Academy (a clown therapy provider) has launched a fellowship in the art and science of ‘MeDiClowning’ (FASMC). The 600-hour course, claiming to be the firstof-its-kind in Asia, trains clowns to spread joy across sectors like healthcare, schools and other high-stress corporate environments.

MeDiClown Academy cofounder Fif Fernandes said, “Medi-clowning is serious business. It is not merely performative, and much more than just being a joker.”

Saveetha Medical College assistant dean Dr Prathibha K M said that opportunities extend beyond just the healthcare sector.

While ‘clown care’ is a rarity in India, social enterprises like MeDi Clown Academy, Delhi-based Clownselors and other individual therepautic clowns are trying to take the concept mainstream. Currently sustaining the service on donations and proceeds from corporate workshops, these social ventures are working out business models, and preparing to pitch for external funds.

Founded in 2014 by Fernandes and Hamish Boyd (therapeutic clowns from Canada), the Auroville societyregistered MeDi Clown believes the FASMC is the first step to scale the model around this “distraction therapy”.

Clownselors founder Sheetal Agarwal, a Delhi-based teacher who quit her job to turn into a full-time medical clown, is in the process of registering the venture as a social enterprise. Clownselors undertakes paid sessions in private hospitals in Delhi such as Apollo and Max Saket, while volunteering at government hospitals, orphanages, oldage homes, etc. Team-building sessions for corporates and workshops also keep the service going. Agarwal says it will seek external funding and collaborate with corporates for their CSR.

Boyd says it’s a myth that clowning is all about over-thetop antics. “There’s a time to laugh and there’s a time to stay silent. We, as medical clowns, have sat through the last minutes of terminally-ill children to ease their pain.”