Clowndoctors

In Hospitals and Hospices

Our Clowndoctors are engaging, playful and compassionate. They are available to visit everyone receiving healthcare, whatever their age, ability or diagnosis.

Healthcare staff refer Clowndoctors to individual patients - one-time visitors, “frequent flyers”, and those who spend most of their lives in hospital. Clowndoctors meet a child where they are and how they are, at that moment. Together with them, they co-create a visit where the child is always the expert of their experience and is always in charge of the Clowndoctors.

When children are in hospital, they can often feel powerless, anxious, isolated or bored. During a Clowndoctors visit, clinical spaces become less tense and scary for children and their families. This can lead to an improvement in well-being, increased engagement with clinicians and medical interventions, and even shorter stays in hospital. We always seek permission from the child at the beginning of the visit, and we always respect their decision about whether The Clowndoctors are welcome visitors.

A visit might be as delicate as a lullaby composed with a baby’s gurgles, as chaotic as a slapstick battle with uncooperative hospital furniture, or as brief as a child blowing towards their cubicle window, making the Clowndoctors fly down the corridor. Anything is possible when the Clowndoctors are in the room.

Clowndoctors support healthcare staff by providing emotional relief for young patients and their families. Our performers can report back to clinicians after a visit, sharing observations about a child's emotional state, communication preferences, their humour, and imagination.

“What sets the Clowndoctors apart is the deep responsiveness to each child’s emotional state. This isn’t distraction—it’s emotional attunement.” — Dr Denise Milne, Evaluation Report, Glasgow Children’s Hospital (2023)

If you have a visit from the Clowndoctors, we hope you will remember it for a long time too. If you have taken your own pictures or videos, please share them. We love to see it all. You can tag @heartsminds on social media, and you can upload them to our website HERE too!