The Dream Doctors Project is a unique project for the integration of professional medical clowning into the care system of Israeli hospitals. Established in 2002, Dream Doctors have currently been assimilated in 17 hospitals throughout the country, with 70 medical clowns now active in various pediatric wards and clinics.
Our vision is to have Clowning Therapy officially recognized and firmly established as a paramedical profession acquired through a professional training program. This profession will develop and become more serious through theoretical and empirical research in the field, and by creating a professional community to discuss and promote these aspects on academic and practical levels. The Dream Doctors Project’s structure and practical program is set up to realize this vision in Israel. We firmly believe that fulfilling our vision in Israel will create a global model for medical clowning.
We have been witnessing the success of this perception in the field, as the Dream Doctors have been increasingly integrated into the multidisciplinary staff of Israeli hospitals since the foundation of the project. As expressive therapists and paraprofessional caregivers, the Dream Doctors have made an obvious contribution to the processes of treatment, recovery and rehabilitation of patients, with a change in the patients’ hospitalization experience, now stamped into their memories as less traumatic and more pleasant for patient and family.
Furthermore, this unique approach has won great empathy and complete cooperation from the medical institutions’ staff and administration, making it possible to develop and innovative care approach perceiving medical clowning as an integral part of the care network provided to the patient in hospital.
Some of the departments and clinics in which the Dream Doctors operate are internal medicine, surgery, ICU, ORs, diabetes, HIV-AIDS, outpatient clinics, rehabilitation, dialysis, daycare for autistic children, oncology and hemato-oncology, NICUs, sexually abused children’s treatment center, the psychiatric ward, and more.
