Ch. 9
Circus Wellness
STARS 2010
“What? A circus at a grief event?”
Cirque de-Stress 2013
Dr. Gary Chistenson and I created Cirque De-Stress to help college kids relearn all the mental health resources available at the University of Minnesota. Gary was charged with caring for 43,000 students as the Chief Medical Officer of the University. One night, I met him in the hotel bar at a Society for Arts in Health Care Conference in Washington, DC. He shared with me his frustration with how few kids were using his university’s resources.
Patch Adams 2016
At the ABSAME Conference, the organization invited me to participate and present a poster for the Clown Town Healing Festival in Phoenix, Arizona, headlined by the real Patch Adams. Patch was (and is) an anarchist who advocates free healthcare for all.
Hidden Wounds of War ~ Puppets for Peace 2016
While at the ClownTown Healing event, I leaned into networking and met a PhD candidate, Bruce Reges. He, as a soldier in Iraq, connected with children to find out where Improvised Explosive Devices (IED) were buried through the use of puppets and play. They called the program Innovative Play to Save Lives (IPSL), and Reges invited me to the Hidden Wounds of War Conference in Grand Rapids, Michigan, on May 20th. At the conference, Bruce shared his compelling work using puppets and play to save lives via the identification of IEDs.
Mojo Medicine - Circus Wellness 2010-2018
With a successful run at Texas Children’s Hospital, at the time #5 in the ranking, I had hoped we could connect with #3 on the list, the more local Cincinnati Children’s Hospital. We soon began offering a program at Children’s called Mojo Medicine, which included Circus Wellness two days a week funded by the oldest funding arm of Cincinnati Children’s, the Cooperative Society.
Children’s Home of Northern Kentucky Circus Wellness
The Children’s Home (CHNK) has been a long-term partner developing our Circus Wellness tool kit.
CHNK cancelled our contract in 2010 the same day as an anonymous caller was working to undermine my work. In 2012 we rebooted weekly programming partnering with the Recreation Therapist Sara Warner. Sara included circus as a modality of treatment in her book
Behavioral Health Protocols and Treatment Plans for Recreational Therapy, published in 2013. This was the first time circus was included and marked an important step in legitimizing Circus Wellness.
Here is a blog I wrote outlining the impact circus is making around the world: Changing the World” Inspired by…
Circus Mojo was recently honored by being included in a Buzzfeed article entitled, “17 Circuses that are Changing the World.” (pg 81)
Circus Wellness Registered Apprenticeship 2024
In 2024 the State of Kentucky officially recognized Traditional Circus and Circus Wellness as a Registered Apprenticeship Program. The team at the Kentucky Education and Labor Cabinet worked with me and we emulated the program around the Equine Therapy Apprenticeship.
In 2013, I founded the Social Circus Foundation, a nonprofit 501c3, that raises funds to support programs using circus as tools for social change and in medical settings. Many of the people we serve have limited resources. The fund will serve as a clearinghouse for scholarships and to educate and study the application of circus in non-traditional settings.
Funds are divided as follows:
1. Approximately one-third (1/3) of the foundation’s attention will be focused on using circus to improve the lives of the mentally and physically disabled.
2. Another approximately one-third (1/3) of the foundation’s attention will be focused on vocational training. The foundation will provide job training and skill sets focused on the circus industry to the underprivileged in an effort to give them the tools they need to sustain their livelihood and be productive members of society.
3. The remaining one-third (1/3) of the foundation’s attention will be focused on education. Specifically, the foundation will study the impact of social circus in medical settings and as a tool for social change. All formation documents are available in the workbook.
