Joking Aside -The 4th International conference exploring humour, health and learning
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Illustrations by Dai Owen
The Comedy Trust hosted the Joking Aside Conference on Monday 2nd June 2008 at Lace Conference Centre, Sefton Park, Liverpool. Now in its fourth year this innovative and unique annual conference continues to attract delegates from a variety of backgrounds and disciplines within the health and education communities from across the country. This one day event saw guest speakers from a wide range of fields presenting research and inviting open and engaging discussion on humour, comedy, health and well-being.
Speakers included keynote Dr Ed Dunkelblau. Ed is an Internationally known speaker and consultant on the topics of Humour, Health and Emotional Intelligence. His presentation examined the physical and psychological benefits of humour laughter and play in clinical settings and provided delegates with an enlightening, interesting and engaging insight into the therapeutic benefits of humour.
Other key speakers included Vicky Charnock, the Arts Co-ordinator for the Royal Liverpool Children's NHS Trust - Alder Hey, where she manages a diverse programme of arts, working in partnership with many of the leading cultural organisations within Merseyside. Known as the Cultural Champions, these organisations are developing innovative partnership programmes with the hospital, ranging from dance to digital arts.
Vicky presented a case study outlining a unique programme of work that has been developed by The Comedy Trust in partnership with Alder Hey which includes a professional development training for healthcare staff, a mentoring scheme with practitioners from the Comedy Trust working directly with patients and staff, and a cartoonist working with healthcare to produce child centred resources.
The day was captured through a series of illustrations, see montage above, produced by artist Dai Owen.
What people said
- ‘A wonderful opportunity for all the team to share knowledge of a most important subject matter’
- 'It proved that the use of humour can be applied to many different situations’
- ‘Well organised, fun and thought provoking day’
- ‘A stimulating and thought provoking conference’
- ‘Gave me lots of 'food for thought' on the use of humour in my workplace’
- ‘Very well organised event and of very good value. Presenters gave a good overall and complementary view of the topic’
'Thought provoking and positive, great opportunity to meet and chat with delegates from other organisations and disciplines'
- 'I will take away some useful ideas to apply in my workplace'
- 'Really enjoyed comedian Brendan Riley, was a great introduction to the afternoon. Great mix of comedy and theory'
Your Humour Case Studies
If you are interesting in presenting case studies about your work relating to humour, laughter, comedy or happiness and health and well-being at future seminars and conferences throughout 2008 and 2009 we would love to hear from you. Please contact us on 0870 443 0955 or email us on info@thecomedytrust.com
