Humor Solutions is Linda MacNeal’s company. Linda is a World Laughter Tour certified Laughter Leader, a former acrobatic clown with Ringling Brothers Barnum & Bailey Circus, and the author of five textbooks. (Written in her years as a FSP – Formerly Serious Person) On her website, you can see short video clips of Linda at work — sure to provoke a smile and help you take yourself lightly while remaining serious at work!
One of Mexico’s foremost trainers, Dr. Jose Elizondo is a certified Laugh Leader and started the first Laughter Club in Mexico. His website offers a wealth of resources, videos, stories and laughs — all in Spanish. A great resource!
Laughwell is Chris Balmer’s company, dedicated to helping people rediscover the transformative power of humor and laughter in their lives. On his website, you’ll find informative articles and great links to helpful resources on the use of therapeutic humor.
The Laughter Remedy was created by Paul E. McGhee, Ph.D.. Paul was a pioneer in humor research, laying the groundwork for the current interest in the health benefits of humor. After receiving his Ph.D. in developmental psychology in 1968, he spent 22 years conducting basic research on humor and laughter while teaching at the university level. He is internationally known for his own humor research, and has published over 50 scientific articles and 13 books on humor.
The Laughter Remedy was created to provide:
1) information (based on the latest research) about how humor contributes to health, stress reduction, and effective job performance, and
2) the tools needed by individuals, corporations, health care organizations, and support groups to obtain these benefits.
Find out more by visiting www.laughterremedy.com
Looking for posters, banners, and certificates for Nurses’ Week? You can find some free downloadable Nurses’ Week celebration items here!
We’re not sure if you’ve noticed, but April is National Humor Month. (We may have mentioned that once or twice!)
Here is the National Humor Month website which is absolutely packed full of useful resources, Laugh Posters, classroom tools, humor for lexophiles and more.
Steve Wilson, Joyologist and Founder of World Laughter Tour , is the new Director of National Humor Month.
On June 28, 2008, Steve received the mantle of this auspicious position with all responsibilities, rights and privileges appertaining thereto (along with a big box of funny stuff) from Larry Wilde.
From the National Humor Month website:
We honor those who make us laugh, professionals and amateurs alike, as well as friends, neighbors, teachers, and relatives, including your Uncle Fred and Aunt Tillie.
This is the place where you can come to share ideas about how to celebrate humor, information about the ancient roots of humor and the myriad contemporary expressions of humor.
The number one site for stories, medical jokes, audio clips and colonoscopy cartoons that will help you crack your ‘vertical smile’ and accept your colonoscopy procedure to detect colon polyps and preserve your colon health. It’s www.colonjoke.net , brought to you by Butt Meddler!
You’ll find this site especially valuable if you’ve been told in the past to have a colonoscopy, but have been reluctant to schedule the procedure. The resources available here will help you chuckle as you learn about colon cancer. So, relax your vintage behind and smile.
This is a great resource for nurses to share with patients :-)
Finding something to laugh about each and every day can be a challenge…especially on those days when you know it’s going to be a LOOOONG shift the minute you set foot on the unit. Give yourself a head start toward healthy laughter by signing up for A Joke a Day These jokes are checked to make sure they don’t contain offensive content, so there are no nasty surprises and it’s usually a safe bet for a good laugh when you need it the most!
We would be beyond remiss if we went through Colon Cancer Awareness month without mentioning Fart-Fart.com ! Let’s face it: after you’ve worked the gastro-intestinal gig for a while, you’ll start hearing the same fart jokes over and over and over again. Mix it up with some of the great jokes from this site — and don’t miss the fart research! (Yes, really!)
And if you download a fart ring tone to covertly install on your least favorite doc’s phone…well, that’s simply not the type of thing we’d advocate. Laugh at like crazy, sure. Advocate, no. :-)
This week’s resource comes from Debra Joy Hart , a dear friend of the JNJ team. She wrote to us about FCAN, and here’s what she said:
Near and dear to my heart is FCAN. I have been with this organization since 1996. I volunteered as ” Daisy the Clown.” and, 14 years later, I am still with them.
Every spring and summer and sometimes in between, FCAN puts on Red Ribbon Trails, a camp just for Illinois families infected and/or affected with HIV/AIDS. The families and individuals that come to this camp are some of the most courageous people I have ever been privileged to be with. Whether I am quietly holding the hand of a small child, clowning adult humor with a parent or camped out with the volunteers, my heart sings in all these situations.
My relationship to FCAN folks extends outside of camp. One of the parents of a child that died of AIDS asked me to come as “Daisy” to the visitation and speak at the church service. Showing up to the funeral home in a clown costume was one of the hardest things I have ever done. Extended family and friends greeted me in the hallways of the funeral home. “Daisy, we are so glad you are here!” I looked around and my clown eyes welled up with tears as I saw albums and framed photos of camp, this child and I.
The volunteers and collaborators have become some of my best friends and confidants. These are the people that help make me laugh, give me a shoulder to cry on and most of all… show me daily hope and courage. This organization has made my life rich beyond belief. If so moved, please consider donating to them, in order to help this organization keep giving to others! FCAN – 53 W Jackson Blvd, Suite 304, Chicago, IL 60604 phone: 312-786-9255 and fax: 312-786-9203. FCAN’s website is www.familiesandchildrensnetwork.org
If you are interested in volunteering for FCAN, you can find out more about it here.