Diana Chiles,  Pediatric Therapist for Le Bonheur Children’s Medical Center,

 promotes comfort and healing by providing opportunities for play. 

For the past thirty years, since 1978, Diana has utilized puppet therapy

 to help calm the fears  of pediatric patients and their families.  

Her primary tool is a green puppet, “Bernard”.

As a fellow “patient”, Bernard has the ability to bring a smile, comfort and friendship. 

Diana and Bernard work with the medical team to help children and their families

 cope with the fears and emotional stresses of hospitalization. 

Through play, children and adolescents are able to express their feelings

 and gain a better understanding of their hospital experience.

 

“The power a puppet holds over a doll,

 or any other form of play media

 is that the puppet

possesses a soul . . . .

 the hand of the puppeteer”.

 

 

Sergei Obraztsov

Russian Puppeteer

 

 

 

Hospitalization can be a frightening experience

for children and their families.

Puppets are an effective therapeutic tool

to help hospitalized children safely explore

their feelings, fears, and frustrations,

thus gaining master over a difficult experience.

 

 

 

Puppetry can be a magical therapeutic tool in a health care setting.

 

The puppet becomes a mediator, with the potential to reach the child

 and provide an acceptable outlet for expression of feelings.

  Often a child is too young or frightened to verbalize the complexity of medical treatment.

  A puppet becomes a friend who can touch, comfort, and react to what the child thinks or feels.

  By entering the child’s world of fantasy and imagination, a puppet can help

 to identify fears and misconceptions and teach children about what is happening to them.

 

  With a puppet, the child can feel safe, relax, smile, play and learn.

 

Participants in Diana Chiles' Workshops

 learn how to utilize puppetry in health care situations.

  They learn various settings in which this media can be effective, as in

 Pre-Operative Teaching, Medical Play, preparation for and comfort after painful procedures,

 as well as helping to build a bridge over the cultural differences among various families.

 

Different techniques of puppet therapy are demonstrated,

 including role-play of certain medical procedures,

 which allows the child to play out a procedure with a puppet as the patient. 

 

No matter how kind its people or how numerous its toys,

 the hospital remains a fearsome place for children and their families.

 

  Children who are in the hospital or a health care facility;

  who have been hospitalized and are experiencing repercussions;

  who have a disability and/or chronic illness;

  who have experienced the death of a loved one;

  or children who are facing their own impending death,

  need someone who can help lead them from anguish and bewilderment

 towards comfort and understanding.

 

  Puppet Therapy can be an effective tool to help in this process.