Puppet Therapy

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 rightened 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.