BREAD NOSE: Bread in Hospitals program

The Bread Nosе Program and method was created and tested in children’s hospitals, engaging hospital patients in kneading and baking, possibly together with their doctors and/or parents. The method can be employed by art therapist and humor therapy/clown practitioners. Part of the methodology builds on our methods Theater of Crumbs and Kitchen Music (especially successful if joined by a music therapist or a musician), and a second important part involves making bread balls which, when baked, become bread noses that the patients put on with the help of strings (even a simple thread), which unleashes laughter and various comic situations. The word “bread nose” already is a humorous play of words related to the red nose used by clowns. The bread (edible) noses enable the humor therapists to develop a whole new rich range of sketches, role games, and engagement techniques. The use of edible items, the touch of making bread, and the uniquely powerful aroma of hot bread add a whole new dimension to the way relationships evolve in a hospital and other pain-filled environments.

 

 

 

 

 

The BHN Founder, Dr. Nadezhda Savova-Grigorova, got inspired to try the community baking in hospitals after she met Patch Adams (pictures above), the creator of Humor Therapy, and joined his training as part of an international seminar organized by the World Health Organization in Peru in 2009.

 

 

 

 

The Bread Nose method was applied for the first time in 2010 in the biggest Russian children’s hospital in Moscow (pictures above), when we successfully applied our Theatre of Crumbs method mixed with the Bread Nose method. At the Russian hospital, we engaged doctors and children patients and their parents to make bread and create edible puppets and bread noses and come up with funny story/theater plot: the whole multi-sensorial experience literally transformed the whole space and the both patients, parents, and doctors! And the aroma of hot bread made even patients from other floors come and search for this most pleasant and soothing aroma!

In Bulgaria, we piloted the Bread Nose Program in Bulgaria in December 2019 at the Sofia Neurology Hospitals for children with epilepsy and their parents. The program is taking place regularly monthly at the hospital, and we are currently communicating with 2 more children’s hospitals.

We hope to cooperate with more international organizations already working in the field of humor therapy and clowning in hospitals across the globe, in order to enrich with the Bread Nose method and program other existing practices or start new programs. Please, contact us for future cooperation ideas!