About Me (and Blog)
Drama Therapist and professional Ventriloquist with puppets, is one of a kind in her work in hospitals and other therapeutic settings.
I have nine therapeutic puppets for use in my ventriloquism and through them I allow my clients(patients) to give trust. The most professional puppets for my work were created by Mariah Gorevich. Mariah made Chico, a boy-dog with wounds on his face and body and dressed in hospital pajamas. Chico is designed for use in the pediatric and surgery wards. Dudu, who resembles a bear, is intended for children who have received organ transplants, and comes with IV's, scars, bandages and applicable medical devices. Jero is an elf-boy who suffers from attention disorder is designed for youth with similar problems and for patients in the pediatric ward. Gaia, a teen-age, anorexic girl is intended for teen age girls primarily those suffering from anorexia nervosa. Lakia is an Ethiopian puppet with dark skin and big eyes. She was made at the request of an Ethiopian teenager who didn't believe that I would have a puppet to match her skin color.
These are some of the characters who were created for my work as a drama therapist. Through them I use ventriloquism as a means to establish trust with the patients.
The old as well as the new characters and the voices that I used as a performer have changed their purpose and I feel the need to give them new life in the area of treatment.
The ventriloquism puppets allow the children to open up, communicate and be supported as they feel less of a need to operate the common defense mechanisms associated with typical one on one interactions regarding issues like illness or difficulty.
Ventriloquism began as a traditional and mystical phenomenon. For hundreds of years it was considered as a magical prophetic power by speaking the voice of God or as some kind of possessing entity which channels the voice of the dead through the voice of the medium. In modern times, ventriloquism slowly evolved into one of the arts associated with theater and entertainment. This change was accompanied by new perspectives in culture and modern psychological thinking which allowed ventriloquism to be utilized as a unique form of art. Ventriloquism went from the medium to the actor/performer.
For me, the puppet is a kind of "front line" for the therapist as it engages both the therapist and patient in a dialogue to help ascertain the tools and needs for treatment. This is how the child meets the puppet. The layers of the dialogue, the puppet and its operator determine the depth and represent my therapeutic "tool box." In this special field there is the duality and incredible power of being the puppet operator.
The ventriloquism puppet is an effective therapeutic tool in hospitals, capable of reaching patients who would normally be difficult to reach by standard methods. By observing the puppet, the patient learns new and sustainable ways of relating to the trauma for which they are hospitalized. Any therapists, who work in hospitals and wish to use ventriloquism therapeutically, should receive the most professional training.
The current status of my puppets is as follows: Chico and Dudu are in the pediatric ward, in pajamas and with IV's after having operations. Taki, the violent elf-boy is in the psychiatric ward after a serious outburst. Lakia, the Ethiopian girl represents color and being different. Gini, from another planet, rattles her teeth like most of the other wooden puppets. Everyone of them has a place inside me, where I store their characters, their voices and their thoughts. It seems like I'm a stage actor who has learned the part of my characters thoroughly, except that a stage actor can stop playing the role at the end of the play, whereas the therapeutic ventriloquist lives with their characters for life.
Today, I work in Israel at Schneider Hospital with children in the Oncology Department as well as with children who have undergone transplants. I also work at Hillel Yaffe Hospital. In the past I worked at Nahariyah Hospital in the Training and Psychiatric Departments. In the last few years I've been preparing children for various medical procedures through the use of the puppets. I've also been teaching children to give themselves injections in a special therapy project using the puppets in the Hemophilia Ward at Tel Hashomer Hospital. Another similar project was with children suffering from diabetes or needing growth hormones and more. I also lecture to educators, psychologists, doctors, therapists, social workers, hi-tech companies and to the Religious Sector.
In 2014 I led a joint research project with Dr. Swede, the Director of the Pediatric Surgery Department. The research was conducted at Nahariyah Hospital over a four year period and examined the following: The physiological and behavioral effects of using Therapeutic Ventriloquism among children who experienced trauma and were hospitalized in the Pediatric Surgery Ward. The results were impressive and have been presented in different conferences.
I have lectured at international therapy conferences in Japan and the U.S.A. I have been sent as an Israeli emissary to work in hospitals in Kenya, Ethiopia and India. I was sent to Japan after the tsunami event. I have also given lectures in the U.S.A, and England.
I also speak English and French. The puppets speak a little Japanese, Swahili, Hindi, Amharic, Arabic, Russian and …
Greetings to my fellow ventriloquists,
I met some of you when I attended the 2003 conference in Las Vegas, and others may be familiar with me from journal articles detailing the very beginnings of my work with hospitalized children. In the past decade, I have made this field my career, and today I am part of the educational-therapeutic team at Schneider Children's Medical Center in Tel Aviv. As far as I know, I am the only therapeutic ventriloquist / drama therapist in the world who is employed by a hospital. In my work, I visit the children at their bedside, bringing along a suitable ‘dummy’ or puppet (as I prefer), and, according to the requests of the medical staff and the needs of each child, I help them cope with different issues related to their illness and hospitalization. Some of my patients have life-threatening illnesses such as cancer, and some are undergoing organ transplantation. I offer them the puppet as a new friend, someone like themselves, who is going through similar feelings of pain, fear, uncertainty and loneliness. During the hour I spend with my patients, I try to alleviate some of those feelings by bringing them a friend who can smile, laugh and commiserate with them.
I lecture throughout Israel about my work, and as a specialist in trauma therapy using ventriloquism, I have been invited to needy populations in other countries and have even been sent to other countries by Israel's Foreign Office.
My journey from the world of theaters and the stage to the field of therapeutic ventriloquism, together with the knowledge and insights I have acquired and experienced in my worldwide travels, have convinced me to document my stories in writing. The following are snippets from the book I am writing, and I would be happy to hear reactions and criticism from you before the book is published.
With fondest regards,
Daniela Hadassy danielah47@gmail.com
2014, a foreword, a mysterious illness and the decision to write…
It's been several weeks that I've had this annoying cough. I've seen a family doctor several times, and each time it's been the same – he listens to my lungs and says "probably something viral….it will pass…" but that nasty cough doesn't seem to go away. I feel tired and my energy is gone. At work in the hospital, I ask not to visit patients who are especially vulnerable.
It's another typical day at Schneider Children's Medical Center in the department where I work. The teacher has been on her morning 'rounds' and is now sending the various 'arts' therapists to the room where she feels we are most needed. I am sent to Room 6, and I head there with my cart, which looks more like a colorful and unusual shopping cart. In room 6 I meet Michal, a 6-year-old girl who has undergone complex neck surgery. Michal is very familiar with my 'Chico', and within a minute she's involved in an enthusiastic conversation with him. After a few minutes Michal's mom leaves the room and I suddenly begin to cough and choke behind my surgical mask. Chico looks at Michal, and she at him…. my cough get stronger and I feel as if I have no air…in another minute I'm going to choke in front of this child! Luckily, she hasn't even noticed my distress – she is carrying on a running monologue with Chico and I'm making his head move and 'communicate' somehow while I'm fighting for each breath and trying not to scare my patient…
I glance at the hallway. The sight of nurses hurrying back and forth calms me. If I faint someone will save me – I'm in one of the best hospitals in the country. Meanwhile, though, I'm rooted to the chair and can't get up. The cough has completely taken away my voice and I have no air. After a few more minutes of terror, I somehow part from Michal with a grunt from Chico and the appropriate parting hand motions. After a few labored breaths I manage to remove myself from the chair, place Chico in his bag, and make my way, exhausted, to the nurses' station where I slowly relax and regain the ability to breathe properly.
I recount to the head nurse what I've just experienced. She sits me in a chair and makes me promise not to move until a doctor comes to examine me. Prof. Oren comes into the room and I describe the choking sensation and the months of coughing. "You have whooping cough," she replies. "Go home immediately." I do as she says, armed with a supply of antibiotics for me and my family, and with the instructions to rest for several weeks, a command that seems totally unrealistic for a workaholic like me.
Later, when I had a chance to think about what had occurred that day, I silently thanked Chico for 'covering' for me, for being my voice in our meeting with Michal.
I knew that I had to write about this.
2012, Schneider Children's Medical Center, Tel Aviv, Israel
One day I am asked to go to the Oncology Department, where I see 7-year-old Tom, in a lengthy hospitalization prior to bone marrow transplantation. Tom suffers from a complex genetic disease, and the transplantation is the last chance for survival. The decline in his health was sudden and swift – within two months from onset he began suffering from severed brain processes and cognitive damage. Early in his hospitalization, when his vision was still intact, Chico and I visited him. Now I realize that he can't really see Chico, but he listens to the voice. Finally! Another child is talking to him! He smiles.
Chico reminds Tom who he is and immediately commiserates: 'I don't see well either…'. I let Tom explore Chico with his hands. He is thrilled that his friend is back – the only one allowed into his transplantation isolation room. I suggest to Tom that he try a glove puppet and he does, giving it a voice (perhaps somewhat like mine…?) and soon there is a dialogue. Tom is lively and chattering away, talking about colors and numbers and suddenly about the lava deep beneath the earth's surface and amethysts, and other topics unusual for a child his age.
Tom is thrilled to have his friend Chico in the room – talking and listening, but mostly talking. For 30 minutes Tom is in the moment with Chico, chatting, laughing, touching him, jumping on the bed. Finally we agree to meet again the next week, but as soon as the topic of leaving is mentioned, something in Tom shuts down, his face loses its liveliness, his manner becomes withdrawn. His friend is about to leave. My hearts breaks for him.
I leave the room and meet the department's head doctor and nurse in the hall. They have been watching through the little window in the door of Tom's room, and are thrilled over they've just seen. Tom is seriously ill with a rare illness, and of late the staff has had difficulty communicating with him. The doctor asks when I will meet with Tom again next, and is surprised to hear that only in a week… "I live three hours from the hospital," I explain. "I work only two days per week, two consecutive days when I leave my family each week for those days." I realize it's not enough…. It can never be enough.
Some theoretical background on ventriloquism therapy
When I walk into a sick child's hospital room, I have about a minute to understand the situation. By the time I'm sitting on the patient's bed (or next to it) I need to have 'translated' what I'm seeing and sensing around me into the words that the puppet will use to converse with the child, what he/she is feeling, and how much he/she identifies with the child's pain, frustration, fear… I want the child's attention to be on the new 'friend' and not on the pain, to laugh and joke and to forget the weight on those small shoulders for a few moments.
A person talented in drawing will choose to be an artist, one who writes well may be an author. And a ventriloquist will most likely end up on a stage of some sort and entertain. Actually, in retrospect, even when I was on stage entertaining, I was there not for the laughs but for a certain social message or educational issue. The transition to therapy and dealing with life-threatening situations was a way to inject real content and significance into the unusual capability I happened to possess.
Therapeutic ventriloquism using drama therapy is reminiscent of medical clowns and the world of acting. The integration of ventriloquism and the puppet invite humor and immediate communication that culminate in high-intensity therapeutic intervention. Each meeting is unique, and carries no guarantee concerning its progress and outcome. The work is conducted on a trial-and-error basis. My most exciting experiences have been the surprises that occur during a therapeutic session involving the duality of my voice and words spoken through the puppet and the patient’s reaction.
Background on ventriloquism therapy
Ogden (1992) contends that a major part of the therapist’s work involves turning impossible emotional issues into possible ones, a process that requires the therapist to be ‘a little less afraid of them than the patient is’. A child’s hospitalization, especially in life-threatening situations, is that kind of ‘impossible’ situation, for both the child and his family.
An array of caregivers is necessary, those who cope well with the anxiety of the hospitalization period by neither denying its difficulty nor succumbing to it (Cohen Mannarino & Deblinger, 2006). The challenge facing the caregiving team is daunting. One of the effects of working in a hospital is the development of anxiety or apathy, and the more extreme secondary trauma and burnout (Figley, 1995), especially when working with extremely ill children (Regher, Hemsworth, Leslie & Howe, 2004).
Combining drama therapy with puppet ventriloquism carries a unique potential for coping with these phenomena, since a characteristic of ventriloquism is the possibility of deviating from traditional human behavior to more imaginative, surrealistic and daring realms. Ventriloquism often utilizes a figure that is an extension of the ventriloquist’s self and who expresses emotional issues in a more urgent manner. This can be accomplished in the dialogue where the ventriloquist represents the person who conducts himself according to social norms while the puppet uses more primal and raw components. In this way, emotional conflicts are externalized and brought to the surface in the dialogue between the ventriloquist and the puppet. In fact, the puppet represents a more exact inner truth than does the ventriloquist (Dessa-Massa, 2004).
Actually, the basic surrealism that characterizes the puppet lends a special benefit in coping with extreme situations by allowing the puppet figure a free rein and expanding its range of containment. The puppet’s daring empowers the child, making him stronger and more courageous in his coping with an extreme situation.
2003, U.S.
I'm invited to deliver the opening remarks at the International Ventriloquist Convention in Las Vegas, travel with Ada my friend. Good thing I didn't know what was waiting for me – I may have bowed out altogether… The huge hall was filled with ventriloquists from all over the world, and television crews from all the major American stations and many international ones.
I pull myself together and begin to talk about my work as a therapeutic ventriloquist at a rehabilitation center for handicapped persons. I can feel the ripple of interest going through the crowd at my choice to utilize my talents in the field of therapeutics rather than as an on-stage performer. Over the next few days, I am overwhelmed by all the talent around me – skilled ventriloquists, artistic performers, gifted puppeteers who captivate me along with the entire crowd. Surrounded by colleagues from throughout the world, for the first time I don't feel as alone in my unusual career choice. I have several opportunities to share details of stories from my work, and am rewarded with such positive feedback that I leave Las Vegas with a sense of self-confidence: I have made the correct career choice for me and it feels really good.
2007, Japan