Uniting the Global Healthcare Clowning Community
One Field. A Professional Voice.
Every Model Represented.
The International Association of Healthcare Clowning is being established to bring together the global healthcare clowning community, connecting practitioners, organisations, and traditions from every model of practice under a shared professional identity and a common standard of care.
We are an independent, non-governmental organisation in formation, not affiliated with any single country, institution, or commercial interest. Our mandate is not to replace the rich diversity of national traditions and organisational models that already exist. It is to provide the international layer that connects them: shared standards, a portable credential, and the ongoing professional development infrastructure that will sustain and strengthen the field for generations to come.
IAHC's vision is a global profession that speaks with one voice on the evidence, the ethics, and the standard of care, while honouring every tradition, every model, and every practitioner who has built this field from the ground up.
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Our Guiding Principles
Unity Across Every Model
Healthcare clowning takes many forms: paediatric play, palliative presence, geriatric connection, acute care support. IAHC is being built to serve all of them equally. No single model is the standard; the standard is what all models share.
Evidence-Based Practice
Every standard we set is grounded in peer-reviewed research. We hold healthcare clowning to the same evidentiary rigour as any other clinical intervention, because the field has earned that standing and patients deserve nothing less.
Lifelong Professional Development
Certification is a milestone, not a destination. IAHC is being built to support practitioners throughout their entire career, with ongoing CPD pathways, peer learning, mentorship, and the resources to keep growing long after initial qualification.
Global Inclusivity
Our standards are designed to transcend borders, languages, and healthcare systems, accessible to any practitioner, in any discipline, anywhere in the world. The credential we are building must be as portable as the practice itself.
Honouring Established Practice
Decades of skilled, dedicated practice exist before IAHC. A founding principle is that experienced practitioners and recognised organisations will not be asked to start from scratch. Their expertise will be honoured through a structured grandfathering pathway.
Built on Proven International Frameworks
IAHC is modeled on the most respected international professional bodies in allied health: organisations that have successfully established global standards, training frameworks, and certification systems for emerging clinical disciplines. We are following a proven path.
Association of Child Life Professionals (ACLP)
Like ACLP, IAHC is being built to provide a recognised certification pathway that validates clinical competence and professional standing in a specialised healthcare field. And like ACLP when it introduced the Certified Child Life Specialist (CCLS), IAHC will provide a transition pathway that honours practitioners already working in the field.
Visit websitePlay Therapy International (PTI)
Play Therapy International has established internationally recognised training standards and credentialing frameworks for play-based therapeutic practice in clinical and healthcare settings. IAHC draws on PTI's model as a proven example of how a play-based discipline can achieve professional legitimacy and portable credentialing across borders.
Visit websiteNorth American Drama Therapy Association (NADTA)
Like NADTA, IAHC is building a credentialing framework for an expressive arts discipline practiced in clinical settings, establishing competency standards, ethical guidelines, and a recognised credential that positions practitioners as legitimate members of the healthcare team.
Visit websiteWorld Federation of Music Therapy (WFMT)
Like WFMT, IAHC operates as an independent international body, not aligned with any single country or institution, bringing together national associations and practitioners under a shared professional framework while respecting the diversity of existing traditions.
Visit websiteInternational Federation of Social Workers (IFSW)
Like IFSW, IAHC is structured as a global federation that sets international standards and a shared ethical framework, while recognising that practice is delivered locally, shaped by culture, healthcare system, and community context.
Visit websiteHealthcare Clowning International Meeting (HCIM)
HCIM has served as the primary international gathering point for healthcare clowning organisations and practitioners. IAHC is being built to provide the permanent institutional infrastructure that HCIM gatherings have long called for: shared standards, a portable credential, and a sustained global community.
No permanent website. Each gathering is hosted by its organising body. Most recent: hcim2026.orgWorld Health Organization (WHO)
Like WHO, IAHC is structured as an independent NGO, not aligned with any single country, institution, or commercial interest, with a mandate to serve the global community of practitioners and the patients who benefit from their work.
Visit websiteLike these organisations, IAHC does not seek to replace existing national associations, training programs, or organisational models. The diversity of approaches to healthcare clowning is a strength, not a problem to be solved. What IAHC is building is the international layer that connects them: the shared standards, the portable credential, the common evidence base, and the professional development infrastructure that will give every practitioner and every organisation a unified professional identity and the collective strength that comes with it.
Governance Built for Global Trust
As a developing independent NGO (ratification pending), IAHC is governed by a transparent, internationally representative structure designed to ensure accountability, independence, and the highest standards of professional integrity.
Our governance model separates the functions of strategic leadership, standards development, certification review, and research advisory, ensuring that no single interest dominates and that the credential we issue remains credible and trustworthy worldwide.
International Board of Directors
A globally representative board drawn from healthcare, academia, and the arts, ensuring IAHC remains accountable to the communities it serves.
Standards & Ethics Committee
An independent committee of clinicians and researchers responsible for maintaining and updating the IAHC Standards of Practice.
Certification Review Panel
A peer-review body of certified practitioners who assess certification applications and uphold the integrity of the credential.
Research & Evidence Advisory Group
Academic and clinical researchers who curate the IAHC evidence base and guide the organization's commitment to evidence-informed practice.
Where we are. Where we are going.
IAHC is being built in three phases. This is an honest account of what has been done, what is underway, and what comes next. The timeline is indicative; the sequence is firm.
Establishing the intellectual and community foundations of IAHC. This phase is about building the documents, the relationships, and the founding membership that will give the organisation its legitimacy before any formal governance structure is in place.
Constituting the formal governance structure of IAHC. This phase begins once a sufficient founding community has been established and board nominees have been identified. It ends with a ratified organisation that can act in its own name.
Delivering the programmes and services that IAHC was built to provide. This phase begins once governance is in place and the membership system is live.
A note on timing. No dates are attached to these phases because honest ones cannot be given yet. The pace of Phase 1 depends on how quickly a founding community forms. The pace of Phase 2 depends on the availability and commitment of founding board members. What we can say is that the sequence above is the right one, and that we will not rush governance in order to appear further along than we are.
A Field Ready for Its Global Moment
Decades of Practice, No Global Standard
Healthcare clowning has been practiced in hospitals around the world for over four decades. Organizations like the Big Apple Circus Clown Care Unit, Clowns Without Borders, and dozens of national associations have built rich traditions of practice, but without a shared international framework.
A Profession Without a Shared Identity
Despite a growing evidence base and widespread adoption across 40+ countries, the field had no shared international framework, no portable credential, and no unified professional identity. Practitioners could not demonstrate their competence across borders. Organisations could not easily connect, collaborate, or learn from each other. The field's collective strength was fragmented.
IAHC: The International Layer That Connects the Field
IAHC was founded to fill this gap. Not to replace the rich diversity of national traditions and organisational models, but to provide the international layer that connects them. A shared standard. A portable credential. A global community of practice. And the ongoing professional development infrastructure to sustain every practitioner throughout their career.
Building the Benchmark With the Field, Not Over It
IAHC is actively developing its Standards of Practice, training frameworks, and certification process, in consultation with practitioners, researchers, and healthcare institutions from around the world. A founding principle is that established practitioners and recognised organisations will not be asked to start from scratch: a proposed grandfathering pathway will honour decades of existing expertise. We are building this together.
Help Shape the Profession You Already Belong To
IAHC is being shaped by the practitioners, organisations, and researchers who believe this field deserves a unified professional identity and the infrastructure to sustain it. Whatever your model, your tradition, or your country, there is a place for you here.