‘It allowed me to be more myself’: how becoming a clown can be therapeutic

A troupe of clowns taught by Holly Stoppit. She says interest in clowning for therapeutic reasons has increased greatly in recent years. Photograph: Joe Rosser

Without clowning, Olly Mead would never have had the courage to become a politician; Issy Millsop wouldn’t have swapped her career for something that paid less but was more fulfilling; and Lucy Heard wouldn’t have learned to “appreciate silliness, being stupid and playful, and the freedom that gives me”.

Therapeutic clowning, albeit still niche, is gaining in popularity: while 10 years ago, Holly Stoppit says she was probably the only therapeutic clown teacher in the UK, there are now teachers across the country.