This inaugural inter-disciplinary and multi-disciplinary conference aims to explore the creative relationships between humour and healing and examine the implications for clinicians, healers, patients and caregivers.

We warmly welcome papers from a variety of disciplines, professions, vocations and other backgrounds which use humour in relation to healing. In particular papers, practical workshops, reports, and presentations are invited on any of the following themes;

• Using humour to promote wellness, healing, quality of life
• Nursing and humour
• Humour, care and caregivers
• Humour, compassion, laughter, tragedy and crisis situations
• Hostility, anger and humour
• The healing power of humour
• Humour and its integration in the health professions
• Clowns, comics and other artists as part of healthcare teams
• Training models for use of humour in healthcare
• Humour as a therapy; humour as a treatment
• Humour and psychotherapy
• Humour, depression and stress
• Humour, pain management and palliative care
• Humour and spirituality
• The limits of humour in healing

Papers will also be accepted on related themes and issues.

Papers are also solicited for special sessions which will be held in common with a second research project running at the same time entitled Making Sense Of: Depression, Stress and Anxiety. Papers dealing with these cross subject themes are encouraged.

Papers will be considered on any related theme. 300 word abstracts should be submitted by Friday 28th January 2005. If your paper is accepted for presentation at the conference, an 8 page draft paper should be submitted by Friday 15th April 2005.

Abstracts should be submitted to the Joint Organizing Chairs as an email attachment in Word or WordPerfect; abstracts can also be submitted in the body of the email text rather than as an attachment.

The conference is part of a larger series of ongoing conferences entitled Probing the Boundaries. It aims to bring together people from different areas and interests to share ideas and explore various discussions which are innovative and exciting.

All papers accepted for and presented at the conference will be published as an ISBN eBook. Selected papers accepted for and presented at this conference will be published in a hard copy themed volume. Two eBooks and four themed volumes are available and/or in press from other meetings of the Making Sense Of: projects.

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