1. Find an appropriate facility for a magic therapy program.

Beginning a “magic therapy” program in your community is easy. The first step is to find a hospital or rehabilitation center that has an occupational therapy program. While magic therapy can be used by many different types of therapy (physical, recreational, etc), occupational therapy provides the most benefits to the client.

2. Who to contact and what to say.

Once you’ve located a facility, find out the name of the Director of the Occupational Therapy department. Any new program will have to be implemented under this person’s approval and direction. Give this person a call and arrange a face-to-face meeting so you can make your presentation. Many therapists are already aware of the concepts of magic therapy, but occupational therapy is one of the fastest growing fields in healthcare. So, there are just as many who are not familiar with the program.

You want to make sure your presentation shows the benefits of teaching magic tricks to therapy clients. We have included in our manual materials that can be used in this presentation, i.e. Letter of Introduction, References, Guidelines, FAQ sheet, and more. Make copies of these items for each of the Occupational Therapy Directors with whom you are contacting.

In addition to the HEALING OF MAGIC manual, we also have available a DVD that is an excellent tool for introducing the program to your magic club and to the therapy department. It contains actual therapy footage of patients learning and performing magic tricks, provides an overview of the program, gives guidelines for implementing the program and patient selection, interviews and comments from occupational therapists, and much more.

3. How to become a member of the “team.”

Once you have the support of the therapy department, the rest is exciting and fun! The first and most important “next step” is to register with Volunteer Services of the facility. This is essential in today’s medical environment due to HIPPA regulations and hospital insurance requirements. Often background checks are conducted and references reviewed before approval to work directly with therapy clients is approved. Be patient with this procedure!

(a) Therapists select clients they believe will benefit from learning magic tricks in the therapy sessions.

(b) The magician and the therapist choose tricks from the HEALING OF MAGIC manual that accomplish specific goals - like building eye/hand coordination, improving grasp and release, or building self-esteem and confidence.

(c) The Magician teaches these tricks to the client, helping them to understand and follow the simple directions and movements required to perform the trick. Over the course of the next week, the therapist will follow up with the client so it’s important that the therapist learn the trick as well.

(d) Depending on how you set up your program, the magician generally volunteers to make a weekly visit to the hospital for about an hour. This allows the magician to work with the same client when he/she returns to perfect the finer points of presentation. This is the exciting part for the magician. Combining the skills of the magician with those of the therapist provides motivation and enthusiasm for the client to reach their rehabilitative goals. The magician helps to move the client beyond just doing “magic moves” to actually performing a “magic effect.” The magician helps them add the polish and patter so they can entertain their family and friends. The magician assists in giving them the gift of achievement and confidence while enabling them to regain skills lost as a result of their diagnosis. What an exciting and wonderful thing magicians can offer to people!

(e) Once a client has mastered the effect, the magician and the therapist choose new tricks that are slightly more difficult and demand more of the client...and the process begins again. Teaching, learning, perfecting, performing, and entertaining.

That’s it. As a member of the “team,” the magician can have a significant impact on the recovery and rehabilitation of a client.

When several clients are involved, plan a small show for family and friends. And always contact the Public Relations Director of the institution so they can determine whether the event is worthy of a release to the media.

The possibilities of this program are limited only by your imagination.