Magician helps patients
Published Monday November 17th, 2008
Kevin Spencer knows firsthand how dull life can sometimes be for patients recovering from a serious injury.
A world-class illusionist for more than 20 years, Spencer was involved in a serious car accident that left him in a coma for 10 days and, ultimately, in a physical rehab centre for a year and a half of his life.
Spencer was in Fredericton for a Friday night performance at The Playhouse, but on Saturday he elected to share his passion with a small gathering of patients at the Stan Cassidy Centre for Rehabilitation.
The native of Lynchburg, Va., spent the morning teaching patients of all ages simple magic tricks, that he said will help them in developing better cognitive skills during what can be a grueling recovery process.
"I think the basis for using magic as a form of therapy is because it's fun, and because it's fun it can become very motivating," said Spencer.
"Traditional forms of therapy have a tendency to become repetitive and boring, and if you've been through an accident and somebody says to you, 'Hey, 'would you rather put these pegs in a board or do you want to learn a magic trick?' You'll always choose the magic trick."
Spencer said the most crucial part of his therapy is when patients apply the skills they've acquired through the magic trick into practice during their day-to-day lives.
He said he's held his Healing of Magic program at more than 2,500 such facilities in about 30 different countries.
"It's always great for me to come into a premier facility like the Stan Cassidy centre to work with clients and therapists, and kind of break them into this new treatment modality as using simple magic tricks as a means of accomplishing goals is incredibly rewarding," said Spencer.
Using household items such as paper clips, rubber bands, and pieces of rope, Spencer guided each patient through a series of tricks with varying degrees of difficulty. But despite how challenging they seemed, each patient reached his or her goal in the end.
Barb Dickson said her daughter Laura had been looking forward to the event for weeks.
"It's just awesome to see the enthusiasm," said Dickson. "And the magic tricks are something that everybody can do, but it's really fulfilling to see her smile when she gets it."
Spencer's appearance was arranged through a partnership between the Stan Cassidy centre and The Playhouse's education and outreach program.
Program director Amani Wassef said that organizing the event was a no-brainer.
"Every time that we have an artist coming to The Playhouse, we look at their website and see if there's anything they can do to bridge with the community, so we thought Stan Cassidy would be a perfect partner in this case," she said.
Spencer said his form of therapy has been proven to be effective in helping patients to meet their recovery goals.
"We've found that stroke patients who were taking 20 to 24 weeks of therapy, were reaching their goals in eight to 10 weeks because the therapy was fun," he said.
Spencer said he's been receiving positive feedback from the medical community and hopes that his methods will continue to be applied to patients suffering from head traumas, spinal cord injuries, and other diagnoses.
For more information visit: www.magictherapy.com
Disabled
Search Articles
More CE Network Sites & Partners:
