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EMPOWERING INDIVIDUALS AND COMMUNITIES THROUGH ENGAGEMENT IN CIRCUS ARTS

Holistic Circus Therapy

Holistic Circus Therapy (HCT), LLC is a registered, accredited private practice that combines occupational therapy with circus arts to address the unique health needs of individuals and communities. HCT provides professional development training, fieldwork placements, and direct client services that utilize circus as an evidence-based educational and therapeutic tool to increase functional capacities and occupational participation of service recipients.

100% of profits received from HCT’s services fund CircusAid projects. CircusAid is the social innovation branch of our integrated business model that provides free HCT services to help people displaced by war and natural disasters attain transferable life skills to promote greater success in unstable physical and political environments.

Occupational Therapy

Occupational therapists use innovative and creative ways to help people with physical, cognitive, and emotional limitations achieve balance and well-being. Combining circus and occupational therapy can improve coordination, body awareness, teamwork, problem-solving, perseverance, fitness, strength, and life skills for various populations.

The HCT Practice Model…

  • Uses circus as an empowerment and educational tool for individuals and communities.

  • Provides client-centered activities that reflect the interests, goals, and functional levels of participants.

  • Continually grades tasks that are challenging yet achievable, increasing self-motivation to participate and engage in the therapeutic process.

  • Provides interventions that focus on increasing capacities that enable participants to thrive and experience success in achieving self-care, leisure, and productivity goals.

  • Uses circus, as a discipline, to provide a variety of experiences and activities that facilitate positive emotional, physical, and mental health outcomes.

  • Combines occupational therapy and circus to promote a better quality of life through play, fun, and creative expression.

HCT Professional Development Training

The HCT Professional Development training course explores how occupational therapy interventions can be combined with social circus philosophy to provide effective services in pediatric, mental health, special needs, aged care, community health, and social-political sectors. It is accessible to occupational therapists, psychologists, students, global health workers, education professionals, and community development service providers.

The practice of circus-themed occupational therapy requires task analysis of activities, clinical reasoning, evidence-based approaches, and evaluation tools to facilitate greater application for diverse service users. Practitioners of circus-based occupational therapy will be able to provide interventions and demonstrate effective psychosocial change for individuals and their communities.

CircusAid

Holistic Circus Therapy (HCT) LLC, is an occupational therapy social enterprise that provides professional development training, online courses, fieldwork opportunities, and team-building workshops that utilize circus as an educational, community-building, and therapeutic tool. 100% of profits received from HCT’s services fund CircusAid projects. CircusAid is the social development branch of our integrated business model that provides free services, grounded in evidence-based practices and developed from occupational therapy and social circus expertise and research. CircusAid projects help people displaced by war and natural disasters attain transferable life skills to promote greater success in unstable physical and political environments.



Who We Are

Jill Maglio is an occupational therapist with over 15 years of experience using circus as an educational and community-building tool, and the founder of Holistic Circus Therapy and CircusAid. To date, she has trained nearly 1,000 people internationally in the methodology she created called Holistic Circus Therapy Practice Model. The HCT network includes individuals from various backgrounds such as occupational therapists, psychologists, students, global health workers, education professionals, and community development service providers.