Last week, I got interviewed by Ana Maia Marques for her podcast, Movement Is My Constant, which she describes as, "A monthly podcast about the body, movement, and the impermanence of life." 

It was a lovely chat which flowed quite easily, thanks to Ana's insightful questions and deep listening. I was a bit taken aback by the depth of her research. She'd actually read my blogs! We covered a lot of ground in just less than an hour.

She named the episode:

Clowning, Fooling, and IFS: Embodied Tools for Neurodivergence, Trauma Healing, and Burnout Prevention — with Holly Stoppit

Announcing my autumn workshop programme! 

Whether you're looking to explore your inner voices through solo improvised performance (Fooling), learn about Internal Family Systems through play (Playful Embodied Creative Approaches to IFS), train as a creative facilitator (The Well-Held Space), or get some one-to-one support, I’ve got something for you this autumn!

I've been teaching my 5-day Fools School for 10 years! It's such an immersive course that I rarely remember to take any pictures, let alone any video! But last month, when I ran the course in Sheffield, I had the unique opportunity of having not one, but two glamorous assistants in the room!

As well as supporting the group, my assistants, Charlie Hammond and Saskia Solomons, took it in turns to document the process, with the generous permission of the participants. 

On the 5th and 6th of April 2025, 52 clowns took over Bristol University’s drama department to explore The Future Of Clowning In Turbulent Times.

...This blog offers a flavour of what took place at Clown Congress 2025. Watch the video and read on for a bit of context, a roll call of who was there, photos and descriptions of what happened and a brand new poem from Skye Lilly!

Greetings friends!

I’ve just got back from Portugal, where I was studying Somatic Internal Family Systems (SIFS) with Susan McConnell.  

Here's a video I made in the Portuguese sunshine, chatting about what I was experiencing and how it might make it's way into my summer schools this July and August..

I am delighted to announce a sixth season of one-one-one Creative Clarity, Supervision and Creative Consultancy sessions online on Zoom!

From May - July 2025, you can book yourself some hour-long sessions with me to explore yourself, your work, your creativity, or your path.

On April 5th and 6th 2025, Robyn Hambrook, Holly Stoppit and Jan Wozniak hosted a 2-day Clown Congress at Bristol University.

52 Clowns from many different backgrounds gathered together to explore the future of clowning in turbulent times through play, discussion and creative reflection...

Our event captured the attention of the British media who hounded us for interviews in the days leading up to and during the event.

This blog tells the story of the first ever Clown Teachers’ Lab, which took place at Hawkwood in Stroud in February 2025, thanks to funding from The Francis W Reckitt Arts Trust.

...Robyn Hambrook and I wanted to open up our peer support network, to spend a week collaborating with a small group of clown practitioners from diverse backgrounds, to explore new paradigms for teaching clowning in response to the pressing challenges of our times....

Hello dear reader! 

For those fresh eyes I am Charlie, a clown, facilitator, performer, host and other titles.... 

...in March Holly and I spent 2 whole days in a process called ‘Assemble Your Inner Cast’. Backed up by Holly’s knowledge of Internal Family Systems and Fooling, this 2-day process was to get to know better the some of the many parts of my internal psyche, and then to reconstitute this map of me.

The Guardian's science corespondent, Linda Geddes had come across the term,“lemonading” - the ability to turn lemons into lemonade, recently coined by scientists over in the States who discovered from a study conducted during the pandemic, “…people with high levels of playfulness may be better equipped to cope with the dud cards life throws at them.” Linda spent a week hanging out with playful people to test this theory out for herself.