AATH 2019 Humor Conference Chicago

Guy Giard:  "Too Soon or Too Late: Reconnecting With Your Authentic Self"
Do you feel “stuck” at work, in your relationships or with your health?  Have you tried doing "more of the same" to achieve change; but it just doesn’t cut it?  It's time to let go as I will show you that it's never too soon or too late to "Reconnect with your Authentic Self".  I will share my personal transformation story when I finally decided to "let go of my plans, my desire for control or my need to be right" by volunteering as a humanitarian clown with the real Dr. “Patch” Adams in hospitals and orphanages in Russia, Guatemala, Peru, Mexico and India.

Patrick Harris: "The Timing of Trauma: When To Laugh, When to Cry"
Whoever said trauma is no laughing matter?  Every day we are inundated with new research telling us the best new treatment for trauma, or how-to manuals on finding happiness after tragedy.  But what if laughter really is the best medicine, a panacea for even life’s most insidious of curveballs?  I will shed light on trauma through a new lens as I share my personal experience with surviving a mass shooting and subsequent PTSD suffered from the experience, and how therapeutic humor saved my life.  Participants will walk away with a deeper understanding of trauma and the importance of timing when using humor as a therapeutic intervention.