03.May 2026

When 'good enough' is good enough: why play is serious business for humanitarian workers

You arrive. You assess. You lead. You support people in the worst moments of their lives—and you do it again tomorrow.

For humanitarian aid workers and healthcare professionals, operating under pressure is not a phase. It is the job. And with that comes an invisible weight: the expectation to always perform, always be competent, always get it right. In a world where mistakes can matter enormously, the idea of being celebrated for getting things wrong feels almost radical.

That is exactly what happens in a Humour Relief Workshop.

The Humour Relief Workshop is not a team-building exercise. It is not a motivational seminar. It is a carefully designed space where healthcare clowns—professionals trained to work in the most sensitive environments—use clown techniques to help workers release the pressures they carry every day.

In partnership with organisations including UNHCR, the International Red Cross, Save the Children, and the International Organisation for Migration, Emergency Smile has delivered more than 100 Humour Relief Workshops across crisis settings worldwide.

What consistently happens in that room is striking. People walk in ready to perform. They leave remembering something they had forgotten: that they do not have to be perfect to belong—and that trust between people grows not from flawlessness, but from shared humanity.

This matters for mental health in a very direct way. Play is usually the first thing to go when responsibilities mount. It feels indulgent. Even irresponsible. But the science says otherwise: when we play, our nervous system regulates, our attention sharpens, and our capacity for creative thinking expands. Play is not extra. It is essential.

In Sierra Leone, one workshop began as a juggling session—and became a collective exploration of everything you can do with a plastic bag, from music to fashion. The creativity was already there. It just needed space.

That is the deeper insight behind the Humour Relief Workshop. It does not teach people to be playful. Everyone already is. It exercises that capacity together—through simple, sometimes silly, always purposeful games that rebuild confidence, strengthen listening, and restore the sense that it is safe to try, fail, and try again.

For people working in crisis, this is not a luxury. A team that can laugh together, that trusts each other, that holds space for creativity and honest communication, is a team that can sustain its work—and sustain each other.

This European Mental Health Week, under the theme 'Stronger Together', we want to acknowledge something the humanitarian and healthcare sectors know but rarely say out loud: the wellbeing of the people doing this work matters too. And it matters not only for them, but for every person they support.

Play. Humour. Human connection. These are not soft extras. They are the conditions under which people—and teams—can keep going.

Interested in bringing a Humour Relief Workshop to your team or organisation? Find out more at emergencysmile.rednoses.org.