Jill MaglioJill Maglio founded CircusAid in 2016. Jill is a certified occupational therapist and the director of Holistic Circus Therapy (HCT), a registered and accredited private practice that combines occupational therapy with circus arts to address the unique health and well-being needs of individuals and communities.

Jill has been researching circus and occupational therapy for over 12 years in Australia, Europe, South East Asia and the United States. Upon the completion of a Master of Occupational Therapy Practice degree from La Trobe University in 2007, Jill continued to investigate the effects of circus on the health and well being of children and adults impacted by cerebral palsy, physical and developmental disabilities, learning differences, environmental injustice, marginalization and occupational deprivation. Additionally, Jill has international experience directing, producing and performing art pieces that combine multiple disciplines of dance, circus and theatre with youth possessing varying abilities and social pressures.

In December, 2015 Jill went to the Greek island of Lesvos to address the general needs of refugees and provide support for the increasing crisis. She supplied clothes, medical supplies and camping equipment to people within the Moria Refugee Camp. As Jill distributed material goods, she discovered there was a great need to provide constructive ways for refugees to occupy their time in the camp. The refugee experience can be an uncertain, lengthy and a juxtaposed breeding ground for mental instability and illness. What happens when life is unstable and we have nothing to occupy our minds? We worry. We ruminate about the past and project fears into the uncertain future. This type of mental anguish inevitably deteriorates mental health and motivation to positively move forward.

In an interview with Vice, Jill said:

“I bought equipment to make 25 hula hoops and as soon as the guys in the camp saw what I was doing, they rushed over to help. They wanted something to do. I also brought feather balancing feathers and juggling balls with me from the US. The objective wasn’t that people learn circus skills, but that people were interacting, and laughing, and smiling. The objective was to provide a bit of respite from the trauma the refugees were experiencing and therefor promote their resilience for the next stage of the journey.”

As a result of this experience CircusAid was developed to provide an art based refugee support services. In its founding year, Circus Aid served approximately 600 refugees in Lesvos, Greece and Calais, France including men, women and children. CircusAid’s 2017 Residency Projects included two visits to Athens, Greece including a seven-day pilot project in April and a six-week summer residency. During this time, Circus Aid delivered over 30 days of social circus programming (3 to 6 hours/day). Workshops engaged approximately 2400 Afghani, Syrian, Iraqi, Sudanese, Eritrean, and Ethiopian refugee children and young adults aged 5-25. CircusAid’s 2018 Residency Project, has been invited to return to refugee camps surrounding Athens for a 3-month residency taking place from June – September 2018. It is projected that we will be providing ongoing circus workshops throughout the residency, which will engage approximately 4,800 refugees in over 250 hours of social circus workshops.

CircusAid  has been established as an all inclusive refugee support service that provides relief from mental anguish while helping build resilience through engagement in circus arts.

https://www.circusaid.com