Our camp offers professional learning for educators and other helping professionals in combination with an improv theater summer camp for neurodiverse high school students. Each camp session runs Monday through Friday. Professionals meet from 9 AM to12 PM for professional learning, and they are joined by a group of neurodivergent high school students from 1-4:30 PM each day. Professionals finish the day with a short debrief from 4:30-5 PM each day.

Each morning, professionals have the opportunity to learn and practice:

• Improv-based games and facilitation techniques that can be integrated into a variety of educational and therapeutic contexts

• How to use improv to support academic learning and social communication

• How improv aligns with instructional scaffolding, the Universal Design for Learning framework, and other evidence-based practices that support the creation of optimal learning conditions for all students

• How improv connects to attachment theory, nervous system regulation, self-empowerment, and self-expression frameworks

Each afternoon, students join professionals for an improv summer camp, which gives professionals an opportunity to see improv in action, practice new skills, and receive feedback and coaching as they work with students. The students have a blast while learning improv skills and strengthening both academic and social communication skills. It's a win-win!

Camp Yes And is led and facilitated by our Directors (see below). Professionals are not expected to facilitate or lead; they are at camp to learn and grow! We offer 35 hours of PGPs and other professional licensing CEUs to educators who complete a camp session.

Camp offers professional learning for educators and helping professionals, including speech-language pathologists, social workers, occupationals therapists, community-based arts educators, higher education faculty, psychologists, and anyone else who works in a teaching or helping capacity with youth. Professionals don't need to have prior experience with improv or working with neurodiverse youth.  Professionals attend camp Monday through Friday from 9 AM to 5 PM (with a lunch break) for one week.

Neurodiverse high school students are invited to sign up for an afternoon improv theater camp that takes place Monday through Friday from 1-4:30 PM for one week. No prior experience with improv is necessary. Many of our students return to camp over multiple years, and several students who have graduated high school have returned to camp in an adult mentorship role.

If you have questions about whether Camp Yes And is a good fit for you, get in touch with us! Additional information also can be found in the FAQ documents.

Lacy Alana, LCSW

Lacy is a neurodivergent Licensed Clinical Social Worker.  She is also an improviser, aerialist, trainer, and educator.  Professionally, Lacy eclectically combines her clinical expertise with her passion for improv theatre and the aerial arts.  Accordingly, she has created several innovative therapeutic and arts programs for at-risk youth, autistic youth and adults, and youth and adults who present with co-morbid mental health challenges.  Additionally, Lacy blends tenets of improvisational theatre with therapeutic pedagogy to provide education for other helping professionals, trainings in corporate settings, and experiential therapy groups that address a wide range of challenges, including eating disorders, mood disorders, anxiety disorders, and trauma symptomology. Learn more at yesandbrain.com!Item description

Jim Ansaldo, PhD

For over 25 years, Jim Ansaldo, PhD, has supported educators and other helping professionals to create joy, community, and success. Speaking, training, and coaching solutions offer proven strategies that are based in research and the experiences of professionals working on the ground. Dr. Jim uses improv-based and experiential methods to keep participants engaged in the hard work of creating sustainable change. His work often brings helping professionals and stakeholders together to play, learn, and work side-by-side, increasing connection and trust, strengthening outcomes, and building a community focused on solutions. Learn more about Dr. Jim here!

Word of mouth is a huge help! Tell people about our program! 

Donations help us to continue offering Camp Yes And free of charge to professionals and students! Stay tuned for more information about donating to camp!Description text goes here

Camp Yes And is offered free of charge to professionals and students!

Stay tuned for announcements about Camp Yes And 2026. Contact me to be added to our mailing list! We’ll notify you as soon as registration opens!

*And, if you’re interested in having Camp Yes And brought to your city - get in touch!*

Improvisational theater, or improv, is theater that is made up on the spot! Most or all of a performance is unplanned and unscripted, and the performers create the characters, plot, and setting spontaneously and collaboratively during the moment of performance -- often using at least one suggestion from the audience to get things started.

Though people generally associate improv with comedy, improv is performed in a variety of styles. Improv also is used in film and television to develop characters and brainstorm script and sketch ideas. The field of applied improvisation supports professionals to use improv methods in various non-theatrical fields, including consulting, training, and teaching.

Watch an example improv game here!

In short, improv is a great way to practice a lot of really useful skills in a super fun way!

Improv is, at its core, a relational practice. It asks participants to stay present, attune to one another, and build something together in real time without a script or a predetermined outcome.

This capacity to remain present, build genuine rapport, and respond fluidly to another person is foundational to therapeutic, social, and educational relationships alike.

The same skills that make a good improviser, deep listening, genuine attunement, the willingness to follow rather than lead, are the same skills that make a good clinician. Practicing improv sharpens a therapist's ability to stay in the moment with a client, and it builds tolerance for uncertainty and the unexpected.

For educators, improv helps to create the conditions for optimal learning by developing a climate of safety and risk-taking in the classroom, along with activities that draw heavily on students' prior knowledge and experience. Improv is a flexible and low cost strategy for strengthening academic and social communication skills. 

For youth, improv provides opportunities to have fun, make social connections, and strengthen academic and social communication skills in a fun, affirming, and experiential way.

Watch a video featuring professional and student testimonials here!

Download our FAQ document for students and families!

Download our FAQ document for educators and helping professionals!

Check out The Connect Improv Curriculum! The CIC is an online set of resources designed for a) helping professionals who want to integrate improv into their work and b) improv teachers who want to support the social-emotional development of diverse students. The curriculum includes instructions for playing over three hundred improv games, along with objectives, game variations, and facilitation tips.

Download two sample activities from the CIC: I'm a Tree and Story Spine.