Judging from the photos of people with their heads thrown back in raucous laughter, you’d never guess that a recent event at the Wilder Center in Saint Paul was focused on caring for people with dementia. But for many attendees, discovering how to find moments of connection and humor within the often challenging and repetitive work of caregiving was exactly the point. “It felt good to laugh,” one attendee reported, while another called the session “Fun and practical. I loved seeing joy and fun incorporated into our daily everything,” they said.
Combining improv and caregiving for people with long-term illnesses doesn’t seem like a natural fit. Improv, after all, is rooted in comedy, a “yes, and” ethos, and spur-of-the-moment reactions, while caregiving is often associated with long, often solitary days filled with demanding work. But when School of Public Health (SPH) staffers Robbin Frazier and Ashley Millenbah first experienced a demonstration of the program at a national summit hosted by Alter Dementia—a program focused on improving dementia care by creating dementia friendly faith communities —they saw it as a complement to the dementia care work in which Professor Joseph Gaugler and other SPH and UMN faculty are engaged.
A collaboration between Emory University’s Goizueta Alzheimer’s Disease Research Center and Dad’s Garage Theatre Company, a nonprofit improv theater based in Atlanta, Improving CareThrough Improv began when Emory researchers recognized that the quick-thinking, “yes, and” mindset of improv could offer caregivers a powerful way to communicate with and support people living with dementia. Together with improv actors, Emory researchers designed workshops combining improv humor with evidence-based caregiving strategies—helping participants practice flexibility, reduce frustration, and strengthen emotional connection. Since its launch in 2019, the program has trained more than 1,500 professional and family caregivers across Georgia.
Shortly after Frazier and Millenbah attended the workshop, the team from Emory received funding to take the demonstration to two other Alter sites. Due in part to Frazier and Millenbah’s leadership and advocacy for innovative caregiving programs as Alter Site Leads for Minnesota, Minnesota was one of the demonstration sites.
Held September 13, the Saint Paul training session unfolded in two parts: a lively demonstration featuring Dad’s Garage actors, followed by small-group, hands-on practice sessions. In the larger, morning session, participants saw first-hand how improvisational humor and empathy turned potential conflicts into moments of shared understanding. Then, broken up into smaller groups, the audience became the actors. In breakout sessions, family caregivers and other care providers tried out a series of improv games and scenarios to demonstrate how improv could be employed in their daily lives as they seek to meet care recipients where they are.
Frazier, associate director of equity and community engagement at SPH’s Center for Healthy Aging & Innovation (CHAI), said the session made clear to attendees how improv had the potential to improve dementia care. “It can help caregivers meet their loved ones where they’re at,” Frazier said. “It’s fun, and provides caregivers with skills they can take home and use that same day. That’s really what this improv workshop does—adds to a caregiver’s toolbox, provides them with additional ways they can communicate and interact with their loved ones.”
Attendees were also enthusiastic. “I am already spreading the word about how improv can help with caregiving and hope to learn how to do this even more widely,” one said afterward, while another said they will “definitely be encouraging caregivers to utilize this concept.” And in an embrace of the “yes, and” concept, participants said they were inspired to “listen more and stop pressing my agenda. I feel empowered to join mom’s reality to make her life better.”
Frazier and Millenbah said they hope to secure funding or additional partnerships to bring the program to Minnesota on a more permanent basis. “Our goal was to expose people to the model and let them experience how engaging, and useful, it is,” Frazier said. “Now that Minnesotans have seen it firsthand, we’re excited to explore bringing continued training here,” Millenbah added.
The event was supported by the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). The contents do not necessarily represent the official views of, nor an endorsement, by HRSA, HHS, or the U.S. Government. The project is part of the Minnesota Northstar GWEP, which is supported by the Otto Bremer Trust and the University of Minnesota Office of Academic Clinical Affairs.
Photo credit: Chris Cooper
