The Partners That Heal are a highly trained six-member team of improvisational actors with a repertoire of well over 250 patient interventions, including interactive games, songs, puppetry, instruments and dance. Not only do they bring joy and relief through this powerful program, but you may recognize some of them from recent appearances on our stages. Partners That Heal include:
- Sally Jo Bannow in Always Patsy Cline, Cinderella, Beautiful, etc.
- Trisha Ditsworth in Into the Woods, Seussical, etc.
- Marshall Glass in The Truth About Winnie Ruth Judd.
- Mike Lawler in Into the Woods, Waitress, Cabaret, etc.
- Kim Manning in Late Night Sister’s Christmas Catechism and Nine.
- Brian Sweis in Les Misérables and Genius for the 2025 Festival of New American Theatre.
The Mission
Partners That Heal uses improvisation-based intervention techniques to facilitate communication and reduce fear and discomfort in hospitals, shelters and trauma situations.
The Vision
Partners That Heal envisions a world where its intervention techniques are offered routinely as an adjunct to the conventional treatment protocol for disease, trauma and emotional distress.
The Work
For over a decade, Partners That Heal has touched thousands of lives with over 70,000 memories made through improvisation techniques that inspire happiness and connection—from children’s hospitals and shelters to Ryan House and a new residency at Hospice of the Valley’s Dementia Care and Education Campus.
The only facility of its kind in Arizona, Ryan House offers short-term care for children with medical complexities to give their caretakers much needed rest. For families with a child facing end-of-life, Ryan House provides compassionate care, a loving support system, and grief and bereavement aid. We had the privilege of joining Partners That Heal on a visit to Ryan House’s short-term care wing. We met an energetic young man who orchestrated our ragtag band through the facility’s playground. After our practice outside, we returned to the front desk and even gave a little concert for the administrative staff. We also met a wonderful young woman with a fun noise machine that Partners That Heal worked into their musical medley much to her excitement. Interactions like these break up the day and engage patients and healers alike in a much-needed dose of laughter.
All members of Partners That Heal go through extensive and ongoing training required by all the partner healthcare allies and are in full compliance when delivering any of their service models to the partner organizations. Their services are customized to the needs of the individual patient and are approved for delivery within multiple hospital departments, including individual bedsides and isolation.
Team members have unprecedented flexibility to respond anywhere they are needed, in any hospital unit regardless of access restriction level, at a moment’s notice, depending on patient needs. Hospital staff who have worked with the program report consistent, significantly improved communication with patients directly following a visit, which makes it easier to take vitals, draw blood, administer tests and determine the patient’s level of discomfort. Partners That Heal also engages exhausted medical staff using appropriate intervention techniques, providing much-needed relief, combating burnout and increasing staff resiliency.
Partners That Heal activates the power of improvisational performance to allow patients, families, and practitioners to, if for only a moment, be present in joy.
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