Creative Collaborator

Jill Eickmann, LMFT is the Co-Founder and Artistic Director of Leela, a San Francisco based improvisational theatre company and training center. She has studied and taught improvisational theatre for over 20 years, and passionately believes in the healing power of play. She received her BFA in Acting from University of Florida and MA from CIIS in Counseling Psychology/Drama Therapy. Jill trained in both Chicago and NYC with IO, Annoyance, and Upright Citizens Brigade and has performed with notable artists in improvisational theatre across the nation. She was most recently featured in the Yiddish Theatre Ensemble’s innovative online production of “God of Vengeance” as leading role, Soreh. She's facilitated improv workshops and trainings for children, adults, families, performing artists, and corporate teams (Google, YouTube, Facebook, IBM, Visa, McKinsey & Company, and others.). Jill is also a licensed psychotherapist and drama therapist who continues to research and teach the psychological implications and therapeutic benefits of improvisation. She brings years of combined experience as a play therapist and foster-adoption social worker, working within California’s foster care system. Much of her experience includes supporting children (and their caregivers) with special emotional/behavioral issues such as Reactive Attachment Disorder, Anxiety, PTSD, depression, and survivors of physical, sexual, and emotional abuse and neglect. She also served as a pro-bono clinician with A Home Within, a non-profit which pairs therapists with children and adults touched by the foster care system for therapy, as long as needed. She led a popular drama therapy group, Improv For Shy People, which provided a safe playful space for individuals struggling with social anxiety, low self esteem, and shyness. Jill has also studied modern and African dance, contact improv, clown, and choreography, often fusing movement and somatic awareness into her work with clients. As a performing artist, Jill is empathic to the unique struggles of artists. An avid follower of The Artist’s Way, by Julia Cameron, she will often incorporate artistic recovery/discovery tools for creative blocks into the therapeutic process.