Sand Tray Therapy

I received my training in Sand Tray Therapy from the Institute of Playful Healing and am working toward certification. I am trained and experienced in use of sand tray with individual trauma work, children and adolescents, couples, families and groups.

Sand tray therapy allows individuals to build their world using miniatures and sand. This experiential technique is helpful for all ages to visualize aspects of their current situation they may not have considered otherwise.

I have training in Sandtray through an online program called the Southern Sandtray Institute. I've also attended a Sandtray summit to get more hands on experience in sandtray. I have experience using sandtray with adults to help bring about deep change and healing. Sandtray helps clients use both parts of their brain, which can be especially helpful for grief and trauma. On top of this, sandtray can be a refreshing change to traditional talk therapy or when talking isn't working.

Sand Tray Therapy is a wonderful therapy I have seen support every age with a great many of issues and wants. On a technical level Sand Tray Therapy is the best mode of helping find greater meaning, resources and new ways forward to life's issues. This is because it is the chance to allow your creativity - whether you feel its there or not - to find the problem as it lives in your personally and form there builds the bridges to solutions and a more integrated life.

Sand Tray therapy is a modality that allows a person to create their internal world externally through the utilization of miniatures in the sand. It is a creative way to express yourself in a different way than talk therapy and allows a person's inner thoughts, struggles and concerns to be reflected in the sand and to gain a different perspective. I am currently trained in Sand Tray levels one and two and am excited to continue my education in sand tray.

In sandtray therapy we make use of objects that can help us externalize what is going on inside. What this looks like is a small box of sand placed in front of you. At the very minimum, you can run your hands through it- touching and playing with sand can calm your nervous system and help you open up more. If you'd like, there are also miniature figurines that you can select and place in the sand to tell your story. It may sound odd at first, but I promise it is an amazing addition to therapy.

I have completed the following trainings: Training Level 1; Basic Tools & Methods for Experiencing Sandtray in Play Therapy Training Level 2; Basic Clinical Skills & Theory in Witnessing Sandtray work in Play Therapy Training Level 3; The Symbolic Integration of Sandtray & Play Therapy Using a Professional Perspective Training Level 4; Advanced Clinical Skills in Sandtray Play Therapy Training Level 6; The Work of Children & Adolescents in Sandtray & Play Therapy

Sandtray therapy has been researched through neurobiology. In many circumstances talk therapy can only take us so far and the need for the brain's implicit processes begins to shift to the forefront. This approach creates a safe container where there are are no right/wrong ways to create a sandtray image. The sand, an element from the earth, unconsciously resembles our psychic field, a realm where one can experience freedom from judgment as well as an unfiltered presentation of our inner life.

Sand tray therapy is a form of expressive therapy where individuals create scenes in a sandbox using miniature figures to represent their inner thoughts and emotions. This method helps clients visually and symbolically express and explore deep psychological conflicts and traumas, facilitating understanding and healing in a non-verbal, creative way. It’s especially useful for accessing and resolving issues that might be difficult to articulate, providing a powerful medium for emotional insight.

Certified Sand Tray Therapist

While I am not an expert in sand tray, I have and am actively pursuing ongoing training to provide sand tray therapy to all individuals. I have engaged in intro course, speciality courses, and continue to seek certification.

The Sandtray translates personal experiences into a concrete, three dimensional form. Through the use of figures and objects, whether they take humanistic, animalistic or some imaginative form, one can accurately represent aspects of their lives in such a clear, expressive and symbolic manner without using words which might be difficult or painful to share. A client also has the unique opportunity to physically and organically work out such emotions through the natural qualities of the sand.

Sometimes people have a hard time saying what's on their mind either because they can't articulate it or because their brain works more in pictures than in words. Enter Sand Tray Therapy. A client is given a prompt based on what they are working on in therapy or by identifying something they want to work through. By choosing figurines and placing them in a sand tray world, a client can problem solve and learn more about themselves. It's pretty awesome.