SAND PLAY

Sandplay is a non-verbal symbolic form of therapy, suited to children and adults, developed in the 1950's by Swiss Jungian Analyst Dora M. Kalff. Sandplay therapy provides a non-verbal way for a child to express feelings.

In the “free and protected space” provided by both sandtray and the therapist’s gentle encouragement, the child plays with sand, water and miniature objects to set up a world corresponding to his or her inner feelings. The therapist does not direct the selection of objects or set-up.

This form of therapy is well suited to children who already quite naturally speak the language of play. Children are able to play out unconscious conflicts that could activate healing energies within the psyche. Sandplay has been shown to help address hidden feelings the child may have chosen to bury through numbing, detachment, denial or disassociation. These and other coping mechanisms can be unconsciously called on as protection from painful memories and experiences. With a trusting, non-judgmental relationship with the therapist and use of the sandplay process, the child is given an environment that fosters the possibility of moving beyond debilitating symptoms associated with abuse. Play becomes the mediator of change for the child.

The following are among characteristics of clinical sandplay training:

• Identify underlying principles of sandplay therapy:
1. Importance of “free & protected space”
2. Role of silence and listening
3. Receptivity of the therapist
4. Use of imagery and symbols

• Sandplay evaluation process involves the child’s selection of miniatures.
• Discussion of guidelines on beginning a sandtray collection and various office set-ups.
• Review of several sandplay cases that incorporate various approaches and results of the child’s efforts.
• Identify techniques for keeping records and implementing sandplay:
1. Photography
2. Confidentiality forms
3. Storage
4. Parental involvement

Therapists are trained in the use and significance of sandplay as an important technique in the clinical process. Each sandtray set up is unique and personal and communicates the psyche/unconscious of the client. The child selects miniatures from the Center and clinician’s collection and incorporates them into the set-up, symbolizes a balance between the client’s inner and outer worlds, as well as the connection between the therapist and client.

The basic goal of sandplay therapy is to externalize the child’s internal world. In doing so, the therapist both witnesses and accepts the client’s reality and attempts to understand and observe all matters of clinical information that the tray contains. Sandplay therapy serves as a complementary tool to traditional play therapy.

All the sandplay elements, the child, therapist, sand tray and an extensive symbolic miniature collection, unite to provide an important healing tool. As with art therapy, sandplay therapy is almost always self-gratifying to the client and produces a feeling of well being.