Sandplay

For Adults and Teens

Sandplay is the creation of images in wet or dry sand within the free and protected space of the wooden tray. A collection of miniatures, unique to each therapist, is available for your use. You may chose as many or few miniatures as you are drawn to. The use of miniatures is not required. Sometimes you might choose to use your hands and other tools to sculpt the wet or dry sand. This process frees you to work with your personal goals through symbol and metaphor.

Sandplay is an exploration of the inner self. Contemplation and reflection of the creation in the sand tray often draws forth a story,  or a personal connection to your life experiences. People who find it difficult to share their feelings and experiences verbally are often drawn to this therapeutic modality. Therapeutic Sandplay is unique from other forms of counselling, and is quite different from traditional 'talk' style therapies.

Each person actively engages their own psyche through the primordial materials of sand and water, and by drawing from a collection of figurines representing real, mythical, and fantasy worlds. The miniatures, also from nature, historic times, and different cultures, symbolize events from both your inner and outer lives. When you select and place figurines, or choose to sculpt the sand to create a scene, the images are often representative of your deepest concerns. People are drawn towards those miniatures that have a personal symbolic meaning. Healing takes place at a deep, unconscious level.

The focus, like other expressive, non-verbal therapeutic approaches, is on process and change over time, and not the end result of a single individual sand tray. There is time at the beginning and end of each session to talk, if you wish to. Sandplay bridges your conscious and unconscious worlds. It supports the expression of unresolved experiences. This both opens your creative side and helps you express who you truly are. You shift from reacting to life from a place of woundedness, to responding to life from a place of greater wholeness.

Therepeutic Sandplay can include many benefits, some of which are:

• Creating a platform for expressing and resolving paralyzing emotions and experiences so that you do not need to talk openly about them.
• Being in an environment free from judgement and evaluation.
• The experience of a free and protected space to express your inner self. This encourages the emergence of therapeutic metaphors for mastery and closure over past trauma.
• A unique sensory experience that is grounding and connects cognitive experiences of your emotions with your body's physical response to those emotions
• Cultivating the sensation of being present in the here and now, which creates a sense of calm, helping to reduce anxiety and tension.
• Facilitating self-regulation and a sense of agency in the world which can help shift towards positive change in your life.
• Resolving past experiences that have made you uncomfortable/unhappy
• Connecting with your sense of creativity, which is often repressed in adults.
• Supporting increasing comfort and confidence in being yourself, often resulting in positive growth in your self esteem.