Advanced Psychotherapy Training

Registration for this course is closed.

Instructor: Dee Preston-Dillon, Ph.D. 

Cost: $1,600

CE Credits: 12 (6 sessions, 2 hours each)

Description:

In Level 1, we focus on the therapist’s skills for engagement with symbols and story in sand scenes. This narrative engagement is grounded in existential psychotherapy, social-cultural construction, and narrative psychology. Process is focused on engagement with symbols as the third presence in the clinical moment. Narrative Sand Therapy can be combined with other expressive and play therapies, such as puppets, dollhouse, storytelling, poetry, drama, and art therapies.
From a narrative point of view, clinical engagement with symbols is a projective process. It is a collaborative, hermeneutic circle to recover existential meaning and strengths, revise injunctions of shame, honor grief, and rewrite life story. The process includes amplification of symbol qualities, I-Thou Dialogues, and active imagination.

Emphasizing safety, symbols hold client experience and story until the client is ready to share. Symbols remain silent until the client is grounded in trust and a positive alliance. When symbols show up in a sand scene it is enough to be seen without the probing curiosity of the therapist. While visible in a sand scene, symbols hold the space for trauma and grief not yet ready to be revealed. This is an initial step, and why we do not expect explanation for all symbols in sand.

For safety we remain mindful that symbols contain memory, trauma in the body, unconscious activity. A therapist using Narrative Sand therapy protects the client’s process with permission for silent dialogues. We follow the lead of the client, resonating, pacing, and always with invitation not prescription. Safety protects life-story elements when the client is not ready to share, for parts of the self and parts of the story represented and witnessed but not necessarily explored. We remain mindful that symbols show up for the client in their sand scene and that is enough, no engagement is needed.

Part of the richness that gives way to symbol engagement is the symbol’s backstory, which is cultural, metaphorical, and personal. A narrative sand therapist stays in the metaphor, reflecting on the idea that symbols have layers of meaning, relationships with the other symbols in a scene, and a special relationship with the client. Conceptually, each symbol has a purpose, a story, an emotion, and a potential experience to share. Symbols carry client grief and loss. As a metaphor, symbols’ stories are parallel to client experience. Finding voice may be initiated with client curiosity, the beginning of an exploration of symbol qualities through amplification, silent I-Thou conversations with symbols ready to share. Not all symbols are present to share; some remain silent, to be seen and witnessed but not violated though manipulation. Once in dialogue, symbols offer voice for unspoken trauma, grief, and untold parts of the client’s life story.

Narrative Sand therapy skills are centered on wonderment instead of interpretation.

Resonance requires a focused energy to maintain therapist presence. Therapists guide the process by accessing their own imagination and intuition without interfering with or controlling client-symbol engagement. Amplification of symbol qualities is validating but not interpretive. Depth-work through process hypnosis and active imagination are carefully paced. There is rhythm and timing. There is a balance with silence and voice nourishing client freedom, confirming a positive identity, recovering one’s truth. Engagement is always an invitation.

Narrative Sand therapy is a phenomenological exploration and a hermeneutic circle of discovery. Exploration is invitational, emerges from spontaneity, engagement in immediacy. We witness, we pace and resonate, we attend and witness, we offer permission, protection, and empowerment for the client’s multi-layered story. We follow the lead of the client, validating their inner child. Narrative Sand therapy is collaborative. Therapists develop the ability to remain in heightened presence, to resonate. Therapists hold their own intuitive experience – visceral, emotional, existential, and inventive.

Efficacy requires an open attitude, humility, authenticity, a congruent presence, and creative courage for innovation-in-the-moment. Client validation takes priority over theory and interpretation. Narrative process necessitates safety with boundaries, therapeutic skills for culture-informed amplification of symbol qualities, respect for private silent work, collaborative active imagination, and mindful use of projection and metaphor.

In the process, we suspend disbelief, protect silence, resonate as attentive witnesses, and facilitate following the lead of the client. Through wonderment, we give permission for inventive expression, protection for a deepening of existential process, and validation for reclamation of stories held in safekeeping.

Narrative Sand Therapy is an empowering approach to work with existential themes related to trauma, identity, relationships, freedom, mortality, meaning and purpose, and unconscious dynamics. It is a reclaiming of truth, externalizing and reframing wounded story, balancing silence with active imagination, and validation for the emergence of life-enhancing meaning. Narrative Sand Therapy is transformative for client and clinician.

This foundation course connects theory with practice, the relevance of culture and social constructions, case examples, ethical considerations, practice exercises, and suggestions for work with varied age, issue, and client populations.

Philosophical Foundation

Narrative Sand therapy is an integration of core principles and ideas from analytic, humanistic, existential, narrative, and constructionist psychology. Facilitation reflects phenomenological and hermeneutic process. The hermeneutic circle is activated for iterations of understanding the story and voices from the symbols in sand.
When curious, interested in exploration, the client is given permission and guidance. During exploration, the initial story evolves through stages, moments of silent dialogue, reflection on areas of interest in the scene, client-posed questions and spoken declarations, wonderment, gestalt and I-Thou conversations, and client interviews with their symbols in sand. Meanwhile, the clinician is a witness, offering open-ended wonderment as a non-invasive guide. This hermeneutic process gives way to emerging awareness, shifts in perception and perspective, new insights and decisions, the evolution of the story and meaning in the client’s sand scene and parallel meaning in their life.

Course Content

Sessions will balance theory and ethics with examination of sand scenes from a narrative/ existential perspective, experiential activity, and responses to participant questions.

Knowledge from core theories will support rationale for use of symbols in sand, clinical purpose, case conceptualization, client engagement, therapist attitude and readiness, and safety.

Experience is intended to ground participants’ focus, immediacy, comfort with spontaneity and silence, and reflect on personal/cultural insights. Experiential engagement includes guided use of nature and animal images, examining pictures of sand scenes, and volunteer engagement with symbols in a sand tray from second-camera, experiments with symbol dialogues, play with alternative story structure, and how to facilitate metaphor as an extended story.
Participant questions will end each workshop to share experience and practice concerns. Weekly prompts to explore symbols and suggested readings from peer reviewed articles and books will be offered.

Therapist Immersion: Therapeutic work with symbols, with or without a sand tray, is most effective when therapists have immersed themselves in creating a sand scene. With personal immersion there is a vulnerability that sheds light on a client’s experience and challenges working with projection and imagination. When we immerse ourselves, we value the presence of a non-judging safe witness and concerns with boundaries. We develop a familiarity with a personal and collective unconscious. We build skills for active imagination. We develop therapeutic depth. Immersion informs all areas of practice.
To maintain integrity of this virtual training an emphasis is on participant engagement, parallel with the experience of immersion when face-to-face. Separate from this virtual training, participants are encouraged to obtain 6 to 10 private sessions using sand with a trusted colleague or therapist, someone informed in the use of Sandtray or Sandplay or Sand Therapy would be especially helpful.

Problems, Caution: Special attention is given to problems that sabotage most all clinical approaches with symbols and sand therapies, such as: reification, concretization, misuse of projections, dismissal of social-cultural presence, objectification of the process-as-mere-technique, restraint and fear of creativity, presuppositions about expressive and play therapy, misunderstanding about depth work, hidden shame in supervision regarding therapist’s creativity, lack of protection during silent facilitation, lack of practice with imagination, and a search for rules vs organic flow in process. Narrative Sand therapy is not useful for all clients and may not resonate with therapists who prefer talk therapy and highly structured behavioral approach.

Session Objectives

Session 1

Scope of Practice and Competency: Clinical differences for Sandtray, Sandplay, and Narrative Sand therapy. Context for play and expressive arts therapy. Core ideas from existential psychotherapy and narrative psychology. Use of metaphors, types of boundaries, creating safety, use of therapist curiosity, and dangers of sand therapy as a constrained recipe. Exploration of symbol representations in sand scenes as projective process. Emphasis is on therapist presence, empathy, pacing, resonance, and immediacy in here-and-now explorations. Suggested homework for practice and how to incorporate play therapy with narrative sand.

Objectives for Session 1

• Define two factors that define the therapist’s scope of practice related to use of symbols in sand and narrative practice.
• Explain two process-related ideas from play therapy, drama, and art therapy that inform narrative sand therapy exploration.
• Describe three clinical skills for use of narrative sand therapy.
• Describe a central difference between Sandplay, Sandtray play therapy, and Narrative Sand therapy.
• State two techniques to build safety and a positive therapeutic alliance using symbols.
• Describe two core ideas from existential psychology and social construction that ground narrative sand therapy.
• Name three play therapy principles relevant to process symbols in sand.
• Name three risks for the use of symbols in sand relevant for play and expressive therapy specialists.

Session 2

Mind-body-imagination-culture: Narrative process with symbols is an organic, natural integration of mind, body, imagination, and culture. Exploring existential concerns through symbols and story we find layers of potential meaning. Exploration includes symbol dialogues, use of silence, gestalt engagement between client and their symbols and among the symbols. Conceptualization centers on the journey to externalize experience, recover-reclaim-renew-reauthor life story and experience. Goals may include existential concerns such as reclaiming a congruent cultural identity, challenge to one’s sense of freedom, developing authentic connections, determining responsibility without shame and judgment, and defining meaning and purpose given awareness of mortality. Symbol process and journal reflections will highlight cultural representations of social justice, intersubjectivity, and the collective.

Objectives for Session 2

• Describe two symbols that reflect a connection between mind, body, culture, and imagination.
• State two principles from play therapy that protect a child’s natural, integrated healing through play.
• State two existential life experiences that may be represented in a sand scene that underscore meaning and purpose.
• State two examples of externalization with the use of symbols to reclaim the wounds of shame and an alienated identity.
• State three skills to facilitate client stories in a sand scene.
• State two goals relevant to socio-cultural experience that may emerge through symbol dialogues.
• State two practices for therapist personal development to connect mind-body-culture and imagination.
• State two ways to prepare clients for experiential exploration with symbols in sand.

Session 3

The Therapist’s Imagination: Developing the therapist’s imagination entails being receptive to safe therapeutic innovation and experimentation. Imagination requires practice with spontaneity, immediacy, and focus. It is playful and grounded. Use of the imagination requires a non-distracted presence, mindful of one’s responses – thoughts, emotion, images, voice tone, muscle and breath. A dual focus, a co-transference, we follow client nuanced verbal and nonverbal expressions in order to stay in the metaphor and activate imagination. In session 3 we explore Thomas Ogden’s idea of innovation-in-the moment, active imagination, gestalt, and the value of spontaneous play. Engaged on several levels, there is safety, access to the intuitive unconscious, and creativity for the inner child of the client and therapist.
During session 3 we will explore acceptance of ambiguity as a valuable part of organic process. We suspend disbelief with productions from imagination while at the same time remaining grounded. We trust the flow of symbol dialogues and activated images as potential meaning. We “stay in the question”, take comfort in not-knowing, avoid concretizing and over interpreting. We tune into therapist curiosity for useful projections and intuitions. We are encouraged to be mindful of breath, body movement and the flow of ideas and emotion. We maintain safety for exploration of depth. We engage active imagination with symbols in sand – through photos of sand scenes and activating symbol through the second camera. We will reflect on injunctions that limit creativity, spontaneity, authenticity, and freedom. We are mindful of judgments and shame that continue to block use of the imagination for healing. We will practice and explore preparation for play, the depth of play, acceptance of play, the experience of inner child of the therapist in imaginative play.

Objectives for Session 3

• State two benefits of collaboration during play therapist’s use of symbols in sand.
• Define co-transference and its relevance for use of narrative sand therapy.
• State one example of Thomas Ogden’s innovation-in-the-moment with symbol dialogues.
• State two negative injunctions that limit therapists’ and clients’ ability to activate imagination with symbols in sand.
• Name three of play therapy’s Therapeutic Powers of Play that are present during I-Thou dialogues among symbols and between clients and their symbols.
• State two ways therapists practice outside of sessions to develop creative flow, safe spontaneity, and activate imagination.
• State two benefits for clients and therapists to establish presence with breath, physical grounding, and careful pacing during active imagination.
• State two prompts for use with virtual sand therapy when using photos and a second camera on a sand tray.
• State one example of staying-in-the-question, and curbing therapist curiosity during narrative sand therapy.
• State two ways metaphor and active imagination are used to amplify symbols in sand.

Session 4

Silence and Wonderment: In this session our focus is the therapist’s ability to resonate with the symbolic, to attune and be fully present with non-judging acceptance. We will explore ways to guide a silent process. We will define and practice Wonderment, mindful of the limits of interpretation, countertransference, and projections. We will explore ways to cultivate intuition mindful of the therapist’s emotions, suppositions, and limits to perception. We ask, what is the therapeutic process we must engage to address concerns with countertransference boundaries? How do we stay focused and resonate with a client and their sand scene during silence? How do the acts of giving permission, protection, empowerment, and enhanced presence help keep silent process safe? What aspects of play therapy and mindfulness ground wonderment questions, gestalt, and I-Thou dialogues? Our emphasis in this session is giving permission, protection, presence and empowerment during silent process. We emphasize authentic connection to foster safety and trust, and counter limiting injunctions. We explore existential meaning through narrative dialogues. We consider the grief that permeates lived experience across the lifespan and across cultures, personal and collective experience, and transformation with symbols in sand.

Objectives for Session 4

• State two ways silence is used during narrative sand therapy.
• State two ways the practice of wonderment limits cultural bias and countertransference during narrative sand therapy.
• Define co-transference and state one way this idea changes traditional transference-countertransference conceptualization and interpretation of symbol process.
• Describe two ways play and expressive therapy clinicians can maintain a more focused presence and resonance during client-symbol engagement.
• Explain two approaches for client-symbol engagement during silence.
• State two play therapy competencies for safe facilitation of symbol engagement.
• State the four guiding practices that ground and keep safe client exploration of grief, trauma, and existential crisis?
• Describe two therapist practices to develop cultural attunement and existential depth during narrative sand therapy.

Session 5

Active Imagination and Process Hypnosis: Like therapeutic dream work, drama therapy, collaborative play therapy, and gestalt therapy, engagement with symbols in narrative sand therapy requires a unique focus and flow, deep listening, collaboration, and careful pacing. Using process hypnosis and active imagination, the therapist maintains deep presence, mindful of shifts in perception and emotion, and changes in awareness, voice tone, and non-verbal expression. During this session we will explore safety and pacing during symbol activation and guided imagination. We will begin with the importance of boundaries, safety, therapist and client preparation and readiness. We will consider the use of silence and voice as engagement unfolds through metaphor, poetics, imagined journeys, play, and symbol dialogues. We will conceptualize experience as existential and developmental, personal and collective. We will practice externalizing stories using symbols in sand and practice amplification with images and sand scenes. We will practice I-thou dialogues, gestalt, silence, amplify internal voice, and explore open-ended images.

We will consider suggestions for symbol engagement to reclaim identity, freedom, authentic connection, mortality and grief, and the importance of stories held in safekeeping. We will explore progression for pacing-breath-voice tone and prompts to activate symbols and deepen focus and flow. We will practice imagining symbols telling their story, what they know about and hold for the client. We will consider parallels between the symbol’s story and the client’s experience. We will practice validation for the client and their experience represented with symbols in the sand scene. We will imagine layers of potential meaning regarding placement, spacing, direction, formations, clusters and burials in a sand scene. We will practice staying in the metaphor, dialogues between symbols, prompts for client dialogue with their symbols, and ways to keep safe stories that must remain hidden until the client is ready.

Objectives for Session 5

• State three core competencies for play and expressive arts therapists to facilitate active imagination with symbols in sand.
• Describe two functions of projection and pacing during process hypnosis with symbols in sand.
• State two examples of externalization of an existential crisis using symbols in sand.
• State two examples of amplification of cultural identity using symbols in sand.
• State two therapist practices to connect mind-body-imagination and culture to deepen therapeutic play with symbols in sand.
• State two approaches to facilitate symbol activation to support client experience as they reauthor life scripts related to identity, sense of freedom, and authentic connection.
• State two examples of the use of metaphors, imagined stories, and dialogues among symbols, and between the client and their symbols.
• Explain scope of practice for play therapists and expressive therapists using active imagination and process hypnosis.
• State two risks for the use of amplification and active imagination when therapist and client are not prepared.
• Describe the perceptual shift required of clinicians to conceptualize and engage symbols as the third presence during active imagination.

Session 6

Culture, Social Justice, and Existential Engagement: We are never outside the influence of history and culture. Culture permeates therapy systems and institutions; the culture of psychotherapy, the cultures of clinicians and clients, and in sand therapies the many symbols that represent layers of cultural meaning. Culture is always present in a sand scene.

Cultural awareness includes concerns with power, perception and attitude, historical and cultural experience contributing to trauma embedded in the body and in communities. It is awareness of pervasive judgments and shame that shape human relational experience. Culture is the context for life stories. Culture is constructed/represented/externalized through myths, symbols, rituals, and inventions of the imagination and stories. Through cultural representations in a sand scene and on the streets, we witness struggles with being and identity, with freedom and connection, with mortality, responsibility, with social justice, and the determination of cultural meaning. Inevitably, culture, family, community, and history are represented in sand scenes.
In this session we will examine the role of the therapist to understand and respond to constructions and representations of culture. We will explore the therapist’s insight on symbol representations regarding social-cultural-power arrangements present during therapeutic process. We will examine examples of cultural trauma and existential crisis in the lives of clients. Through amplification and active imagination, I-thou dialogues, and gestalt we will examine client representations of personal and collective culture in sand scenes. We will consider barriers to authentic connection, representations of evolving cultural stories, and the importance of play across cultures. We will consider how existential experience is represented in sand scenes, inseparable from social justice and constructions of identity, freedom, mortality, meaning/ purpose, and personal and collective responsibility.

We will explore how existential-cultural experience is represented and validated through symbol voices in sand scenes. We will also consider the culture of sand therapy itself, culturally relevant symbol categories, and cultural bias in marketing, training, and symbol colelctions for sand therapists.
Important for cultural attunement in narrative sand therapy is the therapist’s preparation including the experience of immersion in culturally relevant play, the study of cultural images, icons and symbols, and therapist exploration of the voices of the cultural Other. In narrative sand therapy stories and symbol voices reflect collective and personal culturally imbued experience. Reflecting on deep existential meaning, we honor stories that heal and transform. We seek to balance responsibility with hope.

Objectives for Session 6

• Describe two examples of cultural representation that may emerge during narrative sand therapy process.
• State two domains of cultural influence on psychotherapy regarding power, perception, and engagement between therapist and client especially relevant for play and expressive therapies.
• State two ways to develop a culturally mindful practice for play and expressive therapy especially relevant for use of narrative sand therapy.
• State three examples of symbol objects, icons, cultural images that help clients represent/ externalize cultural experience, historical and personal identity, cultural others, and culture-imbued existential crisis.
• State two ways narrative sand therapy can contribute to social justice for individuals and communities – consider examples of the use of amplification, gestalt, I-thou dialogues, and active imagination.
• State two aspects of therapist preparation influenced by social constructions, the culture of therapy, and power arrangements that can limit competent, safe use of symbols in sand.
• State three examples of culturally relevant existential experience that may be represented in sand scenes.
• Describe the relationship between social justice and existential experience that may be represented in a sand scene.
• Explain two essential aspects of play therapy dynamics and a play therapist’s preparation that are enhanced with culturally informed I-Thou dialogues.
• State two play therapy competencies essential for ethical scope of practice when using Sandplay therapy, Sandtray therapy, or Narrative Sand Therapy.

References

The peer-reviewed articles below are set into categories to identify core ideas with articles. This literature applies to Level 1 Narrative Sand Therapy and the Advanced Narrative Sand Therapy sessions.

Ethics: Scope of Practice


American Psychological Association. (2017). Ethical principles of psychologists and code of conduct. https://www.apa.org/ethics/code
Altvater, Rachel A, Singer, Rachel R & Gil, Eliana. (2018). Part 2: A qualitative examination of play therapy and technology training and ethics. International Journal of Play Therapy, 27(1) 46-55. https://doi.org/10.1037/pla0000057
Cunningham, L. (2021). The archetype of integrity: Ethics in sandplay therapy. Journal of Sandplay Therapy, 30(1), 107–118.  10.61711/jst.2021.30.1.190
Hudspeth, Edward F. (2016). Supporting the mission of International Journal of Play Therapy through manuscripts about play therapy ethics, assessment, supervision, and application. International Journal of Play Therapy, 25(4) 175. https://doi.org/10.1037/pla0000038
Long, Megan N, Remley, Theodore P Jr. & White, Ryan. (2025). Ethical and legal self-efficacy in play therapists: A correlational study. International Journal of Play Therapy, 34(2) 86-96. https://doi.org/10.1037/pla0000234
Podolan, M. (2025). Beyond comfort: How dynamic safety regulation drives psychotherapeutic change—A transtheoretical model. Journal of Contemporary Psychotherapy. Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10879-025-09683-9

Sandplay, Sandtray, Symbols, Play Therapy

Capitolo, D. (2016). Sandplay as waking dream images hidden in the emotions. Journal of Sandplay Therapy, 25(1). https://doi.org/10.61711/jst.2016.25.1.925
Dobretsova, A., & Wiese, E. B. P. (2019). Sandplay: Psychotrauma signs in asylum-seeking adolescents. Journal of Infant, Child, and Adolescent Psychotherapy, 18(4), 403–416. https://doi.org/10.1080/15289168.2019.1583055
Foo, M., & Pratiwi, A. (2021). The effectiveness of sandplay therapy in treating generalized anxiety disorder patients with childhood trauma using magnetic resonance spectroscopy. International Journal of Play Therapy, 30(3), 177–186. https://doi.org/10.1037/pla0000162
Harb, J. (2019). Volcano: Anger and Rage in Sandplay Therapy. Journal of Sandplay Therapy, 28(1). https://doi.org/10.61711/jst.2019.28.1.318
Hartwig, E. K., Homeyer, L. E., & Stone, J. (2023). Sand therapy competencies: A qualitative investigation of competencies for sand therapy practitioners. World Journal for Sand Therapy Practice, 1(5), 1–20. https://doi.org/10.58997/wjstp.v1i5.32
Holliman, R., & Foster, R. D. (2023). The way we play in the sand: A meta-analytic investigation of sand therapy, its formats, and presenting problems. Journal of Child and Adolescent Counseling, 9(2), 205–221. https://doi.org/10.1080/23727810.2023.2232142
Jung, B. (2019). Beyond medications: Understanding executive function deficits of children with ADHD through Jungian sandplay therapy. Journal of Symbols & Sandplay Therapy, 10(1), 1–19.
Kowen, M. R. (2020). A phenomenological study of therapists’ co-transference experiences in sandplay therapy. Journal of Symbols & Sandplay Therapy, 11(2), 143–166.
Kwak, S. K., & Seo, M. (2018). The effect of client-centered sandplay therapy on the depression, aggression and ego development stage of children in a community child center. Journal of Symbols & Sandplay Therapy, 9(2), 1–26.
Lee, P. L. (2018). Narrative practice and sandplay: Practice-based stories of collaboration with people seeking asylum held in mandatory detention. Journal of Systemic Therapies, 37(2), 1–16. 10.1521/jsyt.2018.37.2.1
Li, S., Lu, Y., & Wu, J. (2023). Sandplay therapy as a complementary treatment for children with ADHD: A scoping review. Issues in Mental Health Nursing, 44(9), 911–917. https://doi.org/10.1080/01612840.2023.2249990
Matta, R. M. D., & Ramos, D. G. (2023). Sandplay therapy versus cognitive behavioral therapy. Estudos de Psicologia (Campinas), 40, e210099. https://doi.org/10.1590/1982-0275202340e210099
Ow, G. (2025). The symbol does the work: Deploying Somatic-Symbolic Tools for Emotional Recursion in Therapy. Human Arenas: An Interdisciplinary Journal of Psychology, Culture, and Meaning. https://doi.org/10.1007/s42087-025-00527-5
Redfern, L., & Finestone, M. (2024). Silent group sandplay activates healing. Child Protection and Practice, 3, Article 100078. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chipro.2024.100078
Roesler, C. (2019). Sandplay therapy: An overview of theory, applications and evidence base. The Arts in Psychotherapy, 64, 84–94. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.aip.2019.04.001
Tan, J., Yin, H., Meng, T., & Guo, X. (2021). Effects of sandplay therapy in reducing emotional and behavioural problems in school-age children with chronic diseases. Nursing Open, 8(6), 3099–3110. https://doi.org/10.1002/nop2.1022
Tornero, M. D. L. A., & Capella, C. (2017). Change during psychotherapy through sand play tray. Frontiers in Psychology, 8, 617. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2017.00617
Wang, K., Cui, Q., & Xu, H. (2018). Desert as therapeutic space: Cultural interpretation of embodied experience in sand therapy in Xinjiang, China. Health & Place, 53, 173–181. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.healthplace.2018.08.005
Wiersma, J. K., Freedle, L. R., McRoberts, R., & Solberg, K. B. (2022). A meta-analysis of sandplay therapy treatment outcomes. International Journal of Play Therapy, 31(4), 197–215. https://doi.org/10.1037/pla0000180
Yanof, J. A. (2019). Play in the analytic setting: The development and communication of meaning in child analysis. International Journal of Psychoanalysis, 100(6), 1390–1404. https://doi.org/10.1080/00207578.2019.1642758

Play Therapy & Expressive Arts

Binson, B., & Lev-Wiesel, R. (2018). Promoting personal growth through experiential learning: The case of expressive arts therapy for Lecturers in Thailand. Frontiers in Psychology, 8, 2276. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2017.02276
Blanche, E. I., Chang, M. C., & Parham, L. D. (2024). Experiences of adult play. American Journal of Occupational Therapy, 78(4), 7804185040. https://doi.org/10.5014/ajot.2024.050436
Conroy, S., & Ramchandani, P. (2025). Trusting play to be meaningful data. International Journal of Play, 14(1), 81–98. https://doi.org/10.1080/21594937.2025.2464334
Coull, H. & Parson, J. A. (2024). Establishing trust and creating safety for play therapy service provision with an Australian aboriginal community: Informing culturally responsive practice. International Journal of Play Therapy, 33(3) 140-153. https://doi.org/10.1037/pla0000220
de Witte, M., Orkibi, H., Zarate, R., Karkou, V., Sajnani, N., Malhotra, B., Ho, R. T. H., Kaimal, G., Baker, F. A., & Koch, S. C. (2021). From therapeutic factors to mechanisms of change in the creative arts therapies. Frontiers in Psychology, 12, 678397. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2021.678397
Edwards, J., Parson, J., & O’Brien, W. (2016). Child play therapists’ understanding and application of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child: A narrative analysis. International Journal of Play Therapy, 25(3) 133-145. https://doi.org/10.1037/pla0000029
Gerge, A., & Pedersen, I. N. (2017). Analyzing pictorial artifacts from psychotherapy and art therapy when overcoming stress and trauma. The Arts in Psychotherapy, 54, 56–68. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.aip.2017.02.001
Hinz, L. D., Rim, S.-R., & Lusebrink, V. B. (2022). Clarifying the creative level of the expressive therapies continuum. The Arts in Psychotherapy, 78, 101896. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.aip.2022.101896
Kwak, S. K. (2019). Jar: The space of transformation to self-actualization. Journal of Symbols & Sandplay Therapy, 10(2), 1–18. https://doi.org/10.12964/jsst.19007
Low, M. Y., McFerran, K. S., Viega, M., Carroll-Scott, A., McGhee Hassrick, E., & Bradt, J. (2023). Exploring the lived experiences of young autistic adults in Nordoff-Robbins music therapy: An interpretative phenomenological analysis. Nordic Journal of Music Therapy, 32(4), 341–364. https://doi.org/10.1080/08098131.2022.2151640
Mortola, P. (2019). Play Becomes Real for Adults: Measuring Effectiveness of Expressive Arts Media for Therapists in Training Using the Oaklander Approach. Gestalt Review, 23(1), 67–83. https://doi.org/10.5325/gestaltreview.23.1.0067
Orkibi, H., & Feniger-Schaal, R. (2019). Integrative systematic review of psychodrama psychotherapy research. PLoS One, 14(2), e0212575. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0212575
Purswell, Katherine E & Stulmaker, Hayley L. (2015). Expressive arts in supervision: Choosing developmentally appropriate interventions. International Journal of Play Therapy, 24(2) 103-117. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0039134
Rezaee R. S., Rezaee R. M., Asadzadeh, S. N., Torabi, S. S., Taheri S. M., Ghasemzadeh-Moghaddam, H., Firozeh, M., Sajedi, A., Rohani, F., & Firouzeh, N. (2024). The efficacy of cognitive-behavioural play therapy and puppet play therapy on bilingual children’s expressive and receptive language disorders. Early Child Development and Care, 194(2), 296–307. 10.1080/03004430.2024.2309453
Weinfeld-Yehoudayan, A., Czamanski-Cohen, J., Cohen, M., & Weihs, K. L. (2024). A theoretical model of emotional processing in visual artmaking and art therapy. The Arts in Psychotherapy, 90, 102196. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.aip.2024.102196
Woollett, N., Bandeira, M., & Hatcher, A. (2020). Trauma-informed art and play therapy: Pilot study outcomes for children and mothers in domestic violence shelters in the United States and South Africa. Child Abuse & Neglect, 107, Article 104564.  10.1016/j.chiabu.2020.104564

Culture, Social Justice

Chase, L. & Post, P. (2025). The impact of attitudes related to trauma-informed care on cultural humility among play therapists. International Journal of Play Therapy, 34(1) 26-36. https://doi.org/10.1037/pla0000231
Chase, L. & Post, P. (2022). Factors impacting play therapists’ social justice advocacy attitudes. International Journal of Play Therapy, 31(4) 248-258. https://doi.org/10.1037/pla0000184
Chase, L. & Opiola, K. (2021). Cultural competence and poverty: Exploring play therapists’ attitudes. International Journal of Play Therapy, 30(1) 50-60. https://doi.org/10.1037/pla0000144
Chung, R. K, Ray, D. C, Aguilar, E. V. & Turner, K. (2023). The multicultural play therapy room: Intentional decision making in selecting play therapy toys and materials. International Journal of Play Therapy, 32(4) 197-207. https://doi.org/10.1037/pla0000203
Cormier, S. R, Manson, J. L & Overley, L. C. (2023). Relational-cultural play therapy supervision: Integrating RCT into the supervision of play therapists. International Journal of Play Therapy, 32(3) 135-145. https://doi.org/10.1037/pla0000194
Kronick, R., Rousseau, C., & Cleveland, J. (2018). Refugee children’s sandplay narratives in immigration detention in Canada. European Child & Adolescent Psychiatry, 27(4), 423–437. 10.1007/s00787-017-`012-0
Post, P., Phipps, C. B., Camp, A. C., & Grybush, A. L. (2019). Effectiveness of child-centered play therapy among marginalized children. International Journal of Play Therapy, 28(2) 88-97. https://doi.org/10.1037/pla0000096
Vasconcelos, A., & Souza, S. (2022). Play therapy and otherness: A group play therapy experience in the light of Levinas. Psicologia em Estudo, 27, Article 47800. 10.4025/psicolestud.v27i0.47800
Zeiger, R., & Wong, E. T. (2025). Dreams beyond borders: A cross-cultural Journey of the Soul. Jung Journal, 19(2), 140–156. https://doi.org/10.1080/19342039.2025.2486925

Theory: Existential / Humanistic /Social Construction

Alegría, S, Carvalho, I., Sousa, D. et al. (2016). Process and outcome research in existential psychotherapy. Existential Analysis, 27 (1), 78-92.
Altavilla, D., Mazzaggio, G., Deriu, V., Garello, S., Vecchi, A., Adornetti, I., Chiera, A., Canali, S., & Ferretti, F. (2025). Metaphor as a cognitive and relational tool for self-narrating experience of addiction. Frontiers in Psychology, 16, 1658238. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2025.1658238
Breitbart, W., Pessin, H., Rosenfeld, B., Applebaum, A. J., Lichtenthal, W. G., Li, Y., Saracino, R. M., Marziliano, A. M., Masterson, M., Tobias, K., & Fenn, N. (2018). Individual meaning-centered psychotherapy for the treatment of psychological and existential distress: A randomized controlled trial in patients with advanced cancer. Cancer, 124(15), 3231–3239. https://doi.org/10.1002/cncr.31539
Correia, E., Cooper, M., Berdondini, l., & Correia, K. (2016). Existential psychotherapies: Similarities and differences among the main branches. Journal of humanistic psychology. Doi: 10.1177/0022167816653223
Erling, I., Waltersson, C. A., Waern, M., Tillfors, M., Hed, S., Wiktorsson, S., & Berg, A. I. (2025).
Pathways to change in existential group treatment. BMC Geriatrics, 25(1), 504. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12877-025-06157-4
Farber, B. A., Suzuki, J. Y., & Lynch, D. A. (2018). Positive regard and psychotherapy outcome: A meta-analytic review. Psychotherapy, 55(4), 411–423. https://doi.org/10.1037/pst0000171
Overland, P. (2021). Working with power in existential therapy. Existential Analysis: Journal of The Society for Existential Analysis. 32.2: 309-321
Podolan, M., & Gelo, O. C. G. (2023). The functions of safety in psychotherapy: An integrative theoretical perspective across therapeutic schools. Clinical Neuropsychiatry, 20(3), 193–204. https://doi.org/10.36131/cnfioritieditore20230304
Schneider, K. J. (2016). Existential-integrative therapy: Foundational implications for integrative practice. Journal of Psychotherapy Integration, 26(1), 49 -55. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0039632
Tay, D. (2017). The nuances of metaphor theory for constructivist psychotherapy. Journal of Constructivist Psychology, 30(2), 165–181. https://doi.org/10.1080/10720537.2016.1161571
Toporek, Michal, Figley, Charles R, Saltzman, Leia & Hansel, Tonya. (2025). The empathic response of relational therapists treating trauma: A dialectical experience. Traumatology, No Pagination Specified. https://doi.org/10.1037/trm0000550

Active Imagination

Graham, Virginia Bunnell (Bunnie). (2016). Dreaming the dream onward: Using active imagination in sandplay therapy. Journal of Sandplay Therapy, 25(1)135-145. Retrieved from https://ovidsp.ovid.com/ovidweb.cgi?T=JS&PAGE=reference&D=psyc15&NEWS=N&AN=2016-28723-009.
Humphris, M. (2019). Sandplay and art: Embodying the creative process. Jung Journal: Culture & Psyche, 13(3) 143-155. https://doi.org/10.1080/19342039.2019.1636362
Loscalzo, Y. (2025). Active imagination: A thorough presentation of a method applicable across psychodynamic approaches. Culture & Psychology, 31(4) 1350-1373. https://doi.org/10.1177/1354067X251357961
Loscalzo, Y. (2024). Sandplay therapy and active imagination: What are the similarities and differences? Behavioral Sciences, 14(7), 553. https://doi.org/10.3390/bs14070553
Rucińska, Z., & Fondelli, T. (2022). Enacting metaphors in systemic collaborative therapy. Frontiers in Psychology, 13, 867235. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2022.867235
Yockey, Shannon K. (2023). Tending the garden of the soul: Entering the mundus imaginalis through dreams, nature, and sandplay. Journal of Sandplay Therapy, 32(2)19-34. Retrieved from https://ovidsp.ovid.com/ovidweb.cgi?T=JS&PAGE=reference&D=psyc24&NEWS=N&AN=2024-37946-002.

Therapist Self-Care/ Mindfulness/Supervision

Alldredge, C. T., Burlingame, G. M., Yang, C., & Rosendahl, J. (2021). Alliance in group therapy: A meta-analysis. Group dynamics: Theory, research, and practice, 25(1), 13–28. http://doi.org/10.1037/gdn0000135
Benda, Eva & Zvelc, Masa. (2025). Psychotherapists’ mindful awareness and self-regulation in the prevention of empathic distress. Mindfulness, No Pagination Specified. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12671-025-02703-8
Brown, Emily C, Garcia, Mia & Campbell, Sarah E. (2025). Experiences of play therapists supporting children with suicidal ideation. International Journal of Play Therapy, 34(2) 63-74. https://doi.org/10.1037/pla0000235
Jian-Bin, L., Kai, D., & Liang, Y. (2021). The relationship between meaning in life and subjective well-being. Journal of Happiness Studies, 22(1), 467–489. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10902-020-00230-y
Maass, U., Hofmann, L., Perlinger, J., & Wagner, B. (2022). Effects of bereavement groups–a systematic review and meta-analysis. Death Studies, 46(3), 708–718. https://doi.org/10.1080/07481187.2020.1772410
Rodríguez Delgado, M., Agarwal, S., Backer, A., & Colburn, V. F. (2023). Group supervision using sandtray. Journal of Counselor Preparation and Supervision, 14(4).
Smith, Elyssa B & Altenberg, Nicole. (2025). The experience of countertransference in play therapy: A postintentional phenomenological study. International Journal of Play Therapy, 34(3) 132-144. https://doi.org/10.1037/pla0000239
Trelles-Fishman, A. (2019). Towards emotional containment for staff and patients: Developing a work discussion group for play specialists in a pediatric ward. Journal of Child Psychotherapy, 45(1), 4–17. https://doi.org/10.1080/0075417X.2018.1550663
Van Hoy, Angelika & Rzeszutek, Marcin. (2022). Burnout and psychological wellbeing among psychotherapists: A systematic review. Frontiers in Psychology, 13 https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2022.928191
Whitehouse. (2025). Play therapist self-care and wellbeing: A correlational-predictive study. Dissertation Abstracts International., 86(4-B), No Pagination Specified.

 

Attendance and CE Credits:

As an approved Continuing Education Sponsor of APA, The Sand Therapy Training Institute awards CE credit in accordance with the APA’s Standards and Criteria. Credit is awarded only for actual instructional time, and variable credit for partial attendance may not be granted. Full attendance in all sessions of this offering is required for CE credit.

Play Therapy Connection: 

This course integrates play therapy principles and play therapy competencies and is appropriate for play therapists and expressive arts therapists.