The Sand Therapy Training Institute

About The Sand Therapy Training Institute

The Sand Therapy Training Institute (TSTTI) is unique in its particular focus on the ethical and safe use of Sand Therapy through facilitating rigorous and immersive training for mental health professionals. Courses designed for psychologists, counselors, marriage and family therapists, and social workers are built from research-based and clearly articulated core clinical competencies.

Theory

With a strong emphasis on the theory which underlies clinician engagement and an eye toward the latest developments in neuroscience, TSTTI integrates the existing approaches of both Kalffian Sandplay and Sandtray with the broader theoretical work of Carl Rogers, Milton Erickson’s therapeutic metaphor, White and Epston’s Narrative Therapy (engagement from a social constructionist approach), as well as Rollo May and Irvin Yalom’s existential psychotherapy.

Process

Based on more than 40 years of clinical research, teaching, and training professionals, our courses are designed to walk participants through a step-by-step process to develop the knowledge, awareness, and skills that are essential for the effective and ethical use of Sand Therapy with clients of all ages, backgrounds, and cultures.

An essential feature of the use of symbols in sand is psychological projection. Therapist immersion in their own sand scenes is an indispensable component of understanding the projective process. Immersion grounds clinicians in the firsthand experience of the tremendous depth and power of symbols in sand and develops a practical awareness for ways of responding to clients and their sand scenes.

Key Questions to Pursue

Through TSTTI’s unique courses, participants explore a variety of approaches to therapy and gain essential feedback on process. Personal insight and professional competence are developed through the pursuit of key questions such as:

• How do we use silence to enhance client experience in their sand scene?
• How do we integrate metaphor with symbols?
• How do we engage without being invasive?
• What is the relevance of culture?
• How do we empower clients on their journey for meaning?

The purpose of TSTTI is to teach advanced courses for psychologists in the use of expressive therapy with a focus on projective approaches that engage symbols, poetics, therapeutic metaphor, and images. Courses include theory, practice and ethics not taught in doctoral programs, that focus on in-depth practice with symbolic material. Courses most appropriate for those specializing in clinical psychology, counseling psychology, cross-cultural psychology, social justice, and diversity.

Advanced approaches: psychologist’s competencies for use of process hypnosis, gestalt therapy, active imagination, therapeutic metaphor, collaborative symbol-story engagement, heightened presence and witnessing, advanced play therapy engagement, narrative externalizing and reclamation of trauma experiences, practice for a mindful use of the psychologist’s imagination, and culturally attuned collaborative, empowering engagement with the cultural other.

Example clinical interventions: the activation of symbols into stories and gestalt dialogues for trauma work; the use of a dollhouse for developmental and family dynamic stories; the use of miniature chairs to explore life stories across the lifespan; the use of objects from nature (wood, stones, shells, etc.) to explore attachment; cross cultural figures and icons to explore ethnic and cultural identity; single symbols for existential and relational process; the use of symbols in sand such as Sandplay therapy, Sandtray play therapy, and Narrative Sand Therapy; and the clinical use of poetics and puppets with symbol objects and stories.

Goals:

1. Courses: To provide psychologists courses in theory, practice, ethics, and clinical competencies for projective processes with symbolic materials. Applications include individual, group and couples therapy, child-adolescent and family therapy, geriatric in-home and school counseling, community work with marginalized groups such as undocumented families, and specific processes for ethnic, cultural, and gender identities.
2. Consultation: To consult with psychologists, virtually and onsite in mental health clinics, including supervisors, psychotherapists, and psychology interns, in the theory, practice, and ethical use of symbol work. Consults indicate and clarify differences for scope of practice for Sandplay therapy, Sandtray play therapy, and Narrative Sand Therapy, and provide essential practice guidance to help clinicians avoid potential risks such as retraumatizing clients and the reliance on countertransference prompts for interpretation.
3. Case consultation: to provide individual and group case consultation to psychologists and their staff on use of projective use of symbol activation and symbols in sand scenes, with clients, in supervision, and for their training curriculum.