The Sand Therapy Training Institute

How is Narrative Sand Therapy relevant for global cultures, immigrant populations, cultural crisis, and social-cultural trauma? Isn’t culture covered when we refer to symbols as archetypes and rely on the client’s descriptions? Narrative Sand Therapy emerged from two theories that center culture: social construction and existential psychotherapy. For narrative see for example Gergen, 2023; McNamee,… Read more

Dr. Dee’s Reflection: First, we should anchor ourselves in what we refer to, what we mean by the word symbol. An “object” turns into a “symbol” when we project our personal understanding, associations, meanings, emotions, and related stories onto the object. This happens without intention and is unconscious as well as consciously intentional. Think about… Read more

Full Question: You seem to emphasize that therapists should go through their own experience with a technique. I was an intern with no background in sandtray and was encouraged to use sand with my clients. I was in supervision, and I had a personal therapist. Why would personal experience with sand be recommended when it… Read more

Dr. Dee’s Reflection: Goals Let’s consider the goals for training and then a few criteria for a range of types of training. Is the training to introduce the technique, potential to integrate with current therapy approaches, how it may be is useful for a wide range of client needs? This would be a brief introduction,… Read more

Dr. Dee’s Reflection: A therapist’s competency should include: Skills and Sensibilities for Narrative Sand Therapy© Narrative Sand Therapy is grounded in existential psychology and narrative therapy. Philosophy, theory for conceptualization, and engagement are emergent aspects of social construction, existential psychology, humanistic principles, and analytic psychology. Brief core ideas follow. A checklist of questions can be… Read more