The Sand Therapy Training Institute

Take your retreat to a professional level and earn 14 CEs this May.

During our time together, at our retreat, Pausing Time: A Facilitated Retreat to Reflect on Ways of Being, you will have time and space to safely immerse in the symbol process, conceptualize sand scenes from humanistic, existential, and constructionist theories, and apply what you find to three clinical perspectives. Immersion will focus on therapist competencies and attitudes for play therapy, art, drama, and expressive therapies. The weekend provides space to process symbols, imagined stories, and projective images for play therapy and expressive therapies.

How Does the Clinical Immersion Opportunity Differ from the Retreat Only Experience?

The retreat format and agenda will be the same in terms of daily meals, breaks, and personalized sand scene reflections. However, the clinical immersion and CE component will be an individualized process. We provide the time, space, and safety needed to immerse yourself in your sand scenes and create scenes that reflect your work with clients and those you may supervise.

Our instruction provides an intentional, emergent process for your learning and the time, space, and safety you need. In this purposeful exploration of Narrative Sand Therapy, we offer permission and protection, a heightened presence, a nonjudgmental attitude, and empathy.

Throughout the weekend, as you experience this carefully paced course, you may find insights will emerge from experiencing your depth and heightened attunement to your body. We encourage you to have patience with ambiguity, test boundaries, and dare to lean into the experience and be empowered by our feedback.

What to Expect with the Clinical Immersion Track at the Retreat.

This course addresses the space and time that is necessary to integrate symbol process through immersion – meaningful personal experience and aesthetic congruence. This space is especially relevant to process symbols, imagined stories, and projective images for play therapy and expressive therapies.

Participants will create sand scenes and explore immersion parameters such as process symbols, imagined stories, and projective therapeutic story images. Problems that may emerge in play therapy with different populations will be explored. Our focus will include representations of intersubjectivity in sand scenes, including cultural representations of identity and culturally responsible ways of responding. Congruent clinician skills include wonderment, amplification, silent I-Thou dialogues, active imagination, resonant-kinesthetic pacing, poetics, and metaphors. You will have time to apply and practice with the four principles; permission, protection, empowerment, presence and learn ways to understand and respond to play therapy and all forms of sand therapy.

Objectives for the Clinical Immersion Track and 14 CE Hours:

Participants will:

1. Create three sand scenes, one that represents client process, one that represents supervision process, and one that represents cultural intersubjectivity.
2. Distinguish the limits and accessibility of countertransference when processing sand scenes relevant to play therapy and projective techniques.
3. Distinguish the specific theory and intention/ purpose for use with play therapy clients and in supervision.
4. State specific theories to conceptualize and differentiate symbol process.
5. Describe specific exercises/ practices to become aware of salient attitude/ skills to engage clients/ supervisees for play therapy and expressive arts therapies.
6. Explain the role of the therapist to create safe, meaningful, experience during symbol process in play therapy throughout the lifespan.
7. State the difference between collaborative engagement and traditional power arrangements with expressive therapy.
8. Explain client-centered supervision/ consultation using symbols in sand for art, drama and play therapy.
9. Practice shifting states of awareness/ perception exploring the flow of intuition, knowledge, ability and attitude for aesthetic congruence).
10. State three components of clinical competency that are salient for scope of practice, especially with expressive therapies, play, art and drama projective approaches.
11. Define aesthetic congruence and describe the relevance for the use of symbols in play therapy for clients across cultures and developmental stages.
12. State one aspect of clinical competency that is grounded through immersion and play therapy.
13. State two existential experiences that may be represented and validated during an immersion activity.
14. Describe two benefits for clients when therapists immerse in creative therapies, especially approaches they use with clients for art, drama, play and expressive therapy.
15. State two risks when therapists do not immerse themselves in the expressive therapy they use, especially critical in supervision and in play therapy with children and adolescents.
16. Describe three strategies for therapists to build competency for expressive-projective techniques especially relevant for play therapy and expressive forms of clinical engagement.
17. Explain the role and responsibility of therapists responding to intersubjectivity during expressive and play therapies.