Sandtray Therapy
What is sandtray therapy?
It is a form of expressive therapy. Sandtray Therapy allows a person to construct his or her own story using miniature figures and sand. The story created can be a reflection of the person’s own life and allows them to resolve conflicts, remove obstacles, and gain acceptance of self.
How sandtray therapy helps
This type of therapy is often used with children, but can be applied to adults, teens, couples, families, and groups as well. Many children are unable to verbalize emotional states, particularly in the face of trauma, neglect, or abuse. This method of therapy serves as a valuable and powerful outlet for children and an incredibly insightful method of gaining access to traumatic experiences.
FAQs
It was developed by Margaret Lowenfeld in London in the 1920’s. Humans think in images and not words, they can see their world in the sandtray story. She discovered it was very beneficial for children because of their limited verbal ability express feelings.
The non-verbal nature of Sandtray Therapy and the familiar medium of sand can help children achieve feelings of comfort and security. With little instruction from the therapist, the child is free to play and develop his or her own expression of situations. Often the children will experience a sense of independent play and will begin making assumptions and behavior changes without cues from the therapist.
Sandtray Therapy can be combined to tell the child’s story as EMDR allows the brain to heal the child’s mixed up thoughts about an event or feeling. It can also be integrated into play therapy.
Figures and objects from culture and nature symbolize events and situations in our inner and outer life. Children select and place objects, while moving the sand to create scenes expressing their deepest concerns.
Additional Information
Sandtray Therapy Video
While play is a fun activity that can help a child learn, it can also be used to help children who have experienced trauma, learn coping skills. Well take a look at the benefits of sand play therapy. 0 to 5 in 30 Minutes! is a product of Valley Public Television. The program is sponsored by First 5 Fresno County, First 5 Tulare County, and First 5 Madera County.
