Sandplay heals

Sandplay therapy is based on Jungian theory. Carl Jung (1875-1961) was a Swiss psychiatrist and psychoanalyst. According to Jung, the integration of our internal and external worlds is essential for our wholeness. Otherwise, we are driven by unconscious invisible energies of our inner world, or we over-conform and limit ourselves to the external expectations of our society. Our task is not to suppress or ignore parts of self, but to get to know our other side so that we can enjoy and control our own resources and capacities, and become the integrated whole person that we are meant to be.

Why sandplay therapy for children?

In sandplay therapy, children are provided with the opportunity to create a world that reflects their inner state. During sandplay therapy sessions, the children create their inner world in a sand tray, using the miniature figures on the shelves around the tray. In this way, through undisturbed and creative play, the child constructs a threedimensional world that makes the inner picture visible, and, by doing so, establishes a link between their internal and the external worlds. This is a non-verbal therapy, and is often an easier medium for children to use to convey what is troubling them, especially when they lack the words to describe what they are feeling or where or why they are hurting.

The sand tray and sand

In sandplay therapy, the sand tray, which corresponds with our field of vision, provides a free and protected space for children to make visible their inner states. There usually are two trays. One contains dry sand and the other moist. The child chooses one or the other tray in which to create their world or story. The sand itself is ancient and associated with timelessness. When children engage the sand in the tray, they exit ordinary time and space, and enter a place that is transformative and healing.

The miniature figures

The miniature figures on the shelves around the tray represent the external world in which the children live, and well as their inner imaginative world. The figures include wild and domesticated animals, trees, plants, stones, shells, ordinary people, fantasy and fairy-tale figures, religious figures, symbolic items, houses, bridges, vehicles, boats and ships, etc.

A session

At the start of a session, I explain the sandplay process. The children are encouraged to create a story or picture in the tray using the figures and items on the shelves. I give no further instructions or prompts, and settle down quietly near the tray, making notes. Children usually work in silence; sometimes they engage me with questions or comments. It is during the creating of the world or picture, which reflects the inner state of the child, that there is a move towards integrating the inner and outer worlds of the child. After each session, once the children have left, I take photographs of the tray. These photographs are part of a record of the entire process, and assist with the detection of changes or movement in the child’s inner world. After at least four such sandplay sessions, the process to date is reviewed with the parent/s or caregiver/s. It’s important to know that the healing power of sandplay is in the actual process of creating a picture or story of the inner world and bringing it into awareness. It is the actual making of the picture that renders the troubling and hurtful visible, and leads the child to a more conscious awareness and understanding of the cause of pain. This experience often reveals itself in the more positive or constructive behaviour and attitude of the child in the external world. Inner tensions and uncertainties have been resolved, and acting out, for example, is no longer necessary or useful to the child.

References

Kalff, D. M. (1991). Introduction to Sandplay Therapy. Journal of Sandplay Therapy, 1(1), 1-4.

Turner, B. A. (2005). The Handbook of Sandplay Therapy. Temenos Press.