What is Sand Tray Therapy?
Often children do not have the words or intellectual understanding to gain insight into their challenges, or to find the solutions for them. (Of course, this is also true for many adults!)
At Asheville Family Counseling, sand tray therapy provides an opportunity for the child to represent in images what is happening in their inner and/or outer world. The images become a language through which they can communicate unconscious material to the counselor and to her/himself, resulting in greater understanding, healing, and creative problem solving.
Like art therapy (which I also offer), sand tray therapy allows the child to create aspects of their issues with symbolic objects. What’s more, a child can move the objects and change their scene at any moment. This process of play helps the child move from feeling powerless to powerful. Our whole culture seems designed to make kids feel small and insignificant. Through sand tray therapy the child’s path to inner courage and resiliency is revealed!
How is Sand Tray Therapy introduced?
When I introduce sand tray therapy, I let the child know that they can make anything in the sand they wish. It’s important they understand that there’s no right or wrong way to play in the sand. They may ask me to participate and then I follow their lead. However, I don’t direct or correct anything. (Parents may also be present for the session, and I ask them to follow their child’s lead as well.)
For example, sometimes kids want me to be “the bad guy.” We just go with whatever they want, and we don’t feel compelled to find a resolution to the conflict. The play therapy develops as we hold and honor their creations just the way they are.
After a child has completed their world (generally 10 minutes of set-up and about 20 minutes of play), I’ll ask them to be my guide and tell me all about their world and what is going on there.
With a young child, I often use a puppet named “Trip” (for his three eyes!) that looks like an alien. I pretend that they are a friendly visitor from another planet. Therefore they know nothing about the child’s way of life so that s/he will need to explain everything. Most kids enjoy pretending like this, but if they don’t like it I’ll find other ways to connect with them and their world.
How much time does a Sand Tray Therapy session take?
A 50-minute session should be plenty of time for the child to create their world and talk about it. If they say they need longer, I suggest we take a photo of the scene and say we can pick it back up where we left off the next time. This has always helped. (Incidentally, I ask permission from all my clients to take photos throughout the session so that we can refer back to them as needed.)
How can a parent introduce Sand Tray Therapy to their child?
As for how to present this to your child, I recommend a very open and honest approach. A few days before the session you could say, “Hey, remember when (an upsetting incident happened) and you got upset?” (You can explore this event more or not.)
“I didn’t really know how to help you through that, so I called a lady who works with families. She helps make sure everyone is getting what they need when they’re upset. We go to her office and play with something called a sand tray (like a sandbox on a table). She also has lots of miniature figures and you create a mini ‘(insert name of child)’ world. She says kids have a lot of fun with it. Does this sound like something you’d like to do?”
Of course, if they say no, we can definitely explore other options. Sometimes it helps to express it more as a thing they could do to help you. Using the above example, you could make it explicit that you want to get more support for helping them when they get upset. You could say something like, “We could go and play together and I’ll learn how to help you better when you get upset. Would you be willing to help me with that?”
If you’d like to find out more, click the button below and schedule a free, 15-minute call with me. We’ll discuss how sand tray therapy may help your child and/or your family.