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Workshop Description and Goals

Introduction to Sand Play Therapy
This introductory workshop provides an overview of sand tray play therapy.  How to organize, what is required of the therapist, clinical and theoretical issues, and case vignettes are included.  Participants will have opportunities for hands-on experiences and for building play therapy skills.. 

Prerequisite: None (12 contact hours/2 days) $250 (early fee)

Level 1 - Basic Tools and Methods
This workshop introduces the basic tools and methods of sand tray play therapy for both children and adults. Participants explore the various elements of the sand tray process through hands-on exercises with miniature figurines and sand trays. In the workshop, therapists use individual sand trays to practice and refine basic skills. Prerequisite: Prior knowledge or experience with the sand tray process is helpful but not necessary. (12 contact hours/2 days) $250 (early fee). See goals below.

Level 2 - Symbolic Meaning and Theory
In this workshop, participants discuss and work with symbolic meaning and basic theoretical ideas. There are opportunities to create sand trays in the presence of an observer (workshop partner) and to practice skills using the symbolic language of play. Participants also explore the core issues of play therapy in the sand tray process.  Prerequisites: Level I. (12 contact hours/2 days) $250 (early fee). See goals below.

Level 3 - Basic Clinical Skills and Theory
In this workshop, participants have numerous opportunities to develop specific skills in working with the language of sand tray play therapy. Therapists use exercises to learn when and how to translate play language into verbal language. Each participant has an individual sand tray for practice exercises and for creating individual sand tray worlds. Prerequisites: Levels I and II. (12 contact hours/2 days) $250 (early fee). See goals below.

Level 4 - Advanced Clinical Skills
This workshop includes discussion of professional issues related to diagnosis, treatment planning, transference, and ethical issues of sand tray play therapy. Participants refine and integrate therapeutic skills through hands-on practice with workshop partners. Each participant has an individual sand tray for practice exercises and for creating individual sand tray worlds. Prerequisites: Levels I, II, and III. (12 contact hours/2 days) $250 (early fee). See goals below.

Level 5 - Couples, Families and Group
In this workshop, participants have opportunities for experiencing sand tray play with partners and with small groups and to integrate the therapeutic skills learned in the first four levels of experiential training. Participants use miniature trays as well as large round group trays to explore the sand tray play therapy group process. Prerequisites: Levels I, II, III, and IV. (12 contact hours/2 days) $250 (early fee). See goals below.

Level 6 - Play Therapy Intensive
The focus of this workshop is on integration of various play modalities in therapeutic settings, including sand tray play, costume play, puppets, games, art and storytelling. Through didactic and experiential methods, therapists have opportunities to learn how and when to use various modalities with both child and adult play. There is special emphasis on integrating the sand tray with play therapy and verbal therapy. Prerequisite: Level I. (24 contact hours/4 days) $500 (early fee). See goals below.

Level 7 - Developmental Patterns: Early Childhood Sand Tray Therapy
Participants
explore how early childhood patterns of sandplay appear not only in the very young but also in older children and even adults. This workshop includes experiential exercises, brief lectures and discussion to help participants learn how to identify and support the growing edge of young children. It also provides a focus for how sand tray play therapy collaborates with the brain in its push toward integration throughout the lifespan. Prerequisite: Level I. (12 contact hours/2 days) $250 (early fee). See goals below.

Level 8 - Developmental Patterns: Latency and Adolescent Sand Tray Therapy
Through experiential exercises and didactic methods, participants in this workshop explore patterns of play of adolescents and latency-age children. Participants identify and discuss these patterns of play therapy in terms of the developmental life span. They also learn techniques that are useful for this age group and how to recognize these patterns when they occur in younger or older children and even adults . Prerequisite: Levels I, II and VII (12 contact hours/2 days) $250 (early fee). See goals below.

Level 9 - Developmental Patterns: Adult Sand Tray Therapy
This workshop includes experiential exercise and didactic material relevant to sand tray play therapy with adults.  Participants discuss both practical and theoretical issues of adult sand tray play therapy.  The training also includes skill practice with workshop partners.  Prerequisite: Levels I-VIII (12 contact hours/2 days) $250 (early fee). See goals below.

Level 10 - Grief and Trauma in Sand Tray Therapy
Through experiential exercises and didactic methods, participants in this workshop explore grief and trauma issues and how these issues manifest in sand tray play therapy. Participants explore and discuss case vignettes and theoretical issues.  The training also includes skill practice with workshop partners.  Prerequisite: Levels I-IV (12 contact hours/2 days) $250 (early fee). See goals below.

TOPIC:  Sand and Spirit
This workshop is two days of personal and professional growth through exploration of sand, play and ceremony. Participants use simple art materials and sand tray play therapy to build bridges to the wisdom and guidance that is within. No previous knowledge or artistic skills are required. Co-Presenter:  Wendy Thunderchief, MA.  $250 (early fee).

The workshop will help participants to:

TOPIC:  Sand Tray Group Counseling in Schools and Clinics
The focus of this workshop is the use of sand tray play therapy as a counseling technique with groups in schools or clinics. This workshop includes case vignettes, organizational principles for groups, use of individual sand tray counseling versus group sand tray play, application of sand tray counseling techniques and practical information. Co-Presenter:  Ann Buck, MA, RPT.  Prerequisite: Levels I and II (12 contact hours/2 days) $250 (early fee)

The workshops will help participants to:

TOPIC:  Sand, Play and Art: A Playful Artitude - Integrating Sandplay and Art Making in Play Therapy
Art making and sandplay enhance one another as experiential play therapy modalities. Both modalities integrate sensory, emotional, and imaginative information, registering the actions, feelings, and intentions of participants. This workshop will present case examples, theoretical ideas, practical suggestions and hands-on experiences that will foster the integrative power of sandplay and art making in play therapy settings.     Presenter:  Donna Hanna-Chase, MA.  Prerequisite: None (12 contact hours/2 days) $250 (early fee).

The workshop will help participants to:

TOPIC:  Sand, Play and Art: Healing Grief through Play and Creative Expression
This workshop is designed to tap the unique creative force within us.  Through personal and group art making and sand tray play we will experiment with methods of deep listening.  We will honor the sacred, relentless power within that invites us to be who we are.  We will play, invent, express, support and nurture each other and remind ourselves that inspiration is always available if we speak from its source.  Psychoanalyst Rollo May wrote in Courage to Create, "If you do not express your own original ideas, if you do not listen to your own being, you will have betrayed yourself."     Co-Presenter:  Donna Hanna-Chase, MA.  Prerequisite: None (12 contact hours/2 days) $250 (early fee).

The workshop will help participants to:

TOPIC:  Sand, Play and Art: New Beginnings
Sand tray work offers us ways to help complete the past, be open to the present, and create the future in our imaginations, so that we have an image of our intentions, directions and desires. In this two-day workshop, we will use the creative process (art and sand tray) to courageously peer into the depths of our hearts and minds. We will ask ourselves if our lives are reflecting our hearts' desires - what are our hearts' desires? What truths do we need to know to live these desires? Does fear stop us from finding this truth? If fear did not stop us, what might we be doing differently? Where does the real meaning of our lives reside? Through art making and sand tray, we will invite new connections with our source - our hearts - our creativity and our spirituality.     Co-Presenter:  Donna Hanna-Chase, MA.  Prerequisite: None (12 contact hours/2 days) $250 (early fee).

The workshop will help participants to:

TOPIC:  Sand, Play and Art: Nurturing Mindfulness
Being mindfully present when we sit as witness to our clients may be the most important thing we do in the therapeutic relationship. Research is clearly demonstrating the benefits of mindfulness practices for physical and emotional well-being. Dan Siegel, current neuroscientist, proposes that mindfulness may also be essential in interpersonal relationships and perhaps even in the intrapersonal relationship we have within ourselves. Siegel also suggests that the interpersonal and the intrapersonal may be inextricably linked in our socially-oriented brains. The implications for this inner-outer connection may be critical to successful therapeutic practice.

In this workshop we will explore the concept that mindfulness allows us to live our daily lives more fully as we awaken from “life on automatic” allowing ourselves to experience what is. We will learn methods of “letting go” and opening up” to strengthen our therapeutic witnessing skills. We will find new ways to relate to the inner critic so that we and our clients may open up to the inner realms of compassion and self acceptance. The workshop content, experiential exercises and interactive talks will help us clarify how the practice of mindfulness impacts what we do when we offer sand, play and art activities to our clients. Participants will have numerous opportunities to develop play therapy, art therapy and sandplay therapy skills.

The workshop will help participants to:

Co-Presenter:  Donna Hanna-Chase, MA.  Prerequisite: None (12 contact hours/2 days) $250 (early fee)

TOPIC:  Storytelling in Play Therapy, Sand Tray and All of Life
This workshop explores concepts of storytelling in play therapy and sand tray therapy as building blocks for mental integration.   We will learn to use storytelling and image thinking to help clients resolve problems. Through lecture, case studies, hands-on experiences and journal writing, we will develop a conceptual framework for the central role of play and storytelling in therapeutic practice. Prerequisite: None (12 contact hours/2 days) $250 (early fee).

The workshop will help participants to:

Consult:  Sandplay Group Consultation for Therapists
Participants will present case material related to sand tray play therapy for consultation purposes.  Presentations will consist of videotapes, art work, sand tray photos, treatment plans, case notes and other relevant materials. Therapists also have opportunities to incorporate sand tray play as part of the consultation process.  Groups are small to allow for individual attention.  Limit: 8 participants.
Request individual brochure for schedule and cost.  Fees vary according to the number of contact hours and the number of participants who register.  Prerequisites:  Level I and II of Sand Tray Training Workshops and Individual Interview.

The workshop will help participants to:

 

Workshop Goals, Levels 1-10

Core Workshops (Introductory and Levels 1 through 10):

The workshops will help participants to:

 

Individual Consultation Sessions:

Individual Sand Tray sessions are recommended prior to or concurrent with training workshops. Please inquire about special rates if you have completed or are registered for the Level I workshop.

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