What is Sandtray Therapy?

Sandtray Play Therapy is a healing addition to most traditional kinds of talking therapy. It has non-verbal and verbal capacities that help clients to address their pain and life stories. Sandtray therapy is defined by Homeyer and Sweeney (1998) as an expressive and projective mode of psychotherapy involving the unfolding and processing of intra- and inter-personal issues  through the use of specific sandtray materials as a nonverbal medium of communication, led by the client and facilitated by a trained therapist. 

Sandtray Is:

It has a kinesthetic quality and can be soothing.

It can be indirect and easier to explore feelings, experiences and trauma through figures.

It can be cathartic.

It can include the whole family.  Many families enjoy telling stories in the sand.

It is metaphorical.  Metaphors can be very powerful in our story telling.

It can foster deep self disclosure and can be easier than talking.