Sand Tray Therapy: I am always learning and finding ways to improve my skills as a counselor to best serve our students. Last year I added a new tool for my counseling sessions. I attended two extensive trainings and am now Sand Tray-level II certified, which means that I will be practicing it in the schools. I love it and am so excited to use this technique. Sand tray therapy is a dynamic process in which students/clients use miniature figurines, trays of sand, and sometimes water, to create miniaturized versions of their worldviews.
My job is to witness this process and provide a safe container (the sand tray) in which the child is free to explore and create whatever he/she needs to. In other words, the child can create his/her world. Because the sand tray process is a nonverbal medium, it can access experience that lies beyond the reach of language-sometimes digging into the unconscious. It is also true though, that language can help the client to make meaning out of what is created, and by telling their story to a caring and attentive therapist/counselor, the student can often develop a deeper understanding of the issues at hand. When students can create and recreate their own miniature worlds in this way, they often can integrate and master what has previously been disjointed, painful and chaotic.
In short, students are able to work with their worldviews/experiences on a comfortable scale and let things go. By letting go of these negative experiences/thoughts, space clears for new ways of experiencing and interacting with the world.
After the child completes a sand tray, I will take pictures of them to bring home if they choose to do so. They are quiet fascinating. It is a fun and affective way to deal with the realities of life 