Sand Tray Therapy
“Crisis means to sift ~ like a child who goes to the beach, lifts up the sand, and watches all the sand fall away, hoping that there’ s treasure left over.”
– Glennon Doyle Melton
Sand tray therapy is an effective tool for transformation. The simplicity of its process and the fact that it may appear to be only ‘playing with sand’, hides its potential to bring healing and promote change.
The relaxing quality of touching the sand brings a sense of calm that allows fears and tension to fall away and brings people into a place of concentrated relaxation.
The therapist can provide miniature objects and toys with which the child can create a world within the boundaries of the sand tray.
Alongside the empathetic guidance of the therapist the child may work through the conflicts and difficulties they are facing in a safe and contained way.
The marks made in the sand as they are erased and redrawn can enter the realm of symbols and help suggest solutions and different ways of regarding circumstances that are not present to the conscious mind.
This non threatening and peaceful form of therapy is effective and transformative.
