Sandplay Therapy

In Sandplay therapy, a scene is made from figures and objects placed in a box of sand. The construction of the scene is guided almost entirely by choices made by the hands of the clients, while the analyst watches nearby in respectful silence.

Developed by Swiss Jungian Analyst Dora Kalff, – “Sandplay is a form of therapy that gives both child and adult clients the opportunity to portray, rather than verbalise, feelings and experiences often inaccessible and/or difficult to express in words. Sandplay also provides a balance to the extroverted, verbal, and outer–focused everyday world. It can lead to a more open and integrated way of life. In the midst of an age and time that rushes toward the future, the simplicity and depth of Sandplay helps maintain a place of internal integrity as well as a sanctuary for contact with the symbolic world out of which can emerge a healing experience.

The archetypal world expresses itself in symbols; those symbols act as a bridge between our inner and outer worlds. With the use of images (i.e., the miniature on the nearby shelves) in the safe space provided by the analyst, the making of the sand creation begins to unfold. It is in this creative play in the sand where the ancient archetypal patterns that live within us are explored. And it is the very action of Sandplay- that is the viewing, personal choosing, and the placing of the miniatures in the sand – that activates this powerful internal archetypal dimension.

Since Sandplay is one of the few therapeutic techniques in which language skills are unnecessary for understanding the expressions of the psyche, it has truly become a cross–cultural method that is now practised therapeutically worldwide, within this ever-shrinking world. Sandplay now offers us a unique opportunity to view universal archetypal patterns as well as observe the unfolding development of the individual psyche. Harriet S. Friedman, M.A., M.F.T., J.A.