February Announcements

Hello Sandplay Enthusiasts,

Dr. Preston-Dillon is just back from VAPT's winter conference at Regent University in Virginia Beach where she presented Narratives in the Sand: Practice and Ethics for Metaphors in Play Therapy on Friday and Exploring Sand Therapy in the Supervision of Play Therapists on Saturday. Almost 100 attendees including seasoned clinicians, faculty, and graduate students, worked in groups to explore the power of cultural experience in sand, boundaries and caution for sand therapy, the value of play therapy to help build counselor connection with clients, the importance of self reflection and personal work to increase counselor skills using play therapy, and ways to incorporate narrative ideas in play therapy supervision.

~~ Our next training opportunity is on March 14th with Ethics, Supervision, and Clinical Practice: Three Dimensions for Play Therapists, Supervisors, Clinicians, and Students. Space is currently available. Please request a registration form at sandplayvoices@cultureplay.com if interested. This workshop will be held in College Park and directions are sent when registration is received.

~~  On Friday, March 19th, Dr. Preston-Dillon will present Identifying Archetypes in the Sandtray: An Experiential Exploration for  Clinicians and Supervisors in Play Therapy  Cosponsored by the Virginia Association for Play Therapy and the Phoenix Family Counseling & Play Therapy Center, PLL this training will take place in Gainesville VA. It runs from 10 am to 4 pm, provides 6 CE. For registration and information, contact Liz Fong: contacteliteprogram@gmail.com http://www.phoenixfamilycounseling.com

~~ Dr. Preston-Dillon will present Amplifying Cultural Worlds: Meaning and Integrity in Sandplay at the 2010 National Sandplay Conference in June at Boulder, Colorado. Email us for information.

~~  We have been asked about offering week day training opportunities. Before we can set one up, we'd like to ask how many of you would be interested in attending during a week day instead of a weekend. You may want to create personalized day-long training for your staff, or let us know you’d like a weekday training and what kind of training you would like. Please email sandplayvoices@cultureplay.com and let us know your interest.

~~  A clarification: Our July 11 & 12 Ethics workshop notes that personal consults are combined with the training. This is an offer to set up individual consultations for a separate fee over the same weekend specifically for those who come from a distance. They are not included with the workshop fee. Consults are available at other times, also, through appointment.

~~  Sandplay Voices Network Coordinator Loraine Hunsaker (writing as LK Hunsaker), has a new novel out titled Off The Moon.  The story involves a teenage girl dealing with loss and abuse, and a self-absorbed pop star who pulls her in from a window ledge and provides a safe haven. The story includes counseling issues, specifically creative counseling and family relationships.  For more information about the book, see http://www.lkhunsaker.com/OffTheMoon/main.htm or ElucidatePublishing.net where there is a book club guide.

~~ Sometimes we are asked how our training in sand therapy differs from other training. In brief, Dr. Preston-Dillon was trained in Jungian Sandplay and over the last 25 years has incorporated narrative, humanistic and existential approaches. Training and consulting defines her practice; it is not an incidental she does on the side. Her doctoral research and writing focus on sand and she continues to work on theoretical foundations for the phenomenal experience of symbolic work and transformation in sand.