Sand Therapy Case Consultations

Beginning May 8th!

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Narrative Sand at The Ferentz Institute, June 6

CLICK ON THE IMAGE FOR  MORE INFO

The Clinician's Journey Pt.2: A Series on Sand Therapy

A Series on Sand ... The Clinician's Journey


Each installment of this miniseries addresses some aspect of the series questions posed in part 1.  This episode touches on potential problems, differences in theory and practice, and hence has relevance for ethics, competency, and training differences. The scope of these briefs is limited to allow exploration of essential features rather than being a comprehensive, in-depth exploration.


Series Questions to Consider

• What should we consider regarding ethical use of sand, principles and best practice guidance?
• What is the role of the clinician using sand and symbols with clients?
• What clinician preparation; professional-theoretical preferences, attitudes, and perceptual ability are essential for clinician use of sand?
• What are the key distinctions in theory and practice among sand therapies?

Sand therapy and its various theoretical approaches add a rich and beneficial component to a clinician’s ability to conceptualize, comprehend, and respond to his/ her clients. Competency with specific approaches to sand therapy will vary significantly. Because of this preparation, attitude, clinical insights, interventions, and training will vary in quite significant ways. Clinician ability with sand relies on theory, philosophical roots, a specific skill set, and a clearly defined role of the therapist. The enormous difference in clinician ability is one reason we must be careful with terminology, claims of efficacy, training, ethical parameters, and use.

Theory provides the framework that defines therapist perspective and interventions which can make a substantial difference in client experience.  Work with sand and symbols often complements a therapist’s primary theoretical leaning which may include trauma work, family systems, mindfulness, positive psychology,  therapeutic metaphors, analytic analysis, and various cognitive, humanistic, and post-modern approaches.  However, a therapist schooled solely in pre-mindful cognitive-behavior interventions must be exceptionally careful to avoid defaulting to behavioral directives, questioning, attitude, and interventions since work with sand therapy, a projective technique, is complex requiring special boundaries and safety from therapist projections.  Clinician curiosity, sense of power, and the drive toward instruction can easily cause the therapist to cross appropriate boundaries. On the other hand, many will handle this more gracefully, such as a trained art therapist, a practitioner of Milton Erickson’s therapeutic metaphors, clinicians who are well-practiced in mindfulness, and those skilled in Jungian process will have perhaps greater ease. This flows from a practiced intuitive resonance with symbol meanings, and well-honed witnessing and containment abilities when using sand.

Sand therapy is a wonderful play therapy approach that engages the imagination of clinician and client, and is fairly flexible regarding theoretical leaning. However, nomenclature is sometimes confusing. The terms Sandplay and sandtray are often used interchangeably and this is problematic if we wish to keep the integrity of the process. For example, Sandplay therapists take extensive training in Jungian conceptualization of symbols in sand, and they complete a series of personal sand scenes often taking a year or two. To use the term Sandplay implies that one has this specialized background. Sandtray, an American appropriation of Sandplay, most often relies on Rogerian Person-Centered or Adlerian perspectives to conceptualize the client’s work in sand. No training or personal process is required with sand but the clinician may be highly skilled in Person-Centered therapy.

One particular problem, more serious than nomenclature is authority. For example, too often clinics and mental health agencies encourage masters’ level interns to use sandtray with clients without prior training. There are several issues. An intern’s early perception and experience with one population will have no comparative basis for grasping important differences with other populations and problems; lack of a well-informed foundation gives ways to bias and assumptions about the purpose and process for using sand; open-ended permission from clinical authority (supervisors, licensing agencies, clinical directors) can leave the impression that use of sand without significant training is acceptable and efficacious. Permission once given to encourage intern exploration without authorial stipulations to obtain real grounding in the use of sand leaves open the door to use sand in future practice with no challenge to clinician suppositions and clinical habits. We’ve set a precedent for potential misuse.

Besides nomenclature and misjudgment of authority another gap to address is the practice of continuing education. Clinicians, pressed with an exhausting schedule, intense cases, and little self-care must organize their quite limited time to obtain required credits toward their license. The rich array of offerings in conferences and local trainings are a great support for continued growth. It all makes sense if we don’t look too closely at the implications. Continuing education courses, online and face-to-face, are supposed to support professional development within certain parameters. The ideal centers on therapists learning new interventions, ethics and best practices, obtain needed credits, and leave the experience rejuvenated. Presenters have an opportunity to offer emerging ideas, and professional associations bring in a financial base to continue. Everyone should be happy. But there is a gap in this process when it comes to sand therapy. A one-day conference presentation or workshop can be an excellent introduction. However, time is simply not available to present critical aspects of theory, ethics, complex practice skills, and a safe private in-depth experience of their own. When using sand therapy much more is involved, and essential to support clinician competency and his/her capacity to conceptualize, comprehend, and respond to clients and their sand scenes.

Sand and symbols opens the way for representations trauma, of client grief and loss, especially those experiences most difficult to share with others; the experience and emotions for which one is unable to speak. The client places images in the sand tray while the facilitator keeps a mostly silent, safe, mindful presence, a highly tuned resonance with the emerging images and the client. If the client chooses to share parts of his/her sand scene the facilitator must be a trusted witness, listen with care for layers of meaning, remain in the present, honing immediacy to resonate more fully -- in a stillness that attends to the tone and tenor of the sand scene and client story. The clinician is witness and guardian, acknowledging the deeply felt experience of the client – and ways they themselves are moved. The process is empowering, honoring grief and layers of loss as well as the client’s special strengths and unique story. We are the gatekeepers for the integrity and safety of this process. It is through our own immersion we gain insight, the ability to resonate with client and sand scene, strengthen our boundaries, and validate the healer within.

Dee Preston-Dillon, Ph.D.
The Center for Culture and Sandplay, Brandywine Studio
dee@thecreativeclinician.com

The Center for Culture and Sandplay Brandywine Studio

A Space Created for clinicians . . . . 

Staff Retreats . . . .  Small Cohort Group Training . . . . Self-Care Consultations . . .  Private and On-Site Consultations . . . . Graduate Student Groups

©Dee Preston-Dillon, Ph.D. All Rights Reserved.
To share article, please use a link directly to this site. Other sharing prohibited.

The Relevance of Symbols in Sand Therapy: Heroines and Cultural Tenor

The Relevance of Symbols in Sand Therapy: Heroines and Cultural Tenor

                     

Dee Preston-Dillon, Ph.D. 

·         What is the relevance of figurines in a sand scene beyond the story the client shares?

·         Why should a therapist research symbols?

·         How can we study symbols and avoid concretizing meanings or unethically project our own assumptions onto the client?

Nomenclature: I use the overarching term sand therapy to refer to a general use of sand no matter one’s theory lens. A bibliography is available at the end.

Imagination, and all forms of creativity -- art, icons, poetry, music, myths, storytelling, dance, and rituals -- are an integral part of our humanity, our shared cultural connections steeped in the symbolic.

We create symbols that serve our neurological, cultural, idiosyncratic, and aesthetic needs.

We bring this capacity to sand therapy, and, when the process is kept safe for unbounded imagination, spontaneous play, and witnessed with full, respectful presence

We have healing.

Download full article from Google Drive

Download Bibliography from Google Drive

©2016 Dee Preston-Dillon, Ph.D. All Rights Reserved. Download for educational purposes only.

The Clinician's Journey: A Series on Sand Therapy

A Series on Sand Therapy  . . .  The Clinician’s Journey

• What should we consider regarding ethical use of sand, principles and best practice guidance?
• What is the role of the clinician using sand and symbols with clients?
• What clinician preparation; professional-theoretical preferences, attitudes, and perceptual ability are essential for clinician use of sand?
• What are the key distinctions in theory and practice among sand therapies?

These are a few of the questions I will address in a series of mini briefs on clinical use of sand and symbols in the Maryland/ DC Play Therapy Newsletter. These are critical questions, especially given the easy access to sand trays and objects. To understand an ethical context we have to unpack presuppositions that come with licensure across the mental health disciplines, the presumed authority and power that comes with various career positions, assumptions embedded in certifications, and careful discernment regarding training-marketing-CE features. We should consider purpose, power, and potential for both healing and devastation.

Problems with this remarkable projective process, sand therapy and its various approaches include where sand is situated within institutions and the authority related to its use, how we match theory with practice (this is a source of considerable client damage), clinician competency and preparation, and dilution of content in training/CEs. Too often we assume too much, rushing to use a projective technique, using sand as a promotional feature, dismissing potential problems, and remain unaware of the inappropriate, damaging use of sand. These are a few of the serious distortions in knowledge, skills, and practice that become problematic for clients, clinicians, sand specialists, and the profession.

There is a tremendous need for non-verbal clinical approaches such as sand that are healing for trauma, vital for non-verbal clients, and nourishing for clients with complex developmental issues. There is a need for the powerful healing, repairing capacity of sand therapy. However, if we do not slow down and examine this precious resource, what clinicians should be doing and should not be doing, we will continue to foster damaging unethical uses.

Reflecting on over thirty five years studying sand therapies and decades consulting with clinicians who use sand I see the exceptional compassion and healing qualities therapists bring to clients – the remarkable healing power of sand and symbol when the therapist is prepared – skilled in the use of interventions that follow the lead of the client, clinicians who invest time to hone their perceptual ability with a keen self-awareness. Unfortunately, I also hear the stories of children and adults who had the painful, re-wounding experience of sand – the therapist had his or her own agenda, the therapist tried to make the scene into something it was not, the therapist was more interested in the tray than the client, the therapist’s curiosity took precedence, the therapist did not know what to do with the scene and forced an issue. These stories reflect damage resulting from inappropriate use of sand and symbols. Hope rests on the integrity of all of us, graduate student to seasoned clinicians, to respect the power and preparation for using sand.

It is our responsibility to examine and set straight the misinformation and distortions resulting from diluted training and preparation, uninformed directives from management or supervision, implied readiness from internship/course instructors, and our own lack of self-awareness – presumed competencies. And there is also the waste of time with exasperating professional competition. Unfortunately we could inadvertently perpetuate these problems, generate misunderstanding, disregard the importance of clinician insights, blindly follow power or status, opt for convenience, and dismiss the vulnerabilities entailed in engagement with such depth when we choose to not question, when we avoid a reasoned unpacking. Better that we examine our rational, our reasons and practices – in training, clinical work, graduate education, and licensure.

I hope to strike a balance in this mini-series between offering tips for competent use of sand and still unpack the presuppositions, distortions, and alienating aspects of the use of sand. My goal is discernment. I hope to distinguish marketing objectives (toys, training) and implied permissions embedded in license, from essential attitudes-skills-insight – to offer light for attunement to the healing process.


©Dee Preston-Dillon, Ph.D. All Rights Reserved.
To share article, please use a link directly to this site. Other sharing prohibited.

Symbols in the Sand - June 10-12, 2016

Dr. Preston-Dillon will be presenting Symbols in the Sand: An Interactive Exploration for Play Therapists and Others at the 4th annual Mid-Atlantic Play Therapy Training Institute, June 10-12 in Arlington VA. For details and registration, see www.playtherapytraining.org or https://www.smore.com/usttq

Updates 2015

We are in the process of updating. More to come soon!

Upcoming Presentations, Retreats, and Training

March 6 – 10

West Virginia Clinician Retreat - Clinician Self-Care: Competency Grounded in Permission, Protection and Empowerment

April 12 – 14  

Alexandria, VA  First Annual Play Therapy Training Institute -- Nurturing the Clinician: Re-Energizing through Sand, Symbols, and Narrative

May 2 - 3  

Baltimore, MD  Advanced Psychotherapy Institute – Trauma and Countertransference: Through the Lens of Sand Therapy

 

Email sandplayvoices[at]gmail.com for more info.

New Site and the rest of the Winter Schedule

Sandplay Voices is now a branch of Dr. Preston-Dillon's Creative Clinician site.

http://www.TheCreativeClinician.com

There you'll find information about Dr. Dee's work and training philosophy, as well as educational resources. This blog will stay open and in use so please sign up to receive email updates when we post.

Go HERE to see the January 2013 newsletter.

There is also a link to the right where you can subscribe to our free newsletter which comes out once a month. It will include the newest happenings, special events, and training opportunities.

Please note that our February 24th training listed in the schedule earlier has been cancelled due to a scheduling conflict. Following are our available workshops to be held in Brandywine, Maryland, with 6 or fewer attendees. Sign up while there is still space by emailing us at [dee at thecreativeclinician.com]


Narratives in the Sand: The Power of Metaphors
6 hrs. $ 180. FEB. 9   Saturday 10 am – 4 pm

Advanced Narrative Sand Therapy
6 hrs. $ 180. MARCH 2 Saturday 10 am – 4 pm

Advanced Sand Therapy
12 hrs. $ 340. MARCH 17 & 18 Sunday & Monday 10 am – 4 pm

Winter Schedule 2012-13

Individual consultations and private groups are arranged separately from the Scheduled Training below.

All training is kept to 6 or fewer participants

Ethics in Sand Therapy: Supervision and Clinical Practice  3 hrs.  $90.
NOV. 17 Saturday  1:00 pm – 4:00 pm 


Grief and Loss: The Clinician’s Journey  6 hrs.  $ 180.
NOV. 26  Monday  9:30 am – 3:00 pm

Transformation: Spiritual Journeys in the Sand  6 hrs.  $ 180.
JAN. 5  Saturday  10:00 pm – 4:00 pm

Ethics in Sand Therapy: Supervision and Clinical Practice  3 hrs.  $90.
JAN. 13 Sunday  1:00 pm – 4:00 pm

Narratives in the Sand: The Power of Metaphors  6 hrs.  $ 180.
FEB. 9  Saturday  10:00 pm – 4:00 pm

Jungian Sandplay Therapy  6 hrs.  $ 180.
FEB. 24  Sunday  10:00 pm – 4:00 pm

Advanced Narrative Sand Therapy   6 hrs.  $ 180.
MARCH 2  Saturday  10:00 pm – 4:00 pm

Advanced Sand Therapy  12 hrs.  $ 340.
MARCH 17 & 18  Sunday & Monday  10:00 pm – 4:00 pm


Email sandplayvoices at gmail.com for registration and information.

Essentials of Sand Therapy at Allegany College MD

 Essentials of Sand Therapy: Principles and Practice
Dee Preston Dillon, PhD 

Allegany College of Maryland
Monday, October 8 

Contact: Christa A. Snyder, Human Services Coordinator
casnyder [at] allegany.edu  301-784-5530


Six Hour Training

Course Description and Objectives
 Witnessing, Containment, Reflection and Responding, Amplification and Facilitation are core components for effective sand therapy – both sandplay and sand tray. This workshop presents the basic theoretical foundation for sand therapy, the difference between Jungian Sandplay and sand tray therapy, and  demonstrates the skill sets for each of these four areas.

Our goal is safe and competent sand therapy no matter the clinician’s theoretical orientation. This training presents both theory and experiential practice.
Purpose: Through a graduated process this training will help participants

* Conceptualize ways for using sand with diverse  populations.* Explore ways to understand and respond to sand scenes especially with a mindful presence.

*  Understand the role of the clinician to witness and contain activity in the sand.

*  Gain initial skills for creating a safe and protected space for client use of sand.

* Appreciate the rigor, depth, skills, and process that ground sand therapy and clinician efficacy.


Upon completion of this workshop participants will:

*  Describe the function of symbols to bridge intrapsychic  phenomena with a client’s life world, and externalize trauma and developmental injunctions.

*  Point out how sand is a projective process wherein the  role of the clinician and the client differ from other play therapy approaches.

*  Describe the ethics for professional training, the role of the clinician, and the four grounding components for clinical use of sand: Witnessing, Containment, Reflection and Responding, Amplification and Facilitation.

-- Please register with Christa (contact info above) by 26 September to insure your space!

CEs for Social Workers and Counselors

Advanced Sand Therapy

With Dr. Preston-Dillon

CEs for Social Workers and Counselors

§  Private Sessions & Case Consultation

·       Monthly Small Group meetings

o   Staff On-Site Training

§  Retreats in Sand Therapy

·       One and Two-Day Workshops

Certificate in Sand Therapy

A continuation of our professional development courses and consults since 2000

Our certificate is grounded in theory and research, case analysis, integrity in sand practice, and guidance to adapt sand therapy to your client population.

Specializations in Sand Therapy:

         Narrative Sand Therapy

                 Metaphors in Sand Therapy

                          Jungian Sandplay Therapy

For Information, to reserve or participate in a small group and for individual consults

Contact: Dee Preston-Dillon, Ph.D.

Email [sandplayvoices at gmail.com] for details.

Our 2012 Training Schedule

ADVANCED SAND THERAPY Workshops 2012
Dee Preston-Dillon, Ph.D.

Private workshops for staff and colleagues can be set up anytime. For those who wish to join a small gathering the fall schedule follows. All sessions are kept to 6 or fewer participants. Course objectives and descriptions will be sent on request. Additional dates upon request.

Narrative Sand Therapy
Sunday August 19

Advanced Sand Therapy
Sunday September 2

Narrative Sand Therapy
Monday September 10

Advanced Sand Therapy
Sunday and Monday October 21 and 22

Narrative Sand Therapy
Sunday November 4

Advanced Sand Therapy
Saturday November 10

For further info: sandplayvoices at gmail.com

November Presentations

Dr. Preston-Dillon will present at the MACD Conference on November 11th, and will offer a workshop through the Institute for Advanced Psychotherapy Training and Education, Inc. on November 14th.


Friday, November 11 Sand, Symbols and Metaphors: The Depths of Wellness for Counselor and Client
MACD annual conference
John Hopkins University, Columbia Center
For information, visit http://www.mdcounseling.org where you can find a printable flyer and program listing.


Monday, November 14th
Healing Trauma Through Narrative Sand Therapy
The Institute for Advanced Psychotherapy Training and Education, Inc.
For registration and information: http://events.r20.constantcontact.com/register/event?oeidk=a07e46n2j7ce7624b85
   

March Announcements

A New Location for the Center for Culture and Sandplay

We are moving to Brandywine, Maryland

Dear Colleagues,

It has been a joy to work with you here in College Park for the past ten years. We are now taking the next step in our transition and moving to Brandywine, Maryland. The move will likely be in the setting-up stage during the month of May.

There have been so many meaningful sand sessions at the Center for Culture and Sandplay. For many of you there were significant moments of transformation in the sand with your colleagues. The memories of your work will be carried forward, metaphorically, in the symbols you used. Your work has been profound, bridging individual unconscious healing with transpersonal human spirit. Thank you for your presence, the gift of depth, and the honor to witness your representations in sand.

Our move to Brandywine includes a magical morph from our 4-room collection of symbols to a smaller but separate space of its own. In any transition there is grief -- a letting go - a growing forward. Once we are set up in the new space I will plan an open house and will be delighted to welcome you to take in the new world of symbols.

I will continue with individual and small group consults through March and probably most of April before I pack. If you wish to do a personal scene before we move please let me know. More about advanced training below.

We welcome your continued support. I am able to pass along what I have learned because of your referrals. You understand the integrity we hold for the work in sand as we continue to support your work with clients. I will now take a deep breath and move forward with the transition to a new space, a new formation of symbols, and a new professional practice.

With Much Gratitude, Dr.Dee


~~ ~~
TRAINING OPPORTUNITIES

April: Trauma Healing Through Narrative Sand Therapy
(for Level II participants and advanced practitioners)
presenter: Dee Preston-Dillon, Ph.D.
Thursday, April 28th 8:45-4:00pm
Contact: The Institute of Advanced psychotherapy
http://www.lisaferentz.com/

March: Dr. Preston-Dillon is presenting The Power of Symbols and Metaphors at the Johns Hopkins University, graduate counseling student organization.

Summer: We are planning to do one retreat at a retreat facility, and one workshop at the Brandywine location. Details will be announced when finalized.

~~ ~~
ADVANCED TRAINING IN SAND

Philosophy: Advanced training in the clinical use of sand helps therapists to focus on the process of co-transference. While an introduction to sand should offer a wide range of ideas for work with diverse populations, boundaries for responding to clients, and the appropriate use of sand; advanced work offers clinicians experience and feedback to deepen insights and skills.

And, while an introduction to sand can be done in a large group, advanced sessions require more safety, immediacy, and presence to participants' sand scenes. These three principles are absolutely vital to authentic reflection on the process. Therapists must have a sense of the primacy of confidentiality and integrity while in training. Without in-depth exploration the use of sand remains an external observation and vulnerable to clinician projections. The danger is that the process begins to serve the therapist rather than the client. Without practiced boundaries and insight into personal dynamics there is the risk of misappropriation of sand and manipulation of the process. Advanced training to understand and respond to client work involves more practiced ways to conceptualize and facilitate sand therapy.

Over the last decade, in our efforts to follow best practices and ethical considerations, our advanced training has remained focused on small groups and individual work. In the traditions of Kalffian sandplay training, we encourage clinicians to pursue individual work in sand, to immerse in a series of sand scenes, and study case work and the literature.


Private Consults Continue through April . . .

The Clinician Must Have Time to Pause . . . to Honor the Healer Within.

Advanced individual sessions are not therapy. Advanced sessions provide safety for a meaning-filled experience, for quiet reflection away from the exposure inevitable in large trainings. An hour and a half to explore the connection between symbols and self honors the healer within. Clinicians who come for individual and small group consults often share how valuable insights culled here ripple out to their clients. Our focus: to engage your creative self through symbols and metaphors . . . to amplify clinical sensibilities, and to honor the depth of insights within.

For an appointment for private consultations, to join a small group, or set up a staff retreat please email your request to sandplayvoices@cultureplay.com. Private consults are for clinicians of any specialization; not only for sand therapists. Consults are set on a once-a-month basis. Each 90 minute session is $120, and $160 for two hours. For colleagues who travel for a series of sessions we will assist with locating local accommodations.

IMAGINE

Please keep our creativity consults in mind for your colleagues in non-clinical professions. IMAGINE is our framework to offer sessions to enhance creativity and explore personal narrative -- yoga for the creative soul.


~~ ~~
EDITING FOR PROFESSIONALS

Need assistance with your research paper, thesis, article, or other professional documents, including APA style check? Our colleague Meg Chatfield is accepting projects for professional editing. Meg comes highly recommended and has worked directly with Dr. Preston-Dillon. Find information on her website: PsychologyEditor.com

~~ ~~
SAND SYMBOLS BY TIFFANY

Looking for custom symbols to enhance your practice? Tiffany creates unique objects for your sand trays. Find her on Facebook: Sand Symbols by Tiffany and click on Photos to find samples of her work. Also, look for her guest feature on our site/blog soon, with photos.

~~ ~~
NOTES

Our blog (where you are now!) will soon take over for the website. The Cultureplay.com address will still be valid and will take you directly to the blog. We wanted to make you aware of this change so you don't think you've found yourself in the wrong spot!

We now have a separate space to highlight special guests from the play therapy community. If any of our colleagues would like to be a guest, please email sandplayvoices@cultureplay.com with your feature idea.


We wish you all well with your own spring transitions!

January 2011 Announcements

A New Path for the Center for Culture and Sandplay

It Is Such a Rarity to have Time for Yourself . . .

While there are a great many continuing education sessions for clinicians, individual private sessions that are not therapy are often missing in clinician services.

Our space is designed specifically and solely for clinician consultation and supervision. With over three decades of purposeful cultivation of symbols, icons, cultural and sacred images, our work supports your creativity, transformation, and mindful, meaningful experience.

The Healer Must Have Time to Pause . . . to Honor the Healer Within . . . and Renew

Clinicians who come for individual consults often share how valuable the sessions are for increased personal insight, and how insights culled here ripple out to their clients. Exploration through symbols and metaphors engages the creative soul. A private consult opens the brain to perceive one's work and one's self in new ways . . . to nurture your creative energies, augment your perceptual sensibilities, and access the depth of insights within you.

Take a step out of time, a moment to see the world differently, to explore your inner world, and honor the great beauty and depth within you.

If you would like a private consult (not therapy), or if staff and colleagues seek a private retreat for renewal, please consider our Center. Renewal from a day-long retreat can last for months.

Private consults are for clinicians of any specialization; not only for sand therapists. Consults are set on a once-a-month basis. Each 90 minute session is $120.

IMAGINE . . . Another Way of Being

We honor the clinician's life as a journey for meaning, depth, and creativity. And now, through our new program, IMAGINE, we are serving those outside the clinical sphere.

A New Program for Non-Clinicians

IMAGINE is designed specifically for professionals, those in law, media, medicine, and the arts; scientists, writers, and educators. We focus on mining your rich imagination -- to break through blocks to creativity, re-conceptualize problems, and rejuvenate your sense of connection.

We welcome your referrals of colleagues, friends and family to experience Imagine. Imagine is a consult for perceptual shifts; it is not therapy.

For information, please email us at sandplayvoices@cultureplay.com

~~~~ ~~~~ ~~~~
Training Opportunities with Dr. Preston-Dillon

The Meaning of Symbols in Play Therapy
Virginia Association for Play Therapy
Presenter: Dee Preston-Dillon, Ph.D.
March Date TBA
Information: http://vapt.cisat.jmu.edu/

Trauma Healing Through Narrative Sand Therapy
(for Level II participants and advanced practitioners)
presenter: Dee Preston-Dillon, Ph.D.
Thursday, April 28th 8:45-4:00pm
Contact: The Institute of Advanced psychotherapy
http://www.lisaferentz.com

Fall Sand Schedule 2010

Association for Play Therapy provider # 05-161
National Association for Social Workers provider # 886477192
National Board for Certified Counselors # 6305

AUGUST 13 FRI -- Ethics and Clinical Practice (Sponsored by Chesapeake Beach Professional Seminars, contact: www.cbpseminars.org or info@cbpseminars.org)

AUG 22 & 23 SUN & MON – CULTUREPLAY--  Narratives in the Sand (noon to 6 p.m.)

SEPTEMBER 13 MON -- Ethics/ Supervision College Park Youth Services, MD (contact Chesapeake Beach Professional Seminars: www.cbpseminars.org or info@cbpseminars.org)

SEP 17 & 18 FRI & SAT -- Creative Counseling with Play for Children and Adolescents (The George Washington University, Graduate School of Education and Human Development, one graduate credit, register through GWU)

OCTOBER 1 & 2 FRI & SAT – CULTUREPLAY--  Understanding Sand Scenes – The Meaning of Symbols sandplayvoices@cultureplay.com

OCT 12 TUE -- Narrative Sand Therapy: Transformative Journeys for Clinician and Client (day-long session at the APT conference, register through www.a4pt.org)

OCT 29 FRI -- Transformation in Sand Therapy: Spiritual Journey, Mindful Metaphors (Loyola University Maryland) 6 CEus 9 am to 4 pm (contact www.loyola.edu/psatoralcounseling/myc)

NOV 7 & 8 SUN & MON – CULTUREPLAY--  Grief and Loss (noon to 6 p.m.) sandplayvoices@cultureplay.com

DEC 5 & 6 SUN & MON – CULTUREPLAY--  Advanced Sand Therapy (noon to 6 p.m.) sandplayvoices@cultureplay.com

** All CULTUREPLAY dates will be held in College Park, MD.  Directions sent upon registration. All Cultureplay workshops are kept at very small groups to allow for individualized in-depth training, and are conducted by Dr. Preston-Dillon, Director of The Center of Culture and Sandplay. Descriptions will soon be posted at www.cultureplay.com. Registration required. Email sandplayvoices@cultureplay.com for info and registration.
--

Book Review (psychology, fiction): Still Alice by Lisa Genova

Still Alice
Lisa Genova
Pocket Books 2009
http://www.stillalice.com/

(review by LK Hunsaker of LKHunsaker.com)

Alice is a 50 year old psychology professor at Harvard who has co-authored a text book with her husband, a research scientist, and has established an incredible reputation as not only a preferred teacher but also as a world-traveled speaker. As she celebrates her birthday, she is struggling with memory issues and even starting to get lost close to home in an area she's very familiar with. Going privately to a neurologist, she is diagnosed with early onset alzheimer's disease.

Since Alice is the POV character, you have to wonder how Genova will continue to follow her story as Alice lapses further into the disease. I was rather impressed with how well she managed to show the early struggles as well as the progression. All of the characters are well drawn from Alice's POV and we get to know some of them better than others. I found it interesting that the child she says she knows the least is the one we know the most. The other two are mainly background.

Her husband, John, is an interesting character and at times, I wanted to yell at him for being so self-centered, but then looking back at their history, I couldn't help but think Alice partly made him that way with her work obsession. The novel is a nice look at marriage-combined-with-work issues, as well as the dementia issue.

From the beginning, we bond with Alice. Anyone who has ever been so busy finding a set of keys seems an impossible task will relate. This makes us truly sympathetic of her plight and we pull for her to keep going, keep trying. As we do, we learn much about Alzheimers and how it progresses and how they are working to find ways to slow or stop it. There is also information about how to keep the brain healthy in general.

At times, the writing is a bit stiff, especially at the beginning, but Genova is a first time novelist and I believe she may find her stride with the next.

This is a must read for anyone dealing with dementia in a loved one, anyone with dementia in their family history, as well as for anyone who wants to better understand this disease. It is truly educational and heartwarming and sad and hopeful all at once.


This review was originally posted at http://lkhunsaker.blogspot.com. The book was purchased by the reviewer and no compensation has been offered or received. Posted here with permission.

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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.

Spring 2010 Schedule

WORKSHOPS
for Play Therapists, Supervisors, Clinicians, & Students

All clinicians are welcome, no matter your theoretical practice. No previous training in sand is necessary. The purpose of our training is to ground and inspire clinicians for their practice and offer small intensives
to replenish your creativity and connect with colleagues. Workshops embrace seasoned professionals and graduate students.

The following will be held in College Park, Maryland. Directions will be emailed upon registration. Find full descriptions on our website or email to have them sent as a Word file.

Jan 24 Heal the Healer: Personal Renewal (6 CE)
Sunday 12pm-6pm Fee: $160

Mar 14 Ethics, Supervision, and Clinical Practice: Three Dimensions (6 CE)

Sunday 12pm-6pm Fee: $160

Apr 11 Grief and Loss: Reflective Practice (6 CE)

Sunday 12pm-6pm Fee: $160

May 16 Transformation: Spiritual Journeys in the Sand (6 CE)
Sunday 12pm-6pm Fee: $160

June 13&14 Advanced Sand Therapy: Part I & II [Understanding Sand Scenes in Play Therapy & The Meaning of Symbols in Play Therapy] (12 CE)
Sun & Mon 12pm-6pm Fee: $350

____ July 11&12 Ethics, Supervision, and Clinical Practice: Three Dimensions of Sand for Play Therapists and Supervisors & Amplifying Cultural Worlds: Meaning and Integrity in Sandplay [Combined Training with 3^rd day Personal Consults] (12 CE)
Sun & Mon 12pm-6pm Fee: $350

Personal Consultations in Sand Therapy for Clinicians and Supervisors
Private Consultations for individual and small groups of up to three clinicians/ supervisors in Maryland and Virginia

A Time To . . .

Nourish Your Psyche, Re-Engage Personal Insights, Re-Energize for Clinical Practice, and Rejuvenate Creativity and Inspiration . . .
Explore Theory, Practice Ways of Responding to Sand Scenes . . .
Journey into Your Creative Heart, to Horizons You Have Yet to Explore . . .

Personal consultations by appointment only. Workshops require registration and deposit. Contact us at sandplayvoices@cultureplay.com