What are Sand Tray and Sandplay Therapies?

#3 in the series Doing the Work of Trauma-Based Healing

Sandplay therapy is a nonverbal, therapeutic intervention that makes use of a sandbox, toy figures, and sometimes water, to create scenes of miniature worlds
that reflect a person’s inner thoughts, struggles, and concerns.
—Psychology Today: Sandplay Therapy—

Early in my therapy journey, my friend who is a child therapist is the one introduced me to sand tray therapy. She was taking a course and needed an adult for a practice session. I was all in! The experience was so helpful that I would go to her office when she had breaks between clients and process on my own with her sand tray—often taking what I had done to my therapy appointments.

While I have included both sand tray and sandplay in this explanation, there is a subtle difference though they both involve using sand and miniature figures as therapeutic tools. (Thank you ChatGPT for this explanation!)

Sandplay Therapy: This approach is closely tied to Jungian psychology. It was developed by Dora Kalff, who combined the ideas of Jung with Margaret Lowenfeld's World Technique. In sandplay therapy, the therapist provides a free and protected space where the client can create scenes in the sand, using miniature figures. The process is meant to access the unconscious and promote self-healing. The therapist often takes a non-directive stance and allows the client to express themselves without much verbal intervention. Sandplay is generally seen as deeper, often unconscious work, focusing on symbolic and archetypal representations.

Sand Tray Therapy: This is a broader term that refers to the use of sand trays in various forms of therapy, not necessarily tied to Jungian theory. It is often more directive, with the therapist guiding the client more actively, and can be used in a variety of therapeutic approaches (e.g., cognitive-behavioral, humanistic, play therapy). Sand tray therapy may focus more on conscious issues and is sometimes more structured.

Understanding this distinction is crucial to understanding my example below. My bent toward accessing the unconscious made my processing best fit the definition of sandplay. It was a perfect fit for me as an adult but might look somewhat different in a clinical setting. Despite this, the power of this type of therapy is demonstrated by my example.

The following pictures from my friend’s office show the table and the vast array of miniatures on the shelves that act as symbolic representations during the processing.

The power of this type of therapy is in its ability to access unconscious thoughts through the selection of the symbols. One of the most impactful days of processing was when I was working on my sense of self. This is what I constructed. Around the edges are my family, the church, the schools and students, etc. When I got done and asked myself what I saw, I realized the entire middle was empty. It was a surprise, and I said, “I don’t know who I am unless someone else tells me.”

“The world will ask you who you are, and if you don't know, the world will tell you.”
—Carl Jung—

Once I recognized how dependent I was on others to define myself, the next step was to fill in the center. Surely I knew who I was, right? It was much harder than I could have ever expected! This was my final image and from that day on it was clear that I was the one who was in charge of defining myself.

Among other things, the sand tray had enabled me to process dreams, grief, abuse, my conflicted relationship with the church, an unexpected move to Washington, and my deep-seated need for protection. I always had a beginning place in mind, but never knew where I was headed. I would often choose a miniature from the shelf with intention but other times some odd piece would seem to call to me—eventually I understood why.

Finally, this video will provide additional information:

Also!

Watch a Video of a session with a teenager

Note: All information and resources presented in these newsletters are drawn from my personal story and do not replace professional psychological care for mental health issues. My legal and ethical advice is always to seek professional help.