The Center for Culture and Sandplay: Education

Presentations

Sand Therapy with Diverse Populations a PowerPoint presentation by Dee Preston-Dillon, Ph.D.

Cultural Dimensions of Creative Arts and Sandplay in Clinical Practice with Children a PowerPoint presentation by Dee Preston-Dillon, Ph.D.

Grief and Loss in Sandplay Therapy a PowerPoint presentation by Dee Preston-Dillon, Ph.D.

Fairy Tales and Narrative Techniques in Play Therapy a PowerPoint presentation by Dee Preston-Dillon, Ph.D.

Archive of Workshops and Groups

Sunday Study Groups

Graduate students are rarely introduced to play or art therapy. And most certainly time is not allotted for in-depth study and experience. Yet many graduate students are eager to work with children and adolescents in practicums and internships. To complicate matters a supervisor may have little to no training in play therapy and hence lack the necessary background to advise student interns.

Our Goal: To create a safe space for graduate students to develop play therapy skills while experiencing group process. Students will work with symbolic approaches to psychotherapy especially variations in sand therapy. In addition, the group will provide an opportunity to share resources and address inevitable challenges of graduate work. Discussion of cases, examination of theories such as Jungian and Humanistic perspectives and feedback on skill development will ground your experience.

Professional Study Group

Our philosophy is that we grow in clinical skills when we work with the divides within ourselves. Supporting the wounded healer, our group is a gathering of professionals from a variety of counseling fields who wish to continue personal explorations in play therapy and sandplay.

In a positive, caring group we discuss case questions and continue direct play therapy training. We recognize that much of the stress for clinicians comes from social, cultural and political constraints. Your work of healing goes on within structures that can sabotage the very healing work you hope to achieve.

In a holistic, safe, and protected space we work with layers of the symbolic and support your personal journey toward a deep, compassionate, spirit-filled practice.

Jungian Sandplay: The Centered Therapist

Grounding Sandplay II: The Art of Active Imagination

Dreams and Sandplay II
Dreams and sandplay, a powerful creative combination, will be explored from a playful perspective. Participants are invited to experience the way dreams come alive within the rich textures and symbol meanings laid open in sand scenes. Through a series of guided exercises the wisdom in dreams becomes transparent and awaits our involvement for transformation.

Group Process for Play Therapy
With a focus on group process, participants will explore techniques for group work with children, adolescents, and couples. Examining themes that may emerge during group psychotherapy, Dr. Dee will demonstrate how to work with symbols, shared sand scenes, group sand scenes, and the importance of setting boundaries. Participants will work in a model group moving through a series of exercises to reveal the layers of work possible with groups.

Dreams, Sandplay & Archetypes
Dreams and sandplay, a powerful creative combination, will be explored from a playful perspective. Participants are invited to experience the way dreams come alive within the rich textures and symbol meanings laid open in sand scenes. Through a series of guided exercises the wisdom in dreams becomes transparent and awaits our involvement for transformation.

Encountering Nature: On a Path and in the Sand Box
Our ability to resonate with representations of nature in sand scenes is enhanced when we take time to take in the sounds, smells and formations visiting nature herself.

Following a series of guided activities during a walk in nature participants will reflect on natural elements from differing perspectives. Encountering nature includes pausing to experiment – to see elements differently, ask questions to animate the trees, weeds, bugs and birds, notice connections and breakage, and take in the way nature repairs.

Upon return from our walk each participant will engage with sensorial images in sand scenes. Nature’s gift to the sandplay therapist is the fullness of life. We go to Nature to understand our connectedness to all sentient beings, to the stillness of the rock, the movement of water, and the mirror in every grain of sand.

Upon completion of this workshop, participants will:

Appreciate symbolic qualities in representations of nature in sand therapy
Describe parallels between life events, clinical crisis, identity and perceptions of nature
Increase clinician insight into their response to nature and the implications for dealing with the client’s view of his or herself in the natural world.

Arrangement: This workshop is unique in that it is held whenever five to six people wish to take the journey. The workshop is three hours and must be done during daylight. The Maryland State Park walking path near the Center for Culture and Sandplay is our site for encountering nature. Sand work will be done at the Center. This workshop is an extraordinary experience to enhance sensorial perceptions in sandplay therapy. Please call to reserve a date.

Grief, Loss and Reclamation through Sandplay
Our experience of loss begins as we enter onto the stage of life as infants. All therapy is in some way about grief and loss. Sandplay offers a medium for honoring dimensions of grief including familial, cultural, relational, and intrapsychic loss .We will explore loss and reclamation for body, mind, soul and society. In this workshop participants will discover ways to assist a client in grief through ritual. Our work will center on the use of sand, developmental and cultural stories of loss, and symbols to support grief as a process.
Upon completion of this workshop participants will:

Understand how sandplay offers a medium to express grief and loss at many developmental stages
Describe how aspects of loss are symbolized in sand scenes including mind, body, spirit, culture and emotion
Demonstrate the ability to witness and validate expressions of grief, and identify markers for loss in symbols and sand
Have gained insight into the process of "holding" grief and facilitating reclamation in sandplay

Clinician Renewal: Inner peace for crisis work
Attentive clinicians have cognitive, emotional and physical reactions to the work of their clients, especially those who deal with trauma and violence acted out on the play ground, at home, in schools, and in the courts. The larger framework for this workshop is the spiraling of violence from within the individual psyche up through families, communities, and globally. This workshop offers an opportunity for clinicians who work with trauma and abuse to ground the "remains of the day" through their own expressions in sand. Our purpose is to reclaim a sense of peace, integrity, balance, and personal healing through the use of symbols and sand scenes. Our focus is on a journey that sets boundaries, empowerment through confrontation, levels of reparation, and reclaiming personal peace. The work of renewal by the clinician is then brought back to their clients.

Upon completion of this workshop participants will:

Identify how the client's crisis and violence effects the clinician on many levels
Explain how trauma is represented in sand scenes and clinical responses to the sandplay
Explore stages for reclamation as a practice in sandplay
Develop approaches for renewal and creating symbolization for balance, integrity, peace and healing for the clinical environ

Dreams and Sandplay III
Open to non clinicians
Dreams and sandplay, a powerful creative combination, will be explored from a playful perspective. Participants are invited to experience the way dreams come alive within the rich textures and symbol meanings laid open in sand scenes. Through a series of guided exercises the wisdom in dreams becomes transparent and awaits our involvement for transformation. Two methods for exploring the therapeutic value of dreams and sandplay will be presented. In this workshop participants learn skills to understand the symbolic content of sand scenes through the practice of amplification. The implications for clinical work are drawn.

Upon completion of this workshop participants will:

Understand the theoretical ground for Jungian dream work
Examine the parallels between dream work and sandplay
Show how symbol work serves as a bridge when working with dreams and sand for problem solving
Develop skills for amplification

Myths, Symbol and Ritual in Sandplay
Reaching back through our histories to the worlds of ancestors we discover rich layers of meaning in community ritual. This workshop will look at cultural myths following the lead of mythologist Joseph Campbell. Combining myths and symbols for work in sandplay we learn ways to recognize and validate mythic images in the sand. Participants will practice setting clinical boundaries to create a safe and protected space where clients can examine personal myths, cultural heritage, and ritual form.

Upon completion of this workshop participants will:

Reflect on the archetypes of meaning from history and culture for clinical practice
Understand how Joseph Campbell's approach to myths offers a powerful way to make sense of meaning in sand scenes
Describe how Stanely Krippner's conceptualization of personal myth is activated in sandplay
Explore ways to create ritual incorporating myths and symbols for clinical work

Retreat
Plans have begun for the annual Retreat for Renewal this fall. We will keep you informed. This meditative three-day retreat is a wonderful way to have quiet time, reflection, and experiential activity to deepen your sand therapy process.

Staff Retreat
Would you like to help create a mini retreat for your clinic staff or school personnel? Our mini retreats are designed specifically for the needs of your group. Instead of training in sand therapy, your staff will have an opportunity to use sand and symbols to increase cohesion, renew passion for their profession, reflect on personal goals, and pause to relax away from job stress. Let’s discuss a mini retreat for your group.

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