Sand tray therapy, a psychoanalytic expressive therapy, has been used since the 1940s. It has emerged as Jungian sandplay where the clients are asked to "create a world" in the sand. Today, sand tray therapy has evolved to be used by therapists from various backgrounds, including transpersonal and humanistic. However, sand tray therapy and sand play are typically associated with a sandbox where children play. But it is a particular type of expressive therapy where sand is used to create and explore the client's imaginary worlds.
Unlike what people believe, this modal of therapy is appropriate for people of every age. Other than therapy, many adult clients often use and enjoy sand tray therapy to bypass their logical and intellectual parts of themselves and reach their deeper and more creative aspects.
Using the sand tray box is as easy as it sounds; here, the sand tray is a rectangular, wooden tray that is several inches deep and is painted blue on the inside. This tray is filled two-thirds of its depth with clean, white sand. The tray is then placed on a table that the clients can draw the things they like. The room where the sand tray is kept also contains a broad, large variety of small toys. The clients can use the contents in the room and their own imagination to create a small, imaginary world.
The therapists use sand tray therapy with their adult clients when the verbal therapies are not successful. It is also used when a therapeutic modality is required that allows you to access your innate creativity. Clients and adults often use sand tray therapy to express feelings and emotions that they cannot express with words such as grief or trauma. Some clients also have reported that even simply touching the sand can be very soothing to the psyche and therapeutic. It is also known to offer a healing effect beyond what we understand.
When clients take the sand tray therapy, the therapists typically encourage them to explore the visual and touch experiences of the sand tray and the sand itself. Many clients experience the cool and smooth sand on their fingers for the first few minutes.
The clients can then make the sand smooth and flat or begin creating a landscape or scenery by shifting the sand in the tray. The therapists can then guide the clients using the figurines and the small toys present in the room to add to their imaginary sand world. The therapists will also instruct and provide information to the clients to choose the figurines and small toys that express a strong reaction or meaning, positive or negative. The clients' scene depends on how they feel and what they decide to express; they can make a static sand world or evolve it throughout the sessions. The therapist will then encourage the clients to observe what has happened in their made sand tray world and the meaning behind the experience.
Sand Tray Therapy is one of the best things therapists can use to treat their clients and let them express themselves without any words. Many clients feel the touch of the sand to be therapeutic and soothing. It has often been found that sand tray therapy is beneficial with teens and adults when they are “stuck” in verbal therapy. Using the sand and the figurines, they can express their unreachable feelings through talking alone.
Morin, A.M.Y. 2021. What-is-sand-tray-therapy-4589493. 29 August . What Is Sand Tray Therapy?. [Online]. [17 February 2022]. Available from: https://www.verywellmind.com/what-is-sand-tray-therapy-4589493
