Has Anyone Used A Sand Tray Or Modelling Clay In Therapy?

[Hashi]

I'm still interested in sand trays. I like the idea that sand can be easily changed too.

 

[Abstract]

I can see why having previously studied art could get in the way of you using it as means of expression in therapy. I think perfectionism and/or a history of developing a skill can be a hindrance in these situations. It happens with writers when they attempt to journal. I also sympathise with the feeling of not adequately being able to express what you mean. That's how words tend to feel for me. Especially in therapy but often even out of it. It sounds like art is important to you so there is a lot of energy you want to put into creations.

I think for me it helps (both with writing and with anything artistic) to concentrate on the emotional aspect of the experience and to try to just let it flow. To see it as expression rather than creation if that makes sense.

When I started this lot of therapy I looked up how crayons and sand trays are usually used. I never did the in depth sand tray therapy that is possible and rather just used it as a sensory soothing aid and a means of staying more present and less overwhelmed. So yes, a word written but mostly just playing with the sand.

Both physically and emotionally I was beyond being able to create anything significant in therapy and it was mostly just a word written or a very crude diagram with crayons and paper, .

Apparently proper sand tray therapy involves choosing figurines and then creating a world. Molding the sand to create a landscape and using ones choice of figures to represent something. I believe many approaches use the technique including Jungian and transpersonal.

If I understand correctly the person is given access to all materials and then left to play in any way they wish. Interpretation then comes later. An example would be despair for someone who doesn't use any figurines.

I am probably telling you what you know already but I am afraid there is only so much I can say about my personal experience as I was not very functional at the time.

PS. It may well be helpful to do something that is less planned now as I think it would represent increased trust. You are probably at a point in recovery where you could easily tolerate that if it is something you decide to choose to do. I have been told that planning and time lapses are all means of creating distance and boundaries. I do everything possible to create distance in therapy without intending to! The way I see it is that working on trust is an important means of processing interpersonal violence and aiding recovery from trauma. A tool to aid healing if you will.

Excellent realisations about feeling exposed and that it would feel personal.

 

[Abstract]

I liked that these things allowed me to feel more powerful somehow. Doing rather than just sitting gave me an increased sense of personal power and effectiveness.

 

[Barconian]

I love the way your daughter uses writing.

She is special to me :)

It is about what best suits you!!!

 

[Hashi]

@Abstract, thank you. It never occurred to me that there would be any information out there about using sand trays. Doh! Although maybe it's better not to read too much because then it might influence what I did if I tried it.

I can understand it being soothing and helping you to stay present. That's why I do origami with the tissues.

I had no idea about the in depth use you described. Is that why there are little toy figures in the sand tray in the corner of my therapist's room? I always thought that was weird. I imagined she threw them in there when tidying up or something.

I really like the idea of creating a landscape, and putting figures in it. I would love that. It makes so much sense. I want to do it right now!

As you know, my therapist is tanspersonal and uses Jungian concepts. I'm not sure about returning to her and doing these things with her, because of where the two of us are at. Maybe, maybe not, but I suppose that's a topic for another thread. Whenever I go back to therapy and whoever I see, though, I want to do this.

I'm also not sure about letting my guard down too much. I've worked loads on the trauma when I was 20 but not much on childhood. Talking about that is still highly threatening to me. It needs a lot of containment. But I could make landscapes/tableaux in a session. I so want to do that, now you've told me.

In fact... I'm remembering as I write this that I actually used to make little landscapes in a tray when I was little. Not with sand, with things from the garden. I loved it and t was my own thing, it has only good associations. In particular, an association with an archetype that's helpful now when I have to do any work on childhood. Wow.

Thank you, and everyone else who has shared things here. This thread is helping me get much more awareness and some feeling of direction. :)

 

[Hashi]

How many times did I say "I want to do this" in my last post? lol

I really do.

 

[InsideAWord]

I liked that these things allowed me to feel more powerful somehow.

Definitely. You finally feel grounded and connected to the environment around you through some medium that YOU control.

 

[Abstract]

Talking about that is still highly threatening to me. It needs a lot of containment.

I can really understand that. There is a time and place for everything.

In particular, an association with an archetype that's helpful now when I have to do any work on childhood. Wow.

Wow indeed! It does sound like it is perfectly suited for you! :happy:

PS. It's used with a wide range of other approaches too by the way.

 

[Maggiemay]

Wow! Thanx so much for sharing. Love the idea of sand tray! I have one in class for my kids so easily doable :) :)

 

[passerine]

@Hashi, this thread is so interesting to me. I wonder if you have experimented with the sand tray therapy since posting?

I'm all about expressive therapies. I have done a lot of art therapy (and some play therapy - sand tray) over the years and it has been so helpful. At first I was really scared to try because, like you, I was afraid that I wouldn't be able to express myself adequately. I had also studied art and so it was very difficult for me to not critique everything I did. I learned with time and practice to let go and focus on the process rather than the process, and one of the things that helped me to do that was experimenting with different mediums. I loved to use clay in particular because it is so tactile. In therapy, I have used a big lump of natural clay and found that in addition to it just being really fun to play with, it was very grounding and helped me to stay present during some difficult sessions.

As for sand tray therapy, it is probably one of my favorite therapeutic modalities. I have worked with it a few times, using figurines to create "a world" in the sand that is open to interpretation. I kind of feel like it's one of those things that you have to try to really understand how and why it works. But the idea is play therapy based (it's Jungian!), and if you research play therapy with adults you will find a lot of information on it. Pretty powerful stuff.

My therapist doesn't have a sand tray, unfortunately, but I know that he has been trained in play therapy with children. Something I want to ask him but haven't yet because I have been too afraid is if I could "play" during our sessions, like maybe doing the sand tray therapy without the sand? I think that even just being given permission to "play" would be therapeutic. And I think that play or art therapy are really excellent tools for trauma therapy in particular because they are so sensory and because they help give a voice to things that there may just not be any words for.

 

[Eva A.]

I have found a sand tray in my previous therapist´s office... he worked in a place that was used by different therpists, so it wasn´t actually his sand tray and there was hardly any figures there to use ... so I got myself some figures on Ebay ... I have since left that therapist and am working with someone else. I find sandtray work so very helpful, that I have actually gotten myself a sand tray, read a stack of books on this kind of work and am on Ebay quite a bit to get myself the miniatures that i need ... I now make photos of the sand trays I create and talk with my therapist about it ... for me sand tray work is utterly amazing, as it is like I finally, finally have a voice! I am absolutely rubbish at talking and expressing what I think or feel (especially not the latter).... sand tray work is like I am expressing what is deep down in my subconscious in a metaphorical manner with figures (animals, people, houses, trees, cars... whatever needed) which I have chosen myself (which makes it even more potent, as the miniatures are mine and not what I find in a therapist´s office)... I then can spend as much time as want looking at what I created and letting it sink in (and I don´t have to take the sand tray apart either till I am ready to, which might be days)... it really helps me to understand what is going on within me at the time ... and talking about a sand tray world with my therapist is easier than expressing feelings directly ... like for example I have set a little girl into the sand tray which is about to be eaten by a wolf and I know this has to do with trust ... I can talk about the figures, but it would be so much more difficult to tell my therapist, I have a real problem trusting him because of whatever happend to me when I was little... just as an example ... and it is not that my therapist actually does sand tray work, but he is welcoming my work with it as one way I express myself ... I know this is unorthodox but I find it sooo liberating!

 

[Hashi]

What you both said is really interesting. @passerine I hope you'll be able to talk to your therapist about play therapy. I like what @Eva A has done - could you do something similar?

I don't have any trouble understanding why sand trays or clay modelling work and are powerful, but then I'm very Jungian. :) I realise other people may want the evidence.

I still can't afford therapy, and think that will continue for at least another year. When I do go back, this is the kind of therapy I want to be doing.