Connecting Sandplay

thursday
June 2
MORNING
pre-conference workshops
An additional fee applies for the day.
8:00 AM
9:00 - 12:15
(includes 15
minute break)
REGISTRATION: 8:00 AM
Mind, Body, and Spirit in the Sand: Fundamentals of Sandplay, Part I
Stephen Olmsted, PhD, ISST/CST-T (Duluth, MN) and Ellen Saul, MS, LP, ISST/CST-T
(Faribault, MN)
Through this introductory overview of the basics of sandplay therapy, participants will
gain an understanding of the therapeutic use of symbolic expression as well as personal
experience with symbolic imagery. You will learn how to use sandplay from theoretical
and practical applications in sandplay practice. The workshop will explore the history of
sandplay therapy, the Jungian foundation of Kalffian play therapy, and the basic aspects
of a sandplay process. The presentation will view the similarities and differences among
sandplay and other play therapy modalities using sand. Presenters will offer perspectives
in viewing sandplay creations.
Level: IntrO 3 HOURS CE, APT credit approved
At Play in the Relational Field: Complexes, Developmental Trauma,
and Integration in Sandplay Therapy, Part I
Linda Cunningham, PhD, MFT, ISST/CST-T (San Francisco, CA)
Complexes are frozen traumatic memories that emerge as images loaded with raw emotions
and powerful psychic energies. When they are triggered in everyday life, complexes
seize us like inner demons and take over consciousness. Beginning with an exploration
of Jung’s discovery and theory of this foundational structure in the psyche, we will then
examine similar ideas in contemporary psychoanalysis. Through interpersonal neurobiology
we will discover the body-mind basis of complexes. We will befriend the complex by
exploring its hidden healing potential through written exercises and artistic expression that
can be used in play therapy. The role of complexes in developmental trauma will be experienced
through a dream series and sandplay and play therapy case material and discussion.
LEVELS: ALL 3 hours CE, APT credit approved
Dancing Between Heaven and Earth: Embodied Active Imagination
in Sandplay and Play Therapy
Ellen Searle LeBel, MS, LMFT, BC-DMT, ISST/CST-T (Arcata, CA)
Symbolic play engages the body, mind and spirit. The axis mundi is a symbol of totality,
physically and spiritually connecting earth and sky. Kalffian and Jungian concepts of the
psyche, illness, and transformation had sources in Asian as well as Western philosophy
Axis mundi symbols are found in sandtrays and across cultures. In many cultures one axis
mundi, the world tree, embodies the energetic polarities of rooting and rising. Centering on
the image of this archetypal tree, we experience how symbols of the Self arise in the body
in sandplay, play therapy and active imagination through movement, art, and voice.
LEVELS: ALL 3 HOURS CE, APT APPROVED