Pre-Sandplay for Attachment Issues – Part 1
Description: Many Sandplay therapists have had the experience of introducing a new
client to Sandplay, only to watch them respond with uncertainty or anxiety, backing away, sometimes even backing out of the room. The wise clinician, true to practicing Sandplay as a client-centered non-directive modality, knows not to over-ride these defenses, but what then?
This recorded course introduces Pre-Sandplay, a series of interventions designed by Sandplay therapist and attachment specialist Agnes Bayley. Concerned that some children’s ego functioning was too fragile to tolerate in-depth psychological work, Ms. Bayley developed these interventions aimed at strengthening ego functioning so that meaningful engagement in Sandplay might become possible.
The course will include information about Agnes Bayley and what inspired her to develop Pre-Sandplay, elucidate attachment indicators in Sandplay, and present an initial series of interventions designed to secure therapeutic containment and repair early attachment deficits. Case examples illustrating the integration of Pre-Sandplay and Sandplay therapy will be shared.
Instructions for optional, but recommended hands-on experiential exercises designed to enhance participant learning will be shared at the end of each weekly session. If participants’ choose, they may upload photographs and/or journaled descriptions of their experiential exercises to a secure course gallery for sharing, feedback, and review.
This course qualifies for 9 hours of training credit towards certification through Sandplay Therapists of America and/or the International Society for Sandplay Therapy. While STA and ISST usually limit the number of online training hours that may be counted, due to the Covid-19 pandemic all online training hours by ISST Teaching Members will be accepted during the time period beginning February 1st, 2020 through June 30th, 2021.
Outline / Agenda:
Session 1 - Assessing Attachment through Sandplay & the Development of Pre-Sandplay
Session 2 - Securing Therapeutic Containment - Confidentiality Boxes
Session 3 - Strengthening Therapeutic Containment - Feelings Boxes
Session 4 - Enhancing Relational Safety - Talk About It/Can’t Talk About It Boxes
Session 5 - Reawakening the Senses - Touch Baskets, Vision, & Hearing Baskets
Session 6 - Reawakening the Senses - Smell & Taste Baskets
Learning Objectives:
Session 1 - Assessing Attachment through Sandplay and the Development of Pre-Sandplay
This session elucidates indicators of attachment issues as they appear in Sandplay therapy and introduces the Pre-Sandplay work of Scottish Sandplay therapist and attachment specialist Agnes Bayley (1925-2009). Pre-Sandplay interventions were developed in response to Ms. Bayley’s concern about using Sandplay with clients whose ego structure may be too fragile to tolerate depth psychological work. It will include an overview of Ms. Bayley’s early career as a naturalist, an account of what led her to become a psychotherapist, her discovery of Sandplay, and later development of Pre-Sandplay. Also included will be a model for understanding when Sandplay therapy may be contra-indicated and when Pre-Sandplay interventions designed to repair and strengthen ego functioning may be required before meaningful engagement in Sandplay can occur.
Objectives:
Upon completion of this session, participants will be able to:
- Interpret Agnes Bayley’s rationale for developing Pre-Sandplay interventions
- List at least three indicators a child may not be ready to meaningfully
engage in Sandplay therapy
Session 2 - Securing Therapeutic Containment - Confidentiality Boxes
Confidentiality is a big word and a complex concept for children. Understanding confidentiality, as well as exceptions to it, is an important part of securing therapeutic containment, especially for those who come to the therapeutic experience lacking a foundation of basic trust. This session introduces how to make and use ‘Confidential’ and ‘Have-to-Tell’ boxes as therapeutic tools to explain confidentiality both visually and experientially, such that even very young children grasp and remember the meaning. A step-by-step explanation of how to use the intervention with children and parents will be shared.
Objectives:
Upon completion of this session, participants will be able to:
- Show why the use of terms such as ‘secret’ or ‘private’ are problematic in
explaining confidentiality to children.
- List at least five categories of topics to be included in the Confidentiality Box intervention.
Session 3 - Strengthening Therapeutic Containment - Feelings Boxes
Expression and containment of feelings is a fundamental aspect of the therapeutic experience. Central tasks for the therapist are to listen, attune, respect, and hold feelings shared, while central tasks for the child are developing awareness, learning to trust, express, and to regulate. For many, whose feelings have been ignored, dismissed, or demeaned, this is a brand-new relational experience which may trigger suspicion, distrust, or anxiety.
Ms. Bayley intuitively understood that as inviting as the open expanse of the sandtray may appear, for some it could be threatening, too exposing. She understood that a small box with a lid that could be opened and closed, offered a safer container, one that allowed control over opening and closing, symbolic of regulation.
This session introduces Ms. Bayley’s Feelings Box intervention, a personalized box chosen and decorated by the client to hold items associated with feelings emerging in the context of therapy; notes, photos, mementos, sensory items, or little treasures. Case examples of the creation and use of Feelings Boxes with children and adults will be shared.
Objectives:
Upon completion of this session, participants will be able to:
- Establish the critical importance of safe containment of affective expression
in the therapeutic experience.
- Distinguish the symbolic significance of the lid as a therapeutic feature of the
Feelings Box, differentiating it from the open sandtray.
Session 4 - Enhancing Relational Safety - Talk About It / Can’t Talk About It Boxes
The expectation to “talk about it” conveyed by parents and therapists can be very intimidating for some children who quickly learn strategies to deflect, avoid, or censor verbal expression in therapy. Others, even more threatened by the prospect of being expected to talk about painful issues in therapy, resist participation altogether.
This session introduces the Talk About It / Can’t Talk About It boxes intervention inspired by Agnes Bayley and developed by the presenter for one particularly hostile 8-year old girl who screamed, “Stop trying to talk to me!” By giving the child control over what topics go into what box, this intervention reduces the child’s defensive response while at the same time implicitly establishes what painful experiences or issues are already known and understood by the therapist, thereby creating empathic connection without “having to talk about it”.
Objectives:
Upon completion of this session, participants will be able to:
- Establish why the expectation to verbally express painful experiences in a
persons’ history before they are ready has the potential to be negative and
psychologically harmful.
- Distinguish the therapeutic rationale for giving the child control over what topics they can and cannot talk about.
Session 5 - Reawakening the Senses - Touch Baskets, Vision, & Hearing Baskets
Decades before the 1990’s explosion of neuropsychological research which validated the need for a neuro-sequential model of treatment targeting the primitive/sensory brain first, then the limbic/emotional brain, and finally the cortical/thinking brain, Agnes Bayley thoroughly understood the need to “reawaken the senses” after trauma or neglect before a child could begin to process their experiences affectively, verbally, or cognitively. Having been a naturalist passionately immersed in the sensory world of the outdoors, she “naturally” (pun intended) brought creative ways to foster sensory exploration into the therapy setting.
This session provides an introduction of the creation and use of Sensory Baskets, specifically focusing on the senses of touch, vision, and hearing. The range of items to include, how to use them, and how to integrate them with the Feelings Box intervention in therapy will be addressed.
Objectives:
Upon completion of this session, participants will be able to:
- List the three phases of the neuro-sequential model for treatment.
- Show why reawakening the senses after retraction or shut-down in re-
sponse to trauma or neglect is a necessary foundation for affective aware-
ness and emotional expression.
Session 6 - Reawakening the Senses - Taste & Smell Baskets
This session further explores the Reawakening the Senses intervention, focusing more specifically on the senses of taste and smell. It will identify a range of items recommended for inclusion in taste and smell baskets, how to use them, and how to integrate these with other Sensory baskets, the Feelings Box, and other play therapy interventions.
Objectives:
Upon completion of this session, participants will be able to:
- List at least five important items for inclusion in a Taste Basket for the Reawakening the Senses intervention.
- List at least five important items for inclusion in a Smell Basket for
the Reawakening the Senses intervention.
Assessment: Completion of Course Feedback Form
Certificate of attendance will be provided
Provider Name: Maude Le Roux Academy
Presenter: Betty Jackson, LSW, CST-T
Bio: Betty Jackson, LSW, CST-T is a licensed clinical social worker and certified Sandplay therapist with over 40 years of experience in school, mental health agency, and private practice settings. She began her Sandplay training with Dora Kalff in 1975 and became a Teaching Member of Sandplay Therapists of America and the International Society for Sandplay Therapy in 1991. She has authored several articles for the Journal of Sandplay Therapy, serves on the Board of Directors for the International Society for Sandplay Therapy, and teaches Sandplay nationally and internationally. She has the honor of being a Guest Professor for the Oriental Academy for Analytical Psychology and Sandplay in Guangzhou, China. Ms. Jackson maintains a part-time private practice at her home office in southeastern Pennsylvania where she has established The Center for Jungian Sandplay in order to offer Sandplay process, consultation, and training in the tradition of Dora Kalff.
Special Needs Accommodation: We invite anyone who may need a specific accommodation to contact [email protected] and we will do our best to accommodate your needs. We do provide online PowerPoint for download should you require larger print and we do wear specialized headphones to best accommodate for a clear audio message.
Cancellation policy: Payment is due in full with registration through Square on this website and is non-refundable at any time. Please contact [email protected]
Additional Information (Page 2)
Course Type: Track Course
Location: Online Recordings
Target Audience: Occupational Therapists, Social Workers, Psychologists, Play Therapists, Speech Language Pathologists, Educators
Educational Level: Intermediary
Pre-Requisites: None
Number of Participants: Unlimited
Instructional Methods: PowerPoint, Discussion
Contact Hours: 9 hours
Fee: $200