Conference Workshop Overview: 

Day 1: Jungian Play Therapy with Children and Families: Psyche at Play

This one-day workshop covers Jungian play therapy, an integrative model, which honors symbols and the healing nature of the analytic relationship.  A practical overview of the theory/techniques will be illustrated, as well as active participation in mandalas and fairytales.

After the workshop, participants will be able to:

1. recall one central premise of guiding children toward an undefended heart through the analytic process of play.
2. identify two characteristics of play therapists needed to conduct therapy with children and families from a Jungian perspective.
3. articulate one aspect of the research-base supporting play therapy interventions with children from an analytical perspective.
4. identify the steps to facilitate two Jungian play therapy interventions: (1) mandalas and (2) fairy tales.
5. define ‘amplification’ within the Jungian play therapy process with families
6. define ‘transference’ within the Jungian play therapy process with children.

Day 2: Sandplay with Complexity Traumatized Teens: Numinous Landscapes of Transformative Healing

This one-day workshop will provide an overview of sandplay therapy with complexly traumatized teens, as originated by Dora Kalff. Sandplay is the therapeutic use of sand, water, and miniatures that accesses a child’s unconscious material through the creation of sand pictures at regular intervals over time. Through this analytic play process, children’s psychological development is observable and guided by an unconscious totality toward the integration of opposites that lead to transformation. The workshop will address ‘individuation’ that naturally occurs when teens engage in the multi-sensory sandplay process with a trained therapist. The presenter will provide illustrated clinical applications of sandplay with traumatized teens and their families. Finally, participants will have opportunities to voluntarily engage in symbol activities.

After the workshop, participants will be able to:

1. Articulate the basic premise behind the healing power of sandplay therapy with Complexly traumatized teens.
2. Discuss the potentially beneficial incorporation of relaxation and externalization of difficult feelings through sandplay with complexly traumatized teens
3. Compare and contrast Margaret Lowenfeld’s “World Technique” and ‘Sand Tray’ with Dora Kalff’s ‘Sandplay’
4. Describe Dora Kalff’s concept of the “free and protected space” in sandplay
5. Identify appropriate therapist-led verbalizations during the process of adolescents creating sand pictures in the consulting room.
6. List three benefits of including parents in the sandplay process with adolescents through consultation.