Sand Tray Therapy

Sand tray therapy is effective for all ages and is a way to use your creative and unconscious mind to help facilitate change. Since our mind thinks in pictures instead of words, using miniatures to represent your world, experience or problem is very effective. In the example below an adult client was struggling with a career change. The therapist asked the client to find miniatures to express the problem in the sand tray.

The client stated “The coffin represents that my current job is killing me” and the ghost is the fear and the rocks are the stumbling blocks I feel in crossing the bridge to my goal where balloons and champagne are waiting to celebrate me holding my abundance (man with basket of vegetables). The eagle is courage. The therapist asked the client to make one change to represent moving toward the goal.

Notice that the rocks turned into stepping stones, the ghost was overturned and overcome by courage and the celebration was even closer to the end of the bridge. Finally the therapist asked the client to show what it will look like when the goal is achieved.

Notice that the coffin is gone – client now represented by the King of his Castle, there is someone cheering for him and the truck and circle in the sand represents him traveling between his new career and a part time job for transition.
With these pictures in mind, the subconscious mind helps you achieve your goals and helps the client move forward.