Sand tray therapy and creative counselling

Sand tray therapy and creative counselling
Counselling approaches and techniques
Where appropriate, I make use of a variety of counselling tools and techniques in therapy to help you express your thoughts and emotions and address specific difficulties, including:
- Journaling and self reflection
- Drawing and painting
- Guided imagery
- Visualisations
- Breathing exercises
- Mindfulness
- CBT
- Grounding techniques
- The Emotion Cards
- Ego states (Transactional Analysis)
- Empty chair technique (Gestalt therapy)
Introducing creative techniques
Creative techniques are integrated into the therapeutic process and tailored to your needs and preferences. During your counselling journey, I will ask you some questions to find out about your interests and comfort level with various modalities.
Throughout the therapeutic process, I will encourage you to reflect on your creative expression and consider what they reveal about your thoughts and feelings. Together we will monitor progress and make adjustments based on your feedback and evolving needs.
Benefits of creative counselling
Creative counselling tools and techniques in therapy can help you to:
- Navigate your emotions.
- Gain insight into your thoughts and feelings.
- Get clarity and find purpose.
- Cultivate greater self-awareness.
- Improve your mental health.
- Make sense of past events.
- Look at things from different perspectives.
Sand tray therapy
Sand tray therapy is a highly therapeutic and multidimensional form of therapy that can provide emotional release and realisation at a deep level, by inviting you to construct a picture in the sand tray using miniature toys and small objects. By shaping and arranging the sand and objects within the tray, you can express and explore your emotions, memories, and experiences in a safe and creative manner.
Benefits of sand tray therapy
There are many components of sand tray that make it an effective therapeutic tool when used as part of counselling and psychotherapy:
- The sand tray environment is a safe and protected space, which means that you are free to do whatever you want.
- Sand tray therapy doesn’t require any artistic skill to have a satisfying experience—only selecting and placing objects in the tray.
- You can manipulate or change the sand tray by adding, subtracting, or moving objects within the scene.
- The sand in the tray can also be shifted to make an evocative landscape.
- Sand tray therapy occurs within specific boundaries of time and space.
- The scene created in the sand tray can act as a reflection of your life.
- The images created in sand tray therapy are concrete and tangible, rather than invisible and intangible. For example, in sand tray therapy, you can use objects and miniatures within it to represent true people and events.
- Sand tray therapy can help you to tell stories and make sense of events.
- The themes which emerge from your creation in the sand tray can help you gain new insights into your problems and look at things from different perspectives.
- Sand tray therapy allows you the opportunity to resolve conflicts, remove obstacles, and gain acceptance of self.
- While the sand play process may involve creating a series of trays and might last for months or years, change can be experienced in just one sand tray session.
Healing grief, loss, bereavement and trauma through sand tray therapy
In times of deep grief, overwhelming loss, or traumatic experiences, healing the heart can seem like an insurmountable task. Sand tray therapy can be helpful if you are dealing with grief, loss bereavement and/or trauma, when words may be difficult to utter or fully process.
Creating a picture in the sand tray can be a healing process that can help you to work through painful conscious or unconscious memories. Physically moving representational objects within the sand tray can have a beneficial effect on the body, especially for people who experience anxiety or have undergone traumatic experiences—more so than simply talking about memories or ideas. Touching the sand can be a very soothing, calming experience, offering a healing beyond what we can visibly understand.
Client testimonial
“I have been going to Frances now for 3 years to have counselling and it has changed my life immensely! Frances is very calm and accommodating for all your needs and has the ability to create an environment where you can feel at ease. She also facilitates sand tray therapy which I think is unique and not something I had ever seen before – it’s a great tool to access the deeper thoughts/feelings of your mind. By working with her I feel I’ve been able to explore and express parts of myself without judgement and would highly recommend her to anyone”. Chelsea.
Healing and transformation through sand tray therapy
Sand tray therapy is a powerful therapeutic approach that has been proven to facilitate the journey towards healing and resilience. By providing a safe space for individuals to externalize their internal struggles, sand tray therapy offers a unique opportunity for self-reflection, understanding, and transformation. From facilitating the expression of complex emotions to fostering insight and promoting healing, sand tray therapy serves as a powerful tool in the journey towards emotional well-being. Discover more about the benefits of sand tray therapy in this article.