Workshop: Sandplay Therapy for Adults

A WORKSHOP FROM THE MARIN COUNTY CHAPTER OF CAMFT

Although we usually think of children when we think of sandplay, people of all ages love to play in the sand. There is something about the sand that takes us directly into childhood experience, and easily into a state of play. Play, which can be quite serious, opens us up to new possibilities, to new ways of experiencing ourselves and the world. As a depth psychotherapist who values the experiencing of unconscious and implicit realms as a vehicle for healing, Dr Cunningham has found that sandplay actually accelerates healing of preverbal and nonverbal trauma with adults, too.

In this presentation, Dr Cunningham will explore ways to introduce sandplay to adults. "I always begin gently, as many adults sense that sandplay will strip them of their verbal defenses, and therefore are reluctant to work in the sand. Sometimes, I introduce sandplay through the use of sandplay figures or sand alone, and these methods can be quite powerful. I will discuss ways to use the figures to resolve “stuck” places in verbal therapy and in EMDR sessions. I will also present a case that illustrates the resolution of preverbal trauma through the use of sandplay in connection with the therapist’s use of self."

Through this training, participants will be able to:

• Introduce sandplay to adults
• Describe the many uses of sandplay figures
• Begin to silently understand the meaning of sandtrays
• Use their countertransference  to fully experience the tray
• Describe the path of healing in a sandplay process

Linda Cunningham,PhD, LMFT is in private practice in San Francisco and Corte Madera (Marin County), California, where she works with adults suffering from anxiety, depression, blocked creativity, and relationship issues, including early relational trauma. She is the author of Relational Sandplay Therapy (2005) and a new book, Sandplay and The Clinical Relationship (April, 2013). Linda has written many articles for the Journal of Sandplay Therapy on the topic of the therapeutic relationship in sandplay, and has presented at both national and international sandplay conferences. She has taught sandplay as well as contemporary relational theories for almost twenty years, and currently leads a Depth Psychotherapy Consultation Group in San Francisco. She is adjunct faculty in the Sonoma State University Depth Psychology Graduate Program, and at The California Institute of Integral Studies, where she teaches The Clinical Relationship.

Cost: Marin CAMFT Clinical/Associate Member    $49
         Non-Marin CAMFT Member  $59
         Students - Interns    $29

Location: Room 201, Corte Madera Town Center, 770 Tamalpais Drive, Corte Madera, CA 94920 

Date: Saturday, November 16, 2013

Time: 9:00 AM until 12:00 PM