Jungian Sandplay Training Program 2025-2027

Program Overview

Jungian sandplay therapy is a non-verbal therapeutic process originated by Dora Kalff based on the psychology of C. G. Jung.

This comprehensive, two-year training curriculum is organized into six areas of study that are designed to sequentially deepen the participant’s understanding and use of Jungian sandplay. Each unit contains three 6-hour seminars exclusively taught by Jungian analysts (IAAP) who are also certified sandplay therapist-teachers (ISST).

The curriculum includes an introduction, history, and practical guidelines for sandplay therapy, as well as the application of Jungian theory, the study of archetypal and symbolic material amplified in dreams, mythology, and fairytales. This hands-on method of experiencing the Self follows the movement of libido as it appears in sandplay scenes to express the individuation process. Seminars incorporate case material of children and adults to illustrate and embody the theoretical underpinnings.

Seminars will be on Zoom only, once a month on a Saturday from 9:00 am to 3:30 pm (Pacific Time) with half-hour break for lunch. Units 2-6 are offered to licensed clinicians and students in the process of training for licensure in the mental health professions.

Completion of the program meets 108 hours of coursework requirements for Sandplay Therapists of America (STA) and International Society for Sandplay Therapy (ISST).

Please note: The CG Jung Institute of Los Angeles offers theoretical training hours that can be used towards certification to become a Sandplay therapist. Other requirements to become a certified Sandplay therapist in the United States are described in the training handbook of STA (Sandplay Therapists of America). For participants from other countries, contact your local Sandplay organization or the ISST (International Society for Sandplay Therapy) to receive information on requirements for certification.

UNIT 1

September 27, 2025

ORIGINS OF JUNGIAN SANDPLAY - HISTORY AND INTRODUCTION TO SANDPLAY

Presented by Gita Morena, PhD, LMFT, CST-T

This seminar is a comprehensive introduction to the origins of Jungian sandplay. It will focus on sandplay's history and Jungian underpinnings and its application in clinical situations with children and adults. The course will include a discussion of the role of symbols in psychotherapy and sandplay, an identification of therapeutic change as seen in sandplay scenes, and the similarities and differences between sandplay and other treatment approaches. Building and maintaining a sandplay collection, keeping notes, and creating photos will be addressed, as well as how sandplay can be integrated with other treatment modalities. A presentation of sandplay case material will complete the day.

Learning Objectives:

Describe the origins of sandplay therapy.
Compare sandplay to sandtray therapy.
Identify the theoretical underpinnings of Jungian sandplay.
Explain the therapist's role in sandplay therapy.
Describe the benefits of creating a "free and protected space."
Describe the process of keeping photos, notes, and organizing materials.

Gita Morena, PhD, LMFT, CST-T, is a certified Jungian analyst, an STA/ISST sandplay therapist-teacher, and a research editor for the Journal of Sandplay Therapy, in private practice in Santa Monica, where she offers both in-person and remote sessions in Jungian analysis, sandplay process, and case consultation. She has led trainings and seminars around the world and published numerous articles about sandplay therapy. Her book, The Wisdom of Oz: Reflections of a Jungian Sandplay Psychotherapist, explores her great-grandfather's story, The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, as a tale of psychological individuation and spiritual awakening. She is particularly interested in generational individuation and the mind-body-spirit connection, and incorporates a Buddhist perspective into her analytic work to address core issues of psychological and emotional healing.

October 25, 2025

UNDERSTANDING THE SANDPLAY PROCESS

Presented by Elizabeth Schofield Bickford, LMFT, CST-T

This seminar will provide an overview of sandplay in psychotherapy, including how to introduce sandplay in the context of a therapy session, as well as understanding the significance of initial trays. We will consider different approaches to interpreting the progression of trays in a sandplay process, including Martin Kalff's "Twenty-One Points to be Considered in the Interpretation of a Sandplay," as well as Rie Rogers Mitchell and Harriet Friedman's writings on the identification of wounding and healing themes in sandplay. Issues surrounding the training of sandplay therapists and ethical considerations for case presentations and supervision will also be included.

Learning Objectives:

Describe the primary characteristics of the sandplay process.
Describe how sandplay can be beneficial in clinical practice.
Give an example of how sandplay can enlarge the patient's capacity for symbolic expression.
Give an example of when it would be appropriate to introduce sandplay in psychotherapy with adults.
Give an example of healing themes in the context of sandplay therapy.
Give an example of themes of wounding in a sandplay tray.

Elizabeth Schofield-Bickford, LMFT, CST-T is a Child and Adult Jungian Analyst member of the CG Jung Institute of Los Angeles (CGJILA/IAAP) and Certified Sandplay Therapist and Teacher (STA/ISST). Director of the Hilde Kirsch Children’s Center at the LA Institute and Co-Director of the ARAS Teen LA Summer Program, she teaches at the LA Institute in the analytic training program, the 2-year Sandplay program and the certificate program for clinicians. Her articles “Dying to Be an Analyst”, “Searching for Mother: The Case of Pearl", and “Orson and the Keys to the Kingdom: Sandplay Therapy and Child Analysis”, have been published in Psychological Perspectives, The Jung Journal: Culture and Psyche and The Journal of Sandplay Therapy, respectively. Elizabeth has a private practice in Santa Monica where she sees children and adults.

December 6, 2025

THE LANGUAGE OF THE SYMBOLS

Presented by Marion Anderson, PhD

This seminar will describe how to establish a sandplay collection, including critical symbols and categories necessary for clinical work, and leading ways of displaying the collection in the consulting room. The Jungian definition of a symbol, its roots in the archetypes, and its role as an expression of the psyche will be addressed, as well as case vignettes illustrating how symbols can facilitate the connection between conscious and unconscious material. In the experiential component, we will examine both the personal and collective aspects of symbols, including how an individual client's associations with the symbol and symbol amplification can lead to a greater understanding of the client's internal world. Finally, we will examine the relationship of each sandplay therapist to the figures in their collection and their relevance in the transference and countertransference relationship.

Learning Objectives:

Describe the differences between symbol and sign in Jungian psychology.
Explain the role of the symbol in Jungian psychology.
Identify the importance of symbols for sandplay.
Describe the archetypal roots and collective use of small figurines.
Compare the different levels of interpretation of a symbol.
Analyze the personal and therapeutic components of a sandplay collection.

Marion Anderson, PhD, is a clinical psychologist, certified Jungian analyst (CGJLA/IAAP), and certified sandplay therapist and teacher (STA/ISST) in private practice in Santa Monica. She teaches sandplay and Jungian theory at the C.G. Jung Institute of Los Angeles, where she regularly offers workshops on painting inner images. A native German, she is a founding member of the sandplay society in Brazil, where she lived and practiced as a clinical psychologist for 13 years before her move to the USA. She teaches and lectures both nationally and internationally, and has published numerous articles, including in The Journal of Sandplay Therapy.

UNIT 2

January 17, 2026

JUNGIAN PSYCHOLOGY AND SANDPLAY

Presented by Liza Ravitz, PhD, CST-T

This seminar will introduce Jungian theory and practice, and its application to sandplay. We will begin with Jung's concept of individuation, the process of the psyche unfolding over a lifetime, leading to a greater awareness of one's internal world, including a deeper connection to the unconscious, the personal, the cultural, and the collective. We will consider the psyche and its individual parts with an emphasis on the Self, the ordering function of the psyche, and the ego-Self axis, the connecting link between consciousness and the unconscious. All concepts will be illustrated with examples from sandplay cases. A sandplay case will be presented to illustrate the evolution of psychological growth and development in the context of the sandplay process.

Learning Objectives:

Describe Jung's concept of the Self.
Describe what is meant by the Ego/Self axis.
Define what is meant by Jung's concept of individuation as it pertains to psychological development.
List the different aspects of the Jungian Self and give an example from clinical practice.
Describe what is meant by an archetype.
Distinguish between the personal unconscious, the cultural unconscious, and the collective unconscious in the context of a sandplay tray.

Liza J. Ravitz, Ph.D., CST-T, is a Clinical Psychologist and Jungian Child and Adult Jungian Psychoanalyst in private practice in Petaluma with both children and adults. She is a teaching faculty member at the C. G. Jung Institute of San Francisco, a seminar faculty member at Sonoma State University, and a teaching member of the International Society of Sandplay Therapists (ISST). She also teaches and trains clinicians nationally and internationally, where she has helped develop Jungian and Sandplay psychotherapy programs in Asia and Europe. Liza has several publications, most recently a sandplay case about a 4-year-old boy "The Valiant Battle: From Chaos to Integration" in the Journal of Analytical Psychology, Vol. 67, Issue 4, 2023.

February 7, 2026

COMPLEXES AND SHADOW

Presented by Laura Soble, LMFT, REAT, CST-T

Jung's theory of the complex, an amalgam of images and ideas constellated around a common emotional and affective experience, is both personal and archetypal in nature. It is our individual response to these personal and archetypal aspects of a complex that alerts us to the emotional valence of a particular complex. In this workshop, which is both theoretical and experiential, we will examine some of Jung's basic concepts, including the complexes, the shadow or disavowed parts of the Self, and the role of the transference and countertransference as they are expressed in the context of sandplay work. Drawing from examples of patients' sandplay work, theoretical and visual material, and embodied experience of writing and working with art materials, participants will have the opportunity to work with their own complex and shadow material to explore the impact on both clinician and patient.

Learning Objectives

Describe what is meant by the Jungian concepts of complex and shadow.
Describe what is meant by an embodied experience of transference or countertransference.
Describe Jung's concept of the therapeutic relationship.
Describe Kay Bradway's concept of co-transference.
Give an example of how a sandplay scene can reflect a patient's complex.
Give examples of how a clinician's unconscious response to a patient can impact the therapeutic field.

Laura Soble, LMFT, REAT, CST-T, is a Jungian Analyst in private practice in San Anselmo, CA, where she works with children, teens, and adults. She teaches in the Analytic Training Program of the C. G. Jung Institute of San Francisco and is also an analyst member of the Inter-Regional Society of Jungian Analysts. She is a Teaching Member of Sandplay Therapists of America (STA), the International Society for Sandplay Therapy (ISST), and a Registered Expressive Arts Therapist. Laura enjoys editing, served many years as an Associate Editor of Jung Journal: Culture & Psyche, is currently Assistant to the Editor of the Journal of Sandplay Therapy, and has published in both as well as the Arts in Psychotherapy Journal.

March 14, 2026

SYMBOLS, ARCHETYPES AND THE TRANSCENDENT FUNCTION

Presented by Lauren Cunningham, LCSW, CST-T

One of Jung's most profound contributions based on his confrontation with the unconscious was the idea of the transcendent function, a function of the psyche that holds conscious attitudes in a contained tension with images from the unconscious so that a metaphorical third, a new attitude, can arise. In this process, the individual is able to move from a more binary or reactive stance to a more reflective one, which includes a recognition of the whole. Jung was interested in helping patients find their way to this new attitude experientially by working directly with their symbolic imaginative process, as he did himself, through drawing, painting, or writing. He called this active imagination and used it as a method to bring the ego into contact with the images of the unconscious psyche. Images also appear in sandplay that allow the analytic pair to experience this evolving process of transformation in the co-tranferential field. The differences and relationships between personal and collective unconscious, archetypes, images, and symbols will be discussed in the context of sandplay.

Learning Objectives:

Describe what is meant by the transcendent function.
Describe how a clinician may recognize an archetypal theme and give an example from clinical practice.
Identify symbolic expressions of the Transcendent Function using sandplay case examples.
Give an example of how to differentiate personal unconscious material from archetypal themes in the context of sandplay therapy.
Explain how the transcendent function can facilitate growth and healing in the individuation process.
Describe what is meant by the personal unconscious vs the collective unconscious.

Lauren Cunningham, LCSW, CST-T, is a Jungian analyst and Certified Sandplay Therapist in private practice in San Francisco. A founding member of STA and founding editor of Journal of Sandplay Therapy, she is part of the faculty for the child and adult training programs at the CG Jung Institute of San Francisco. She has lectured nationally and internationally on sandplay, fairy tales, and Jungian psychology, and published articles and book chapters on sandplay, most recently in Jungian Child Analysis. She leads trainings in Infant Observation, and is interested in infantile states as they arise in the context of the co-transferential field of sandplay.

UNIT 3

April 11, 2026

WORKING WITH CHILDREN: A JUNGIAN PERSPECTIVE

Presented by Audrey Punnett, PhD

"(It is) only in playing that the individual child or adult is able to be creative and to use the whole personality, and it is only in being creative that the individual discovers the self."

- D. W. Winnicott, Playing and Reality, p. 54)

This seminar will examine some major differences in the kinds of play with children: the differences between ordinary and therapeutic play, child analysis and child therapy, and the unique characteristics of Jungian child therapy. A case will be used to demonstrate the use of sandplay, play therapy, and work with the parents around the symbolic manifestation of a tic disorder. To explore the images used in this case, we will look at their meaning and the context in which they occurred, as well as the child's developmental phase of life, his position in the family, and the associations to relevant myths/fairy tales, which amplify the themes inherent in his psychotherapeutic process.

Learning Objectives:

Identify the differences between ordinary play, play therapy, and Jungian child analysis.
Describe what is meant by a tic disorder in children and the neurological and psychological factors which contribute to the diagnosis.
Discuss what Jung meant by the symbol and give an example from the case presentation.
Using the case example, identify a diagnosis and describe the importance of developing a working hypothesis for intervention.
Using Neumann's stages, describe the boy's development stage in the case presentation and the resultant challenges he faced.
Identify the initial problem presented in the first tray in the case example and how to intervene with parents.
Give an example of utilizing the metaphors or stories from the child's tray to intervene therapeutically.

Audrey Punnett, PhD, is a licensed psychologist, Jungian analyst (Child, Adolescent, and Adult), and Associate Clinical Professor, UCSF-Fresno, Department of Psychiatry, in private practice in Fresno, CA. She is a member of the Association of Graduates of Analytical Psychology (AGAP), having served as secretary & vice-president on the Executive Board; C.G. Jung Institute of San Francisco and International Association for Analytical Psychology (IAAP). Dr. Punnett is a registered play therapist, supervisor (RPT-S), and teaching member (CST-T) of STA and ISST. She is the past President of the board of trustees of STA and currently the ISST vice president of the Americas. Dr. Punnett has published in peer-reviewed journals, and she teaches and consults nationally and internationally. She is Editor-in-Chief of the Jung Journal: Culture & Psyche, and author of three books: The Orphan: A Journey Towards Wholeness (2014), Jungian Child Analysis (2018)(Ed.), and Jungian Child Analysis: Cultural Perspectives (2022)(Ed.).

May 2, 2026

COMPLEX CLINICAL ISSUES WITH CHILDREN

Presented by Maria Ellen Chiaia PhD, MFT, CST-T

This seminar will address complex clinical issues in sandplay processes of children and adolescents, such as psychosocial anxieties, which are pervasive among youth today, and contrast these presenting problems with developmental stages and issues illustrated in a detailed case description. Another clinical focus of the day will be on the implications of the transference relationship, the importance of a free and protected space, and the need for silence and what arises in the silence. These concepts will be addressed and illustrated with clinical case examples as well.

Learning Objectives:

Describe what is meant by a complex clinical issue and give a case example.
Describe how to identify changes in transference relationships when working in sandplay.
Describe aspects of the transference relationship that are unique in the work with children.
Describe what is meant by the importance of the free and protected space in the context of sandplay work.
Describe a complex clinical issue in sandplay therapy with children.
Explain the role of silence in therapy.

Maria Ellen Chiaia PhD, MFT, CST-T, is a certified Jungian Child and Adult Psychoanalyst and teaching faculty member at the C. G. Jung Institute of San Francisco, in private practice in San Anselmo. She is a certified teaching member of the International Society of Sandplay Therapists (ISST). She has co-authored the book Sandplay in Three Voices and contributed chapters to several other books on Sandplay therapy. Dr. Chiaia teaches and trains therapists internationally.

June 13, 2026

TREATING TRAUMA AND ANXIETY IN CHILDREN WITH JUNGIAN SANDPLAY

Presented by Elizabeth Schofield-Bickford, LMFT, CST-T, and Sachiko Reece, EdD, LMFT, CST-T

Using case material of an adopted six-year-old girl, this seminar will address how to treat the symbolic expressions of anxiety and trauma, using both play therapy and sandplay. Unconscious and distressing feelings and themes of wounding and healing will be identified as they emerged in the context of her work in sandplay. The interweaving of play therapy and sandplay will be used to demonstrate how the interaction of both a verbal and non-verbal approach to working with children can lead to a deeper expression of integration of traumatic material.

Learning Objectives:

Explain how sandplay therapy can foster affect regulation and facilitate treatment addressing trauma.
Describe how the non-verbal method of sandplay and the verbal interaction that occurs in play therapy can enhance each other.
Describe some of the ways in which bodily symptoms can be seen through sandplay.
List the developmental stages of a sandplay process.
List the clinical stages of a sandplay process.
Give two examples of images of wounding in trays and their healing function in the tray.

Sachiko Taki-Reece, EdD, LMFT, is a certified Child and Adult Jungian Analyst and teaching member of ISST and Sandplay Therapists of America, in private practice in Los Angeles where she sees children and adults. She is the author of Sandplay for Children with Severe Emotional Disturbance in Japanese, which includes seven case studies, and has authored numerous research papers and book chapters in English and Japanese related to sandplay supervision, working with people with HIV/AIDS, and Jungian perspectives on healing trauma and end-of-life transitions. Her English translation of The Therapeutic Mechanism of Sandplay Therapy : Exploration Through Qualitative Analysis of Clients' Subjective Experiences by Hiroshi Ishihara was published in 2025. She teaches Jungian psychology and sandplay therapy internationally and in the United States.

UNIT 4

September 19, 2026

JUNG SANDPLAY AND THE BODY

Presented by Denise G. Ramos, PhD

Traumatic and somatic symptoms can be difficult to treat because they are registered in the unconscious and are often not available as mentalized experience. In these often wordless places, sandplay offers a means by which the individual can begin to experience and express affective material in the context of a contained and supportive environment. Sandplay can enhance psychosomatic integration by creating an opportunity in which physical symptoms can gradually move from the somatic unconscious to the imaginal through the physical creation of scenes in the sand. As the images in the sand begin to be formed into a coherent scene, the underlying affects can be brought to the conscious mind where they can be thought about, communicated to, and witnessed by the other, and ultimately lead to a greater sense of psychological integration and wholeness. Case examples will be used to illustrate the evolution of the sandplay process in patients who have experienced trauma and somatic symptoms.

Learning Objectives:

Describe the basic concepts of Jungian psychosomatics theory.
Using a case example, give an example of how to apply Jungian psychosomatics theory to clinical practice.
Describe a clinical example in which sandplay therapy was utilized in the treatment of someone with symptoms of trauma.
Describe a clinical example in which sandplay therapy was utilized in the treatment of someone with psychosomatic symptom.
Give an example of how to assess progression in a sandtray process, e.g. movement from the literal to symbolic expression or from fragmentation towards integration.
Give an example of how the sandplay process can mirror the resolution of a psychosomatic illness.

Denise G. Ramos, Ph.D., is a clinical psychologist, Jungian analyst of the Brazilian Society of Analytical Psychology (IAAP), a teacher member of the International Society for Sandplay Therapy (ISST), in private practice in São Paulo. She served as Vice‐President of the International Association for Analytical Psychology (IAAP) and the ISST and was elected as a member of the Academia of Psychology of São Paulo. She was a Fulbright recipient at the New School University in New York City and has been a full professor in the Graduate Programme in Clinical Psychology at Catholic University of São Paulo, and chair of the Centre of Jungian Studies. At the Centre, she coordinates post‐graduate thesis work and research groups on psychosomatics and cultural complexes from a Jungian point of view. Her main fields of interest are psychosomatic phenomena and cultural complexes as the basis for social pathologies, with an emphasis on corruption and feminicide. She has lectured internationally and published several books, among them The Psyche of the Body, which has been translated into five languages.

November 7, 2026

IMAGES OF PREVERBAL EXPERIENCES IN CHILDREN'S SANDPLAY

Presented by Ignez Carvalho Hartman

Preverbal experiences can manifest unconsciously in relationships and are an important aspect to consider in the context of the therapeutic process. Early body-related experiences often include preverbal trauma and become visible as pre-symbolic impressions in the sand. This seminar will introduce the essential characteristics of intrauterine and postnatal development, including exploring how this early development phase manifests in the therapeutic relationship. A discussion of symbolic representations of the mother-child unit will demonstrate how these dynamics appear both in Sandplay and children's drawings. The seminar will include how these images can serve to open new pathways for understanding the psychic contents of this early phase of development, and explore how the expression of early prenatal, birth, and postnatal experiences can lead to a sense of greater psychological cohesion.

Learning Objectives:

Describe the relationship between transference and countertransference in terms of the preverbal phase.
Describe what is meant by preverbal engrams and their application to clinical practice.
Describe what is meant by the affective nucleus and how to recognize it in sand images.

Ignez Carvalho Hartmann is a Jungian Child and Adult analyst, musician, and musical therapist in private practice in Germany. She is a Teaching Member of Sandplay (DGST, ISST) and a member of DGAP and IAAP. She supervises at the Institute of Analytical Psychotherapy for Children and Adolescents in Heidelberg. She collaborates with the C.G. Jung Institute Stuttgart (Germany) and several Institutes in Brazil. Her research focuses on non-verbal creative expressions in sandplay, drawings, music, and body language. Her articles have been published in Germany, Switzerland, USA, England (JAP) and Brazil.

THE BODY IN JUNGIAN SANDPLAY

Presented by Heather Lesley-Swan, Dip. Law, Dip. Counseling

The figurines in the sand tray often reveal aspects of the sandplayer's relationship with their body, such as experiencing an identification with or dissociation from a particular sandplay image or the overall scene. In this seminar, we will focus on how to identify a sandplayer's body confidence in their sandplay images, as well as their dissociation from an image. We will look at how the therapist's own embodied response to the tray, including the conscious, unconscious, and archetypal elements, the degree of attunement, and symbolic associations, can affect the development of a therapeutic alliance, leading to a new attitude, what Jung called the transcendent function.

Learning Objectives:

Describe the sandplayer's body's involvement in sandplay therapy, including the conscious, unconscious, and archetypal aspects.
Describe the therapist's body's involvement in sandplay therapy, including the conscious, unconscious, and archetypal aspects.
Describe what is meant by somatosensory immersion and its role in sandplay therapy.

Heather Lesley-Swan, Dip. Law, Dip. Counseling, is a Jungian analyst and sandplay educator in private practice in Sydney, Australia. She established and led the Australian New Zealand Institute for sandplay therapy in Australia and New Zealand, and has presented in public, in-house, and University programs as well as professional papers in Australia, Europe, the UK, USA, Singapore, and China. She has a particular interest in autism spectrum, integrating current neuroscience and the development of the capacity to symbolize. Her work is also informed by attachment and trauma research.

December 5, 2026

COMPLEXES AND SOMATIC SYMPTOMS REVEALED IN THE SAND

Presented by Marion Anderson, PhD

Jung wrote, "Often the hands know how to solve a riddle with which the intellect has wrestled in vain...by shaping it, one goes on dreaming the dream in greater detail in the waking state…even though it remains at first unconscious to the subject."

One lesser-known aspect of sandplay involves giving patients the opportunity to work directly with the sand itself, rather than using figurines. The act of moving and shaping the sand seems to support the emergence of affective experiences in both client and therapist, a phenomena which Ruth Ammann described as resonance. In this seminar, we will examine several vignettes that illustrate how deeper layers of the psyche, such as the shadow, complexes, and archetypal motifs, emerge when the client's hands begin to explore the sand. A detailed case description will illustrate how working in this way revealed a previously unknown physical illness.

Learning Objectives:

Demonstrate the validity of Jung's theory on the autonomy of hands.
Describe the importance of resonance in retrieving affective material.
Describe how the exploration of sand with the hands can stimulate mental images of an affective experience.
Describe the therapeutic importance for clients of working only with sand.
Give a clinical example of the translation of somatic symptoms into words.
Explain the relationship between dreams and sand images as evidenced in a clinical case.
Describe recent research about the expression of somatic symptoms through Sandplay.

UNIT 5

January 23, 2027

THE GREAT WORK OF ALCHEMY: A JOURNEY OF TRANSFORMATION

Presented by Gita Morena, PhD, LMFT, CST-T

This seminar will introduce the concept of alchemy, what it is, and how it relates to Jungian sandplay. We will begin with an overview of how alchemical processes develop, explore how the prima materia transforms, examine how Jung's insight into alchemy relates to the individuation process and the collective unconscious, and consider the presence of alchemical imagery in sandplay case material.

Learning Objectives

Describe the key concepts of alchemy.
Describe what is meant by the prima materia and its relationship to the analytic process.
Describe the nature of alchemical operations.
Identify the psychological aspects of alchemical processes.
Describe the personal and therapeutic components of an alchemical process.
Explain how alchemy relates to the individuation process.
Describe the meaning of alchemical images in sandplay case material.

Gita Morena, PhD, LMFT, CST-T, is a certified Jungian analyst, an STA/ISST sandplay therapist-teacher, and a research editor for the Journal of Sandplay Therapy, in private practice in Santa Monica, where she offers both in-person and remote sessions in Jungian analysis, sandplay process, and case consultation. She has led trainings and seminars around the world and published numerous articles about sandplay therapy. Her book, The Wisdom of Oz: Reflections of a Jungian Sandplay Psychotherapist, explores her great-grandfather's story, The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, as a tale of psychological individuation and spiritual awakening. She is particularly interested in generational individuation and the mind-body-spirit connection and incorporates a Buddhist perspective into her analytic work to address core issues of psychological and emotional healing.

February 20, 2027

THE ALCHEMY OF SANDPLAY

Presented By Dyane Sherwood, PhD

This seminar will introduce the application of alchemical symbolism and imagery as a means of understanding the imagery and processes observed during sandplay therapy. We will focus on color symbolism and the alchemical images that appear in a Renaissance illuminated manuscript, the Splendor Solis, which contains three series of paintings depicting a process of inner transformation and development. Like the alchemists who conducted experiments with matter, in sandplay we engage with matter, such as sand and figurines, which are arranged in a metaphorical scene from which symbolic meanings emerge. These images and symbols may express an attitude that is compensatory to consciously held beliefs and open the individual to emerging solutions to conflicts. Recognizing alchemical imagery in sandplay case material can help the clinician recognize themes and processes emerging from the unconscious as creations in the sand tray.

Learning Objectives:

Describe the symbolic nature of Sandplay therapy and when it would be appropriate to introduce sandplay in the context of psychotherapy.
Using a case example, describe how Jung viewed the ancient process of alchemy as a metaphor for psychological change.
Give an example of how to recognize alchemical imagery in the context of sandplay case material.
Give an example of how an alchemical symbol can contain an opposite of two sets of beliefs.
In the context of sandplay therapy, give an example of how a symbol can be used to express an attitude that is compensatory to a patient's consciously held beliefs.
Give an example of how sandplay can help a patient discover a new attitude to an unresolved conflict.

Dyane Sherwood, Ph.D, is a clinical psychologist and Jungian analyst, Certified in Child and Adolescent analysis, in private practice in Evanston, Illinois. She is a Teaching member of STA/ISST, and the immediate past President of the C.G. Jung Institute of Chicago. She has taught courses on alchemy in analytic training programs, online, and internationally, and has authored numerous journal articles and book chapters. She co-authored, with the late Joseph L. Henderson, Transformation of the Psyche: The Symbolic Alchemy of the Splendor Solis (Routledge, 2003). Dr. Sherwood is on the Editorial Board of the Journal of Analytical Psychology, and for 10 years, was the Editor of Jung Journal: Culture & Psyche, which is published by the C.G. Jung Institute of San Francisco. More recently, she founded Analytical Psychology Press, which published a new English edition of Dora Kalff's Sandplay and other sandplay books.

March 13, 2027

LEAD MAKES THE DIAMOND SUFFER: AN EXPLORATION OF ALCHEMICAL ELEMENTS IN JUNGIAN SANDPLAY

Presented by Shannon Yockey, LCSW

According to Jung, alchemy is a symbolic representation of the individuation process. It illustrates how the psyche transforms and/or develops through the ego's relationship with the contents of the unconscious. Jung recognized both creative and destructive qualities in the four alchemical elements, lead, sulfur, salt, and mercury, and used them as metaphors for stages of psychological development. This seminar will provide an overview of the alchemical elements as representations of psychological states of being. It will also illustrate how to identify their clinical implications as they arise in the context of dreams, encounters in nature, and sandplay case material.

Learning Objectives:

Describe what is meant by the individuation process in Jungian analysis.
Describe how Jung used the imagery of alchemy as a metaphor for stages of psychological development.
Describe the psychological aspects of the four alchemical elements.
Describe the creative and destructive qualities of lead, sulfur, salt, and mercury alchemical elements.
Give an example of how to identify the alchemical elements in sandplay scenes.
Describe what is meant by alchemical active imagination.

Shannon Yockey, LCSW, is a Jungian analyst with the Inter-Regional Society of Jungian Analysts and C.G. Jung Institute of Santa Fe. She lives in Fort Collins, Colorado, where she works with children, teens, and adults. She is a teaching member with ISST/STA. She specializes in early attachment, relational wounding, grief, and anxiety. Her current area of exploration and writing focuses on healing and transformation through relationships in nature, achieved through direct experiences, sandplay, dreams, and active imagination.

UNIT 6

April 10, 2027

CROSSING THRESHOLDS

Presented by Janet Tatum, MSW, LICSW, CST-T

Jung's concept of individuation includes analyzing our defenses, taking back projections, identifying our complexes, disidentifying from our persona, understanding our relationship to the collective as well as the personal unconscious, and developing our relationship to the Self, an archetypal image of one's fullest potential. In this seminar, we will examine Jung's theoretical orientations and those of early analysts in terms of their ideas about individuation. Images from the Villa of Mysteries in Pompeii will be used to demonstrate how the individuation process was expressed in antiquity. These early archetypal images reflect an understanding of the connection between ego consciousness and the collective unconscious and how this relationship between the personal and the archetypal can activate experiences of the numinous. Sandtrays of both a child and an adult woman will be used to illustrate some of the ways in which symbolic imagery reflected new stages of psychological development and a deeper connection between the ego and the deeper Self.

Learning Objectives:

Describe the concept of individuation as defined by Jung and selected analysts.
Compare the developmental stages of childhood with the Jungian view of the individuating factor and the phases of individuation.
Describe how developing a connection to the symbolic expression of unconscious material through sandplay can instigate psychological development within the child's psyche and enhance the individuation process in the adult.
Describe what is meant by the collective unconscious and some of the ways in which archetypal imagery can represent the contents of the collective unconscious in sandplay
Describe some of the differences between the personal vs. the collective unconscious.
Give an example of how symbolic imagery, as expressed through sandplay, can bring ego-consciousness and the collective unconscious into relationship on behalf of the process of individuation

Janet Tatum, MSW, LICSW, CST-T is a Jungian Analyst and Sandplay therapist in private practice in Redmond, WA where she works with adults, children, and adolescents, and currently serves as President of the Pacific Northwest Society of Jungian Analysts. She trained with Dora Kalff in 1979, later becoming an assistant for her in the 1980s through UCSC Extension programs. She is a founder and assistant editor for the Journal of Sandplay Therapy, and is a STA Past President. She is also vice-president on the Board of Directors for the Philemon Foundation. In practice for over 40 years, she has presented both nationally and internationally.

May 15, 2027

TOLERATING CHAOS AND GLIMPSING THE SELF

Presented by Laura Soble, LMFT, REAT, CST-T

This seminar will focus on the sandplay process of a child struggling with self-regulation and confidence. The development of ego strength and personality is a normal part of a child's individuation process. Still, it can become compromised when there are disturbances, like, for example, in attunement, attachment, and/or trauma. Children's access to the unconscious and archetypal world is often revealed in their dramatic play, but can be observed more specifically in their sandplay. Although in sandplay the therapist functions primarily as a non-verbal witness to the child's process, the child's emotions, body sensations, and images also infuse and impact the therapist. In this case, the primarily non-verbal interplay between therapist and client created an often-messy field, filled with regressions and progressions, chaos and creativity, which ultimately led to the development of a more secure and reliable internal scaffolding and a deeper connection to the Self. Participants are asked to bring art and writing materials as a means of expressing and clarifying their own counter-transference responses to the case material.

Learning Objectives:

Describe some of the key differences between Jung and Fordham about the individuation process and the relationship to the Self in children.
Give an example from clinical practice of how themes of differentiation and individuation unfold in the sandplay process of a child.
Give an example of how sandplay therapy can be utilized to help a child with issues of self-regulation.

DISCOVERING GOLD IN THE CHAOS

Presented by Robin B. Zeiger, PhD

Lucia Chambers in sandplay in Three Voices (2005) reminds us: "…you have to seek out the dark. You have to go to a place that is very, very dark before you can see those stars. Out of the darkness, arises the seeds of Self and transformation." This seminar will utilize Jungian and sandplay theory and a Jewish creation myth of the shattered vessels to meet chaos, destruction, and transformation via early and later trays. Perhaps most importantly, participants will be encouraged to "meet" the material from "inside", sharing their own reactions and experiences in holding chaos and ambiguity.

Learning Objectives:

Describe the symbolic meaning of the Jewish creation myth of the shattered vessels as a metaphor for helping patients manage feelings of chaos, destructive rage, the urge to change, and the resistance against change.
Identify the importance of chaos and destruction in a sandplay process from a theoretical and technical standpoint.
Describe what is meant by Jung's concept of the Self, and how to identify symbols of the Self in the context of Sandplay therapy.

Robin B. Zeiger, PhD, CS-T is a certified supervising Jungian analyst (Israel Institute of Jungian Psychology in honor of Erich Neumann), an ISTA/ISST Sandplay therapist-teacher, in private practice in Tel Aviv and Kfar Haro'e. President of the Israel Sandplay Therapists Association, she serves on the Editorial Board of the ISST journal, and she teaches and presents her work internationally. Author of The Making of a Jungian Analyst: In Apprenticeship to a Secret Society of the Soul, she has published numerous academic papers on a wide range of topics, including sandplay, the wounded healer, Jewish mythology from a Jungian perspective, war, working with adolescents, and dreams.

June 12, 2027

THE EMERGENCE OF THE SELF THROUGH THE TRANSFERENCE-COUNTERTRANSFERENCE RELATIONSHIP

Presented by Carlo Paolo Ruffino, MD

The seminar will introduce the primary concepts of the transference and countertransference dynamic from a Jungian perspective as they pertain to the sandplay Therapy setting. The transference can be expressed through the image that the client creates in the sandtray and his behavior in the sandplay room. The image itself can be created to express unconscious content and send a message to the therapist, which will be illustrated through slides. We will also examine how the emergence of the Self can be observed in the free and protected space of the sandplay room. Using images from a sandplay process, we will focus on ways in which the transference can manifest itself in the sandtray as well as on the countertransference reactions of the therapist to the images. This dynamic relationship between the therapist and the client can activate and support the relationship with the Self.

Learning Objectives:

Describe the transference-countertransference dynamics in sandplay therapy from a Jungian perspective.
Give an example of the importance of the transference-countertransference relationship in the context of sandplay therapy.
Give an example of a sandplay process that illustrates the unfolding of the individuation process and the manifestation of the Self.
Illustrate the clinical relevance of these dynamics through the presentation and discussion of a short, complete sandplay process.
Give an example of how aspects of the transference can manifest in sandplay images and in the context of the sandplay setting.
Describe how resistance may appear in the sandtray and the sandplay setting.
Give an example of countertransference expressions and their clinical relevance in the context of sandplay work.

Carlo Paolo Ruffino, MD, is a Jungian analyst in private practice in Turin, Italy. He has served as Director of the Psychosomatic Medicine Section, where patients were treated in individual psychotherapy sessions in addition to receiving group therapy in relaxation therapy and psychodrama. He has led psychodrama groups in Turin and Lausanne, Switzerland, for 15 years and is a teaching member of the AISPT and ISST, as well as serving as a training analyst and supervisor at the C. G. Jung Institute Zurich. He has presented his work at numerous conferences, taught courses at various universities in Switzerland, Italy, and the United Kingdom, and at the Jung Institute in Zurich. He has also published numerous papers in the Journal of Sandplay Therapy.

Jungian Sandplay 25-27

Program Overview

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