Training certificates are awarded at the end of each workshop to verify completion of each individual workshop. These certificates are most often used for continuing education purposes. We recommend that therapists take at least Levels 1 and 2 before starting to work with children. Working with adults requires more extensive work. We distinguish between the preparation for children and the preparation for adults because children are very familiar with using play to resolve problems, and so they are not surprised when their therapy issues come up in the tray. Adults can be quite startled when they see what they have created because adults are more capable of analyzing the symbolic meaning of their sandtray worlds as soon as they engage their more sophisticated language and cognitive abilities.

Please review APT contact hour policy exceptions, detailed in the Continuing Education Credits section below.

This certificate is awarded when a person has completed all ten levels of our core curriculum. You can view the description of these ten workshops by reviewing the descriptions on our website. It is not necessary to have a certificate of completion if you want to work with children or use it as an adjunct to your current practice. The certificate of completion is for people who want to focus on the sand tray as their primary modality and for clinicians who want to work primarily with adults.

In contrast to some training programs, we offer therapists a method for integrating sand tray training with their current clinical practices in an on-going structure. We do not require therapists to do their own sand tray process before attending workshops even though we do think it is quite helpful and at some point, necessary for therapists who want to specialize in sand tray therapy. Each state has professional boards for social workers, counselors, psychologists, and other professionals. These state boards decide what is required for mental health professionals to practice therapy. We are not aware of any state boards that “certify” or “license” professionals to practice the sandtray modality. Every state board requires that each professional meet the ethical requirement of not practicing beyond the bounds of his or her competence. Competence is established in several different ways: (1) completing a program of training, (2) appropriate supervision, and (3) current graduate-level theoretical and research readings. From there it is the duty of all professionals to be able to support their training, supervision, and studies for any specific specialty they want to practice.

The Certificate of Program Completion is awarded automatically when a participant completes all 10 Core Levels. This program does not require any supervisory consultations. Our Capstone Level 10 is the final core session that needs to be completed onsite at the Sand Tray Training Institute in Corrales, New Mexico. This workshop has prerequisites of Levels 1-9.

Partial attendance at any of the Core Levels does not count toward the Certificate of Program Completion. Makeup work for partial attendance of any Core Level, due to unavoidable circumstances, may be completed on an individual basis at our hourly rate for private consultations.

Our most in-depth certificate requires completion of all 10 core workshops plus supervision and other requirements. It is a process that will help you to establish your competence to practice the sandtray method. Workshop participants may apply for this program after they have completed 60 contact hours of the core workshops. Please request practitioner training packets describing requirements if you are interested in this program.