Description
Through experiential exercises and didactic methods, participants in this workshop will have opportunities to use art-making activities and sandtray building exercises to explore how grief and trauma are processed in the brain, mind, and body. Using both art and sand images, participants will engage in partner practice to learn how to stay regulated in their own nervous systems while holding the powerful nonverbal images that emerge from clients during play therapy activities. The overall goal for this workshop is to develop an appreciation for the complicated relational work that evolves between therapist and client while healing grief and trauma using play therapy and the expressive arts.
Educational Goals
This training will help participants to:
- Identify intervention skills for facilitating sandtray play therapy for grief and trauma.
- Discuss neuroscience issues in grief and trauma sandtray play therapy.
- Describe symbolic patterns related to grief and trauma during sandtray play therapy.
- Utilize mask-making for trauma and grief issues (optional activity).
- Explain how making a map of losses and trauma may help children and adults to heal in conjunction with sandtray play therapy.
- Utilize resilience collages to heal grief and trauma in conjunction with sandtray play therapy.
- Explain the role of the right hemisphere in processing grief and trauma during sandtray play therapy.
- Describe the overlap and the differences between grief and trauma.
- Explain how play activities help to restore the functioning of the nervous system after trauma or grief experiences.
- Discuss grief and trauma in sandtray play therapy as it relates to the polyvagal theory.
- Explain liminal space in terms of sandtray play therapy for grief and trauma issues.
- Describe the relationship of mindfulness and the witnessing role during sandtray play involving grief and trauma issues.
Equipment
In-person training does not have any equipment requirement. For online course equipment requirements, please refer to the linked document below:
Prerequisites
Levels 1, 2, & 3; graduate degree in mental health or enrolled in a graduate degree program.
Continuing Education
This course is 24 contact hours.