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Become a play therapist.

Course Description

This advanced experiential workshop builds on the Adlerian Applications of Sand Tray Play Therapy class, enabling participants to deepen their application of Adlerian Sand Tray Play Therapy concepts, skills, and techniques in clinical practice. Participants will strengthen their ability to use sand trays to build therapeutic relationships, explore clients' lifestyle patterns, facilitate insight, and facilitate change in thoughts, emotions, behaviours, and relationships. The workshop also develops advanced skills in case conceptualisation, treatment planning, and consultation with parents and teachers using Adlerian Sand Tray Play Therapy processes.

Experiential learning remains central to the training, with opportunities for personal sand tray work, partner practice, and supervised sessions with volunteer child clients. Participants will receive structured feedback on recorded sand tray sessions to refine their clinical skills and therapeutic presence. The workshop also introduces the use of personal sand trays as a reflective tool for self-supervision, professional growth, and increasing awareness of countertransference.

Note: Participants will need to have access to a child volunteer between the ages of 4 to 9, a sandtray with some sandtray figures as well as have a way to video-record the session and share with the rest of the class for 3 out of 5 training days

Required reading before class: Partners in Play: An Adlerian Approach to Play Therapy , 3rd ed. (Kottman & Meany-Walen, 2016)

Course Objectives

At the end of the course, participants would be able to:

Give a detailed explanation of their rationale for using sand tray play therapy with specific clients
Give a detailed description of the different types of sand trays used in Adlerian sand tray play therapy and an explanation of how they would use each type with specific clients
Give examples of each of the different types of sand trays used in Adlerian sand tray play therapy and explain how that type of tray would be helpful in their work with the population of clients with whom they work
Explain the steps in the Adlerian form of sand tray play therapy and describe times when they might deviate from those steps and why
Demonstrate the steps in a sand tray play therapy process by leading a client through the creation of a sand tray
Describe how they use the Four-Fold Way in their practice of Adlerian sand tray play therapy
Describe how they might struggle with applying the Four-Fold Way in their practice of Adlerian sand tray play therapy with specific clients or situations in their practice
Describe 3 core concepts of Individual Psychology and how they apply those concepts to their practice of Adlerian sand tray play therapy
Describe how the sand tray play therapy process can be used to build relationships with play therapy clients and the kinds of client with whom they would use sand tray play therapy as a tool for building the relationship
Give at least 4 examples of the types of trays that they would use to build relationships with their play therapy clients and demonstrate how they would introduce those trays to a client
Describe how the sand tray play therapy process can be used to explore play therapy clients’ lifestyle patterns and delineate the kinds of clients and the ways they might use sand tray to explore their clients’ lifestyles
List and describe at least 3 directed sand trays that can be used to explore the following elements of clients’ lifestyles:
Crucial Cs
Personality priorities
Goals of misbehavior
Lifestyle convictions
Mistaken beliefs about self, others, and the world
Family atmosphere
Family constellation
Private logic
Explain how the Adlerian sand tray play therapy process can be used to help clients gain insight into their lifestyle patterns
Explain the various types of metacommunication and describe how an Adlerian therapist can use it to help clients gain insight into their lifestyle patterns in sand tray play therapy
Demonstrate 4 different types of metacommunication as they work with a client with sand tray play therapy
Explain the rationale for doing a sand tray for clients as a vehicle for helping them gain insight into their lifestyle
Demonstrate how to make a sand tray for a client as a vehicle for helping him/her/them gain insight into his/her/their lifestyle
Explain the rationale and purpose for delivering therapeutic metaphors as a part of the sand tray play therapy process
Describe 2 different ways of designing therapeutic metaphors as part of the sand tray play therapy process
Explain why you would use mutual storytelling in their practice of sand tray play therapy
Describe they would use mutual storytelling of sand tray play therapy
Describe how sand tray play therapy can help clients make changes in their thoughts, feelings, attitudes, behaviors, and relationships
Describe and demonstrate at least 4 examples of directed sand trays that could help play therapy clients practice making changes in their behavior
Describe and demonstrate at least 4 examples of directed sand trays that could help play therapy clients enhance their ability to recognize their own feelings and the feelings of others
Describe and demonstrate at least 4 examples of directed sand trays that could help play therapy clients their expression of their feelings
Describe and demonstrate at least 3 examples of directed sand trays that could help play therapy client make changes in their relationships
Explain the rationale for using sand tray play therapy in parent consultation
Describe and demonstrate at least 2 examples of directed sand tray play therapy activities they can use for building relationships with parents and teachers in the Adlerian play therapy consultation process
Describe and demonstrate at least 2 directed sand tray play therapy activities they can use for facilitating parents and teachers exploring their own lifestyles, exploring children’s lifestyles, and exploring the interaction between their lifestyles and children’s lifestyles in the Adlerian play therapy consultation process
Describe and demonstrate at least 2 directed sand tray play therapy activities they can use for helping parents and teachers gain insight into their own lifestyles, gain insight into children’s lifestyles, and gain insight into the interactions between their own lifestyles and children’s lifestyles in the Adlerian play therapy consultation process
Describe and demonstrate at least 4 directed sand tray play therapy activities that can be used to help parents better understand their children
Describe and demonstrate at least 4 directed sand tray play therapy activities that can be used to help teachers better understand the children in their classes
Describe and demonstrate at least 4 directed sand tray play therapy activities that can be used to help parents better understand their attitudes and behaviors in their parenting roles
Describe and demonstrate at least 4 direct sand tray play therapy activities that can be used to reframe children's behavior for teachers
Describe and demonstrate at least 3 directed sand tray play therapy activities that can be used to help teachers make shifts in their interactions with students
Describe how they would make adjustments in their explanations and directives in sand tray depending on the culture and background of individual clients
Describe how they would use consideration of clients’ culture and background in developing Adlerian conceptualization of their clients
Explain how they recognize and deal with their own countertransference in the sand tray play therapy process
Demonstrate how they can use information gathered through the sand tray process in conceptualizing and developing treatment plans in Adlerian play therapy
Using videotaped sessions, demonstrate competency using Adlerian sand tray play therapy skills for establishing a relationship with client by attaining at least an 75% fidelity score on the Adlerian Sand Tray Play Therapy Skills Checklist for Phase 1
Using videotaped sessions, demonstrate competency using Adlerian sand tray play therapy skills for exploring a child client’s lifestyle by attaining at least an 75% fidelity score on the Adlerian Sand Tray Play Therapy Skills Checklist for Phase 2
Using videotaped sessions, demonstrate competency using Adlerian sand tray play therapy skills for helping a child client gain insight into his or her lifestyle by attaining at least an 75% fidelity score on the Adlerian Sand Tray Play Therapy Skills Checklist for Phase 3
Using videotaped sessions, demonstrate competency using Adlerian play therapy skills for helping a child client learn and practice new patterns of thinking, feeling, and behaving by attaining at least an 75% fidelity score on the Adlerian Sand Tray Play Therapy Skills Checklist for Phase 4

Pre-requisites and Course Requirements

Completion of the Healing Hearts Centre "AdST 2 - Adlerian Applications of Sand Tray Play Therapy".
Have access to a sandtray and figurines for after-class sessions with volunteer
Find a child non-client between the ages of 7 to 10 (or pre-teen/teenager no older than 16 years old) to work with after class for 3 consecutive days, and be able to photograph the trays for feedback and review in class. Please note that the non-client should be psychologically healthy and not requiring therapy. The purpose of these sessions is for the participant to apply the skills learnt during the day.

**Note: For participants looking at doing these sessions with an adult non-client, please ensure permission is granted by the trainer before proceeding

Eligibility

The course is open to professionals of the mental health fields, including psychologists, counsellors, and social workers.
Professionals should have at least a Bachelor’s Degree in a related mental health discipline with demonstrated coursework in Child Development, Theories of Personality, Principles of Psychotherapy or Counselling Theories
and Skills, and Ethics.

Methodology

The methods for delivery of this course will include lecture, small and large group discussion of assigned readings, individual or group presentations, videos and/or demonstrations of skills, individual and/or group supervision,
journaling and skill-building.

Purpose

The goal of this training program is to help mental health professionals expand their knowledge and attain clinical skills in Adlerian Sand Tray Play Therapy.

Program Recognition and Accreditation
A Certificate of Attendance will be presented to the participant at the end of the course. The training hours for this course is recognized both by the