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Basic Skills Using Sand Tray Effectively in Play Therapy · Next Level Play Therapy: A Podcast for Play Therapy Excellence

• 0:02
  Cathi Spooner: Welcome to Next Level Play Therapy.
• 0:04
  Cathi Spooner: A weekly podcast dedicated to supporting the next generation of child and adolescent therapists to provide exceptional play therapy services.
• 0:14
  Cathi Spooner: We'll explore all things play therapy.
• 0:17
  Cathi Spooner: To elevate your work with children and adolescents using the therapeutic powers of play.
• 0:23
  Cathi Spooner: I'll discuss practical tips and ideas so you can provide a transformative experience for your young clients and make a real difference in their lives.
• 0:33
  Cathi Spooner: So get ready to take your play therapy skills to the next level and make a lasting impact in the lives of children, adolescents, and families.
• 0:46
  Cathi Spooner: Hey there.
• 0:48
  Cathi Spooner: Welcome to this week's episode of Next Level Play Therapy.
• 0:53
  Cathi Spooner: So today I wanted to talk about using sand tray in play therapy, and these are the questions that come up every time, um, espec, especially when I'm doing my sand tray trainings, which I do in-person sand tray trainings.
• 1:14
  Cathi Spooner: Because I think it's really important as play therapist to get your hands in that, re choosing those miniatures, creating your scenes and fully experience the power and depth of using this modality, the T tray.
• 1:41
  Cathi Spooner: One of the things that I love about the, so I have a training coming up this weekend.
• 1:46
  Cathi Spooner: Registration is gonna close on Thursday, tomorrow, and um, so I'll talk a little bit more about that at the end if you're interested.
• 1:56
  Cathi Spooner: But one of the things that I love about the topic that I'm gonna cover on this weekend is that whole idea of using a neuroscience and attachment lens.
• 2:07
  Cathi Spooner: With the sand tray in play therapy, one of the things that I love about that is that whole, I'm gonna use a really fancy word, embodied aspect of how experiences are stored implicitly.
• 2:28
  Cathi Spooner: Meaning we don't have conscious awareness to them in the moment, and they're kind of stored away in there.
• 2:35
  Cathi Spooner: And then we, we, they're still in there.
• 2:37
  Cathi Spooner: It's not like they go away.
• 2:40
  Cathi Spooner: And, um, so I think there's a, even doing the trainings, I think there's an embodied experience to use a really fancy word.
• 2:52
  Cathi Spooner: You know, I, I try to not use those really fancy words just because not everybody really fully understands what that means.
• 3:00
  Cathi Spooner: And it, it sounds kind of, I don't know, sounds a little bit hoity torty sometimes.
• 3:08
  Cathi Spooner: Um, I don't mean it that way.
• 3:10
  Cathi Spooner: And it is a really good word though, like, I love that word.
• 3:15
  Cathi Spooner: And, um.
• 3:17
  Cathi Spooner: So that's one of the things that I love about sand tray, is how it can access those things.
• 3:24
  Cathi Spooner: And I can tell Braille that you are trying to get you, uh, LinkedIn connected'cause things keep showing up on my screen here.
• 3:35
  Cathi Spooner: Uh, so if you're joining us live or if you're watching the replay.
• 3:39
  Cathi Spooner: We have been having some technical dis difficulties with LinkedIn, so we're just gonna proceed.
• 3:47
  Cathi Spooner: Today's topic is four basic skills that you need when you're using the sand tray in play therapy, and I call them basic skills because essentially these are skills that you need regardless of your play therapy model, and they will be influenced by your play therapy model.
• 4:15
  Cathi Spooner: And these are the questions that I get asked all the time when I am talking with play therapists about how to use the tray in play therapy.
• 4:27
  Cathi Spooner: So I, I thought this would be a really good topic to cover.
• 4:32
  Cathi Spooner: It's one that I covered about probably three years ago, and it's, uh, it's one of those I call an oldie but a goodie.
• 4:41
  Cathi Spooner: And so I thought it would be helpful to talk about it again.
• 4:45
  Cathi Spooner: And so today's topic is building skills using sand tray effectively in play therapy.
• 4:53
  Cathi Spooner: And we're gonna cover four, four basic skills that every play therapist wants to know.
• 5:04
  Cathi Spooner: When they're using the T tray.
• 5:07
  Cathi Spooner: Okay.
• 5:07
  Cathi Spooner: First one is, how do you introduce the T tray?
• 5:12
  Cathi Spooner: Um, and the, and the answer is, it depends, depends on your play therapy model.
• 5:17
  Cathi Spooner: For example, child centered play therapy, you're not, you are not going to introduce it.
• 5:24
  Cathi Spooner: It'll be in your playroom.
• 5:26
  Cathi Spooner: You'll have a sand tray, you'll have miniatures if you choose to have those in your playroom, and if you're using child-centered play therapy, then you are going to still use the same type of, um, tracking skills, but also you're still following, you're not leading.
• 5:47
  Cathi Spooner: And if you are introducing it, then you are leading.
• 5:50
  Cathi Spooner: So you're following and you're not, you're just gonna use your typical child-centered play therapy skills.
• 6:00
  Cathi Spooner: There, there are a couple across all, most of the other models are either directive or kind of a, a hybrid of, sometimes you follow, sometimes you lead like Adlerian play therapy.
• 6:13
  Cathi Spooner: Sometimes you follow, sometimes you lead.
• 6:15
  Cathi Spooner: Gestalt play therapy.
• 6:16
  Cathi Spooner: Sometimes you follow, sometimes you lead.
• 6:19
  Cathi Spooner: Um, most integrative play therapy models.
• 6:23
  Cathi Spooner: You, you're going to either be directive, meaning you are leading, or you're going to be following.
• 6:31
  Cathi Spooner: So these next two, um, things that I'm gonna talk about really are what most of the other play therapy models will use, and that is you can either do a non-directive prompt.
• 6:45
  Cathi Spooner: Or you can do a directive prompt.
• 6:48
  Cathi Spooner: And then the, what I call a non-directive prompt is the way that I was trained way, way back in the day using, uh, the prompt of you can create a world in the sand.
• 7:04
  Cathi Spooner: So that would be a non-directive, non-directive prompt, or, uh, maybe a little more directive would be.
• 7:13
  Cathi Spooner: You can create an uh, a safe world or your ideal world, those are still pretty generic and very open-ended.
• 7:25
  Cathi Spooner: What I like about those is that you can get so many, um.
• 7:34
  Cathi Spooner: Opportunities or options like the what you can see, the possibilities.
• 7:40
  Cathi Spooner: That's the word that I was trying to find in my brain.
• 7:44
  Cathi Spooner: The possibilities of what can unfold in the sand tray with a much more generic prompt is higher than if you use a directive prompt.
• 7:56
  Cathi Spooner: But sometimes if you are working on specific things or specific issues in play therapy using the sand tray, then you're gonna have more specific, um, targets to focus on.
• 8:15
  Cathi Spooner: I say that hesitancy 'cause.
• 8:17
  Cathi Spooner: I don't know if targets is the right word either, but it's still a good word and we'll go with that one.
• 8:23
  Cathi Spooner: Um, so more directive, meaning you're working on specific things.
• 8:29
  Cathi Spooner: So for example, one prompt that I may use that's a directive prompt if I'm using more of an integrative or prescriptive play therapy approach.
• 8:41
  Cathi Spooner: I say integrated, but I don't know.
• 8:43
  Cathi Spooner: Prescriptive is still a good one.
• 8:46
  Cathi Spooner: Play therapy.
• 8:47
  Cathi Spooner: Um, so if, let's say I have a child who has a pretty significant anxiety, and let's say one of the things that is happening because of this high level an anxiety is they're having nightmares and they're having nightmares frequently.
• 9:08
  Cathi Spooner: So maybe I want to target.
• 9:12
  Cathi Spooner: Exploring what is going on with those nightmares and see if I can figure out what's activating this and also access the therapeutic powers of play for indirect teaching or maybe even direct teaching.
• 9:28
  Cathi Spooner: And so I might give the prompt of, use the miniatures that best represent your nightmare and, create that in the sand tray.
• 9:43
  Cathi Spooner: Oftentimes I'll give my clients the option of either using art or the sand tray.
• 9:50
  Cathi Spooner: So I'll, I'll let them choose if they wanna use sand tray.
• 9:53
  Cathi Spooner: If they, if they wanna use art.
• 9:56
  Cathi Spooner: So if they're using the sand tray, then they're gonna choose the miniatures and arrange them in the sand tray, and then we're going to explore that and we can do some, um.
• 10:10
  Cathi Spooner: Kind of indirect teaching in terms of maybe integrating a little narrative therapy and giving voice and, and using story to explore what are the cognitive distortions going on in the, that are creating, maybe activating some of this anxiety.
• 10:31
  Cathi Spooner: So if I'm using a directive prompt, you might have noticed, and I'm also probably.
• 10:37
  Cathi Spooner: Using more of an integrative approach where I might be using a little bit of cognitive behavioral therapy if I'm exploring some of that, uh, those cognitive distortions to find out what's activating the anxiety.
• 10:54
  Cathi Spooner: And in this particular case, it would be what might be contributing to these nightmares that are going on and exploring that I could, I could also use a little narrative therapy to use story to give it a little more metaphor and stay in that metaphor to explore what's going on.
• 11:14
  Cathi Spooner: So you can see how your play therapy model, your theoretical model, is going to influence what you do in the play therapy room.
• 11:25
  Cathi Spooner: In this specific case, how you are using the sand tray in the play therapy process.
• 11:33
  Cathi Spooner: So introducing the sand tray, those are, um, you can either, if you're a child-centered play therapist and you're using child-centered play therapy and you have that sand tray in there with the miniatures, then you're just gonna use it however you use sand tray, I mean, however you use, um.
• 11:54
  Cathi Spooner: Child-centered play therapy, and then with the other play therapy models that you might be using, you can either use a directive or even a non-directive prompt.
• 12:05
  Cathi Spooner: A non-directive prompt is going to be much more general and allow for.
• 12:12
  Cathi Spooner: A lot more possibilities for you to get a sense of what's going on in there.
• 12:17
  Cathi Spooner: But if you really wanna target and you wanna hone in, then you can use a directive prompt.
• 12:23
  Cathi Spooner: The other, the other skill that comes up a lot in terms of questions I get asked, um, how you use the sand tray in play therapy is, has to do with boundaries.
• 12:37
  Cathi Spooner: So can you have boundaries?
• 12:41
  Cathi Spooner: Play therapy.
• 12:42
  Cathi Spooner: Yes.
• 12:43
  Cathi Spooner: You can't have boundaries.
• 12:45
  Cathi Spooner: And what exactly might that look like with the, with the sand tray, and again, I'm gonna say whatever your play therapy model is, is greatly gonna influence even how you set boundaries and what boundaries you set.
• 13:03
  Cathi Spooner: For example, with child-centered play therapy, you're going to use that act model of, setting the boundaries and it's gonna dictate what type of boundaries are you gonna set.
• 13:16
  Cathi Spooner: For example, when I'm using, um, the sand tray, I typically, I typically have the same boundary regardless of whether I'm using child-centered play therapy or whether I'm using a different modality and, and the one that I is consistent across whatever model I'm using is the sand stays in the sandbox like that and you can't get in the sandbox.
• 13:49
  Cathi Spooner: So those are my two.
• 13:51
  Cathi Spooner: Regardless what I'm using.
• 13:53
  Cathi Spooner: The sand stays in the sandbox and you can't get in the sandbox.
• 13:59
  Cathi Spooner: The, if I have more than one kind of san sand.
• 14:06
  Cathi Spooner: In the, in the play therapy room, like maybe I have two different types of sand trays and they both have different colored sands that I'm gonna set another I'm, this is me personally.
• 14:20
  Cathi Spooner: Your limits, you're gonna figure out part of limits setting in.
• 14:25
  Cathi Spooner: Play therapy is what are some personal limits you need to set in order to be congruent with unconditional positive regard and empathy with each one of your clients?
• 14:40
  Cathi Spooner: I would say that's true regardless of what play therapy model you're using.
• 14:45
  Cathi Spooner: And it's also true with child-centric play therapy, so some, so these are limits that I set.
• 14:55
  Cathi Spooner: You, you might agree with these, you might not agree with these.
• 14:59
  Cathi Spooner: You might wanna set different ones.
• 15:01
  Cathi Spooner: Here's the sand stays in the sandbox because I don't want sand everywhere and I get the expensive sand.
• 15:10
  Cathi Spooner: And I'll talk a little bit more about that as we go.
• 15:13
  Cathi Spooner: Why I do that, but I don't, I don't wanna be, I'm gonna be going through sand, like water through a sea.
• 15:21
  Cathi Spooner: One of those pasta strainers.
• 15:23
  Cathi Spooner: I'm gonna be buying so much sand and that that doesn't work for me.
• 15:27
  Cathi Spooner: It's expensive.
• 15:29
  Cathi Spooner: Then I'm gonna not enjoy play therapy sessions.
• 15:33
  Cathi Spooner: I might not enjoy that client, which means now I need to set a personal boundary.
• 15:38
  Cathi Spooner: And so I set that one to protect the relationship first and foremost.
• 15:44
  Cathi Spooner: 'cause if I have to be buying sand all the time, I'm not gonna be liking it.
• 15:48
  Cathi Spooner: So that's why I set that limit.
• 15:51
  Cathi Spooner: Plus it's really hard to clean up and it takes a lot of time and it gets in the carpet.
• 15:59
  Cathi Spooner: If you have carpet or you're always sweeping up your floor, you're gonna be doing that anyway 'cause it's not always gonna stay in the sandbox, hence why you have to set that limit.
• 16:10
  Cathi Spooner: Um, so those are the ones that I use across.
• 16:15
  Cathi Spooner: Whatever play therapy modality that I'm using.
• 16:18
  Cathi Spooner: The other, the other limits or boundaries or rules that I set are I put the sand tray miniatures away.
• 16:31
  Cathi Spooner: I have that rule because a couple of things.
• 16:35
  Cathi Spooner: First and foremost, I wanna make sure I get all the sand off the miniature so I don't have like a, a.
• 16:42
  Cathi Spooner: An inch layer, that's a little exaggeration, but I don't have a ton of sand on my shelves.
• 16:49
  Cathi Spooner: I'm gonna have sand on my shelves, which means I'm gonna be cleaning my shelves a lot.
• 16:53
  Cathi Spooner: So if I wanna cut down on how often and how, um, how much sand I'm cleaning off my shelves, then I make the rule that I put the miniatures away.
• 17:06
  Cathi Spooner: First, the reason is I wanna get all the sand off it before it goes back on the shelf.
• 17:12
  Cathi Spooner: Two, I wanna make sure it goes back where it's supposed to go, and I'll talk a little bit more about that when we talk about organizing next, but I wanna make sure it goes back where it's supposed to go.
• 17:25
  Cathi Spooner: And I wanna cut down on the likelihood that my miniatures are gonna disappear and go in little pockets never to return.
• 17:36
  Cathi Spooner: It does happen.
• 17:38
  Cathi Spooner: Uh, so that's another thing I'll cover in the next, next point.
• 17:43
  Cathi Spooner: But I put the sand tray, I put the miniatures away.
• 17:47
  Cathi Spooner: That's my role.
• 17:48
  Cathi Spooner: Um, and.
• 17:52
  Cathi Spooner: I also keep out like a little plastic tray for a couple of reasons.
• 18:00
  Cathi Spooner: One, for the reason I'm about to say, which is if you decide not to use the sand tray miniature, you can just put it in the, in the container here that I keep on the floor, and then that way in my mind, if they wanna use it again, they just grab it out of the, out of the tray and I don't have to.
• 18:20
  Cathi Spooner: Clean it off, put it on the shelf, and then they choose it again, and then we go back and forth.
• 18:25
  Cathi Spooner: It's just easier for them.
• 18:27
  Cathi Spooner: I feel like it's easier for them.
• 18:29
  Cathi Spooner: Um, and I'm, I'm less intrusive if we just, if I just let them put it in the bin.
• 18:37
  Cathi Spooner: And then if they wanna use it again, they can.
• 18:40
  Cathi Spooner: And then if they put it in that little plastic tray, then it gives me the opportunity later to clean them off before I put them back on the shelves.
• 18:50
  Cathi Spooner: So that's, that's another one.
• 18:53
  Cathi Spooner: And I, so the other question that comes up is, do you need to have a separate room for your sand tray miniatures and the sand tray?
• 19:05
  Cathi Spooner: From your playroom.
• 19:07
  Cathi Spooner: Some people do that.
• 19:09
  Cathi Spooner: If you have the ability to do that and you like doing that, I would say by all means, do it.
• 19:17
  Cathi Spooner: Um, I like having it, I've had it both ways.
• 19:21
  Cathi Spooner: I, I, I typically would have the sand tray and the miniatures on the shelves in the play, in the playroom.
• 19:36
  Cathi Spooner: I, I don't think, I think either is fine if you wanna have the sand tray miniatures in a completely separate room versus having them in your san, in your playroom.
• 19:48
  Cathi Spooner: And sometimes there's the practical aspect of you, you don't.
• 19:52
  Cathi Spooner: Uh, have enough money to pay for a very big, gigantic office.
• 19:58
  Cathi Spooner: Like you don't generate the revenue to be able to support having all these fancy options.
• 20:05
  Cathi Spooner: And so maybe you'd need to keep them all in the same room.
• 20:09
  Cathi Spooner: So if you have them, if you have the sand tray miniatures and the sand tray in your playroom.
• 20:16
  Cathi Spooner: And then here's another limit that I set when, when I have that and my.
• 20:23
  Cathi Spooner: My limit is because I like having Nerf guns with the, those Nerf darts in the playroom.
• 20:30
  Cathi Spooner: Uh, my rule is you can't shoot the sand tray miniatures.
• 20:34
  Cathi Spooner: My other rule is you can't take your hand and make them all fall down.
• 20:39
  Cathi Spooner: And the other rule is you, you can't play with the miniatures on the shelves 'cause then they all get knocked down and um, it's a disaster.
• 20:48
  Cathi Spooner: Trust me on that one.
• 20:50
  Cathi Spooner: So if they're in there, those are the rules that I set just for practical purposes.
• 20:58
  Cathi Spooner: Um, one is to protect the toys because I don't want them getting damaged.
• 21:02
  Cathi Spooner: And two is protect my time because I don't have time to set up those tre.
• 21:08
  Cathi Spooner: Miniatures every single time.
• 21:11
  Cathi Spooner: So that those are the boundaries.
• 21:13
  Cathi Spooner: And the whole point of boundaries really is, like I said, to protect the relationship, um, to protect the toys and to protect you.
• 21:24
  Cathi Spooner: Like my other rule is you can't shoot me with the Nerf gun darts 'cause I don't like being shot with the nerve gun darts.
• 21:30
  Cathi Spooner: So that kind of just keeps a little structure.
• 21:34
  Cathi Spooner: I look at boundaries as structure.
• 21:36
  Cathi Spooner: Kind of, this is how we do relationship in my playroom and we do relationship this way because it helps me to make sure that I can protect this therapeutic relationship and uh, and access unconditional positive regard and empathy.
• 21:56
  Cathi Spooner: So you can have that felt sense of, I think you're the most awesome kid in the world.
• 22:03
  Cathi Spooner: We need boundaries.
• 22:05
  Cathi Spooner: So then the second, uh, the third, the third, um, skill, or the third point is organizing this question comes up a lot.
• 22:14
  Cathi Spooner: How do I organize?
• 22:16
  Cathi Spooner: Should I have them standing?
• 22:18
  Cathi Spooner: Can I have them in bins or little buckets?
• 22:22
  Cathi Spooner: How, how should I organize them and why?
• 22:26
  Cathi Spooner: So from a traditional sand play.
• 22:30
  Cathi Spooner: And in other videos I've discussed the difference between, between sand play and sand tray.
• 22:37
  Cathi Spooner: Those are different.
• 22:39
  Cathi Spooner: So, but for the sake of today's, um, video and livestream, I will, I will just say from a traditional sand play standpoint, the reason that you stand up your miniatures on the shelves is so that the unconscious, when the unconscious is looking at the shelves, the unconscious will see the miniatures and be drawn toward the miniatures that need to be used to work through whatever it is that needs to be worked through.
• 23:19
  Cathi Spooner: From a neuroscience and attachment standpoint, I would say you're in your implicit experiences.
• 23:27
  Cathi Spooner: Will, uh, when you're using the sand tray, you will be naturally drawn towards, because they're all standing up and you can see them.
• 23:36
  Cathi Spooner: You'll be naturally drawn toward whatever implicit experiences you're, you're working through for healing in that moment.
• 23:45
  Cathi Spooner: So standing them up and organizing them into categories.
• 23:51
  Cathi Spooner: Allows your client the ability to choose the miniatures that they need.
• 23:57
  Cathi Spooner: It's more challenging when they're in, in like bins or little containers because they have to sort through the containers.
• 24:06
  Cathi Spooner: That's not to say I don't use containers.
• 24:08
  Cathi Spooner: I do some things just don't stand up very well, and I put them in containers.
• 24:15
  Cathi Spooner: But also I'll, I like to use the gems, those little gems, so I'll put those in containers'cause otherwise they're just spread all over your shelves.
• 24:24
  Cathi Spooner: So some things naturally need a little bit of a container.
• 24:28
  Cathi Spooner: If you are traveling and you don't have your own office, but let's say you go into people's homes, then what I would say is you're gonna need the containers.
• 24:38
  Cathi Spooner: And what I would say is if you're using containers, just um, have categories.
• 24:44
  Cathi Spooner: In each container.
• 24:46
  Cathi Spooner: So have categories of dinosaurs or categories of pirates or categories of fences.
• 24:54
  Cathi Spooner: Just keep them separated into categories.
• 24:57
  Cathi Spooner: And if you're using the containers, I would label them because I think it's a little easier to, um, find them and.
• 25:10
  Cathi Spooner: That way you can kind of know which ones you wanna use.
• 25:15
  Cathi Spooner: So, oh, I was just looking at my co comments.
• 25:18
  Cathi Spooner: Most stock, how are you?
• 25:21
  Cathi Spooner: You're watching from YouTube?
• 25:24
  Cathi Spooner: Yes, I, uh, usually you and I connect on LinkedIn, but it's Streamy yards not connecting to link, uh, LinkedIn today.
• 25:34
  Cathi Spooner: So I'm glad you were joining.
• 25:36
  Cathi Spooner: It's good to see you.
• 25:37
  Cathi Spooner: So ly MOOC and I, uh, connected on LinkedIn probably what, like two years ago, chatting about play therapy and I, I, I'm gonna brag on you a little bit 'cause I think it's just so cool what you're doing.
• 25:54
  Cathi Spooner: Um, actually is, I think you're still in Bangladesh, is really working to bring play therapy to children and families in Bangladesh, which I think is so exciting.
• 26:09
  Cathi Spooner: Anyways, welcome.
• 26:10
  Cathi Spooner: That's so cool.
• 26:11
  Cathi Spooner: You're here.
• 26:12
  Cathi Spooner: Um, all right, so back focus.
• 26:15
  Cathi Spooner: Sorry, I get a little distracted with the comments.
• 26:17
  Cathi Spooner: Plus I like connecting with people, so organizing.
• 26:21
  Cathi Spooner: The other thing that you wanna keep in mind is regardless of if you are using.
• 26:29
  Cathi Spooner: Containers or if you're standing them up or you're using a combination of both, you wanna have them cat, um, organized into categories.
• 26:37
  Cathi Spooner: The reason for that is it's easier for your clients to find them.
• 26:42
  Cathi Spooner: So in the playroom, we keep our playroom organized.
• 26:45
  Cathi Spooner: We keep things in the same place because our clients will come back week after week and they know exactly where they need to go.
• 26:54
  Cathi Spooner: In order to find whatever it is they're, they're working on that particular day in the playroom.
• 27:01
  Cathi Spooner: The same is true for the sand tray miniatures.
• 27:04
  Cathi Spooner: You wanna have them in the same place.
• 27:08
  Cathi Spooner: Because when your clients come in, they are thinking about that S tray.
• 27:12
  Cathi Spooner: They are thinking about what they want in their sand tray world or what it is they're gonna be making that week, and they're gonna go go straight to those sections.
• 27:23
  Cathi Spooner: So that consistency.
• 27:26
  Cathi Spooner: It builds a sense of safety and familiarity.
• 27:31
  Cathi Spooner: Breeds a little bit of safety in there with your clients and helps them get to do whatever that work is that they need to do in the playroom.
• 27:41
  Cathi Spooner: So you wanna keep them organized.
• 27:44
  Cathi Spooner: Um, keep them in the same place I used to.
• 27:49
  Cathi Spooner: I'm probably gonna label 'em.
• 27:50
  Cathi Spooner: I used to take like a labeler on my shelves, you can't see in this video 'cause I moved all my sand tray managers to a new office to have, uh, so I can do my trainings in a different office rather than here at home in my home office.
• 28:08
  Cathi Spooner: And, um, eventually I'll get, I have so many, uh, I, I'm never moving again.
• 28:14
  Cathi Spooner: There's like, so I have thousands.
• 28:17
  Cathi Spooner: Um, and so what I, I like to do is I used to label them so then we knew where all the sand tray miniatures go.
• 28:26
  Cathi Spooner: I just like being organized.
• 28:28
  Cathi Spooner: You don't need to label your shelves, but if you're an organized person like me, you, and you like to make the labels that, uh, that can be helpful.
• 28:40
  Cathi Spooner: Uh, and then you always wanna make sure that the shelves are clean.
• 28:45
  Cathi Spooner: Um, so you're gonna have to keep them clean.
• 28:48
  Cathi Spooner: I like to keep a little small paintbrush, like one that's like an inch and then I, I just dust the shelves off using the paintbrush.
• 28:58
  Cathi Spooner: It's easier.
• 28:59
  Cathi Spooner: Also, I use that to clean off the miniatures before I put them onto the shelves.
• 29:04
  Cathi Spooner: So just kind of like a little organizing cleaning tool.
• 29:07
  Cathi Spooner: And if you take one of those pasta strainers.
• 29:11
  Cathi Spooner: Um, I used the kind of the metal mesh kind with the handle when they have a ton of miniatures in the sand tray, especially a lot of jewels or maybe a lot of little tiny miniatures, you can use that, that little sifter like pasta strainer and scoop 'em up and sift out the sand before you put them all in your little plastic tray and then put 'em away from there.
• 29:37
  Cathi Spooner: Just a little tip.
• 29:40
  Cathi Spooner: And then the third thing that gets asked a lot is choosing, choosing sand and sand trays.
• 29:47
  Cathi Spooner: Like does the sand matter?
• 29:50
  Cathi Spooner: I would say most people, myself included, use what I call the starter sand.
• 29:56
  Cathi Spooner: Um, the kind that you can get in the, you know, like the home supply, you know, like the home.
• 30:04
  Cathi Spooner: We have like Home Depot and Lowe's, the home hardware store.
• 30:09
  Cathi Spooner: Um, those of you that are not in the US you probably call it those stores where they have all the things to remodel your home and tools and all those kinds of things, or the craft, craft place where they have the sand or wherever you buy sand for your outdoor sandbox.
• 30:27
  Cathi Spooner: The problem with that sand is it's very, very dusty.
• 30:31
  Cathi Spooner: And it is like a nuclear'cause you're, what's gonna happen is your client is gonna stiff the sand and move the sand and pour the sand.
• 30:42
  Cathi Spooner: And then what happens with that really dusty sand is you get like this nuclear cloud of dust in your coffee.
• 30:49
  Cathi Spooner: It's horrible.
• 30:50
  Cathi Spooner: So I always, for that reason, I always recommend.
• 30:55
  Cathi Spooner: Invest in more expensive sand.
• 30:58
  Cathi Spooner: Like you can go on play therapy to, uh, supplies or what is it?
• 31:05
  Cathi Spooner: You can probably get it on Amazon.
• 31:08
  Cathi Spooner: Um, it's called sand it and you can get it in different colors.
• 31:14
  Cathi Spooner: I use the white, I call that the other starter sand.
• 31:17
  Cathi Spooner: It's a little more, it is a little dusty, but it's nowhere near as dusty as the other one.
• 31:23
  Cathi Spooner: I call that that like the mid, mid range price for sand.
• 31:29
  Cathi Spooner: 'cause it still is a little bit dusty, but it's not as bad as the other cheap sand.
• 31:34
  Cathi Spooner: The best sand is Jurassic sand and you can go to Jurassic Sand.
• 31:40
  Cathi Spooner: Website.
• 31:41
  Cathi Spooner: They, they don't have dust.
• 31:44
  Cathi Spooner: It is more expensive.
• 31:46
  Cathi Spooner: It is worth it though.
• 31:48
  Cathi Spooner: Um, and if you go on my website, scroll through way back.
• 31:53
  Cathi Spooner: Go, go back through.
• 31:54
  Cathi Spooner: Not my website.
• 31:55
  Cathi Spooner: If my YouTube channel, you go on my YouTube channel, Kathy Spooner renewing hearts.
• 32:01
  Cathi Spooner: Scroll back on the live tab till you find the one about sand.
• 32:06
  Cathi Spooner: I've done a couple of previous episodes on sand and I, I even had the Jurassic Sand people.
• 32:13
  Cathi Spooner: I love them.
• 32:14
  Cathi Spooner: Um.
• 32:16
  Cathi Spooner: The Jurassic sand, you can get different textures, you can get different colors.
• 32:21
  Cathi Spooner: It's all natural, and they make sure to take the, the, the, uh, dust out and they guarantee there's no dust.
• 32:31
  Cathi Spooner: So that one's more expensive.
• 32:33
  Cathi Spooner: It's definitely worth it though, if you have the ability to do that, you just need 1 25 pound box For a sand tray, I typically only use half.
• 32:45
  Cathi Spooner: A 25 pound box in my, in my standard size sand trays.
• 32:51
  Cathi Spooner: And then I have the rest to refill as needed.
• 32:56
  Cathi Spooner: So for the sand, the other thing I get asked is, does the color of the sand matter?
• 33:03
  Cathi Spooner: And I would add to that just the texture.
• 33:05
  Cathi Spooner: I, I would say, I would say it, it just gives a different experience.
• 33:11
  Cathi Spooner: Is there.
• 33:13
  Cathi Spooner: One that you need to have?
• 33:16
  Cathi Spooner: I don't think so.
• 33:17
  Cathi Spooner: I think it's just pre, uh, preference.
• 33:21
  Cathi Spooner: The, the neutral sand is what people are used to.
• 33:25
  Cathi Spooner: I call it the starter sand.
• 33:27
  Cathi Spooner: Um, if you want to have other options for sand for your clients to use, then you can have that available.
• 33:36
  Cathi Spooner: I set the rule though, if they're gonna, if you have more than one sand tray, uh.
• 33:42
  Cathi Spooner: Sand available in different sand trays, like maybe you have two sand trays available and they have different kind of sand in it.
• 33:50
  Cathi Spooner: My rule is you can't, you can only use one at a time because here's what happens.
• 33:55
  Cathi Spooner: It's like your playdoh.
• 33:57
  Cathi Spooner: When you let kids mix your playdoh, then it's no longer.
• 34:01
  Cathi Spooner: Green or blue Play-Doh, it's mushed up Play-Doh.
• 34:07
  Cathi Spooner: And that's what happens to your sandbox is it's no long, like maybe like I, in the past I've had different kinds of sand and what would happen is I had white sand.
• 34:16
  Cathi Spooner: I had black sand and they would use both.
• 34:19
  Cathi Spooner: And then both sand trays were now black and white sand.
• 34:22
  Cathi Spooner: And I didn't have a white sand tray or a black sand tray.
• 34:26
  Cathi Spooner: I had two salt and pepper colored sand trays.
• 34:29
  Cathi Spooner: So that's up to you.
• 34:31
  Cathi Spooner: You know, personal preference.
• 34:34
  Cathi Spooner: I. I don't let them mix the sand.
• 34:39
  Cathi Spooner: And, um, so you can, you can decide.
• 34:42
  Cathi Spooner: I think it's a preference.
• 34:44
  Cathi Spooner: I have found that the different colors and the dis different textures give the experience a different.
• 34:52
  Cathi Spooner: Experience the size of the sand tray.
• 34:56
  Cathi Spooner: Typically, like the standard, traditional sand tray is the rectangular sand tray with blue inside.
• 35:05
  Cathi Spooner: Maybe it's a wooden sand tray and it's painted blue inside, or maybe it's just a blue plastic one.
• 35:12
  Cathi Spooner: The, the, the theory behind the blue on the inside is that blue can represent water.
• 35:21
  Cathi Spooner: Or sky.
• 35:22
  Cathi Spooner: And so they can create, uh, water by moving the sand around.
• 35:29
  Cathi Spooner: Create an ocean, create a pond, create a river.
• 35:32
  Cathi Spooner: They, that's, that's the benefit of having the blue on the inside.
• 35:39
  Cathi Spooner: You can, nowadays you can get the octagonal shapes.
• 35:45
  Cathi Spooner: You can get the round, like I have a big old round.
• 35:49
  Cathi Spooner: sand tray, which is awesome.
• 35:51
  Cathi Spooner: Those create different experiences as well.
• 35:54
  Cathi Spooner: With the round sand tray, there's no corners with an octagonal sand tray, there's kind of a lot of corners.
• 36:01
  Cathi Spooner: With a traditional rectangle, there's four corners, and so what happens in the sand tray based on the shape?
• 36:11
  Cathi Spooner: Gives a different experience for the builder of the sand tray.
• 36:16
  Cathi Spooner: Do you get a big one or a small one?
• 36:18
  Cathi Spooner: Typically the, the standard size rectangle, sand tray.
• 36:24
  Cathi Spooner: The theory is it's what your eye can take in with that container.
• 36:30
  Cathi Spooner: 'cause the sand tray is the container for that unconscious material or as I would say, all those implicit experiences.
• 36:41
  Cathi Spooner: And, um, the sand tray is the container for that.
• 36:46
  Cathi Spooner: And the sand is what anchors and grounds the builder through that experience.
• 36:54
  Cathi Spooner: And what do they do with the sand?
• 36:57
  Cathi Spooner: What do they do with the miniatures in that sand?
• 37:00
  Cathi Spooner: And then the, the miniatures are the symbolic representation of what's going on in there.
• 37:07
  Cathi Spooner: So, so those are the four basic skills for using the sand tray.
• 37:15
  Cathi Spooner: Pretty much regardless of your play therapy model, we kind of broke down the essentials.
• 37:22
  Cathi Spooner: Of using the sand tray in play therapy, how to introduce the sand tray using both directive and non-directive prompts.
• 37:34
  Cathi Spooner: How to organize your sand tray, what kind of boundaries you can use, and then.
• 37:42
  Cathi Spooner: Some reasons, or not reasons, but some ideas or tips or things to consider when you are choosing sand and choosing what type of sand tray that you want to use.
• 37:59
  Cathi Spooner: So that is it for today.
• 38:01
  Cathi Spooner: If you found the information useful, feel free to share it across.
• 38:08
  Cathi Spooner: Your social media platforms, feel free to comment.
• 38:13
  Cathi Spooner: I'd love to hear your feedback, um, your ideas, your, the things that you are doing with San Tre.
• 38:21
  Cathi Spooner: So feel free to post in the comments.
• 38:24
  Cathi Spooner: I forgot to say that at the beginning 'cause I got a little distracted by the fact that we couldn't connect to LinkedIn today.
• 38:31
  Cathi Spooner: For those of you watching the replay on LinkedIn, I'm sorry.
• 38:35
  Cathi Spooner: Um, we were having technical difficulties today, and for those of you watching the replay on, on Instagram or YouTube or in my Facebook group or um, or LinkedIn, feel free to comment.
• 38:53
  Cathi Spooner: Feel free to.
• 38:55
  Cathi Spooner: Um, share the information.
• 38:57
  Cathi Spooner: If you're watching on YouTube, I would love it if you would follow the channel.
• 39:04
  Cathi Spooner: You'll get notified every time I go live when there's a new video in there.
• 39:08
  Cathi Spooner: Uh.
• 39:09
  Cathi Spooner: And if you're listening on the podcast, I would love to hear from you as well.
• 39:15
  Cathi Spooner: You can pop over to my Instagram channel, renewing Hearts Training, or Even Message Me or, um, I. Yeah, I was gonna say something else, but I, oh, yeah.
• 39:28
  Cathi Spooner: Now I remember.
• 39:30
  Cathi Spooner: Leave a comment on, uh, apple Podcasts.
• 39:33
  Cathi Spooner: I would love to hear from you.
• 39:35
  Cathi Spooner: What's helpful.
• 39:36
  Cathi Spooner: What would you like to see more of?
• 39:38
  Cathi Spooner: That would be amazing?
• 39:39
  Cathi Spooner: For those of you who are interested in the sand tray training or my sand tray trainings in general, I do have one coming up this weekend.
• 39:51
  Cathi Spooner: It's called using a neuroscience and attachment lens with sand tray in play therapy.
• 39:56
  Cathi Spooner: It's a two day in-person training.
• 40:00
  Cathi Spooner: I like to do the in-person training because we do a lot of san making sand trays, so you get your hands in the sand, you're creating sand trays.
• 40:11
  Cathi Spooner: We are using that as opportunities to learn how to identify.
• 40:16
  Cathi Spooner: W um, themes in the sand tray, how to hold that sand tray experience.
• 40:22
  Cathi Spooner: What to say, what not to say.
• 40:25
  Cathi Spooner: In this particular training, we're using a neuroscience and attachment lens, so understanding implicit experiences, that sensory aspect, the self-regulating experience for clients or dysregulating, depending on the client and how to.
• 40:45
  Cathi Spooner: How to support your clients using sand tray.
• 40:51
  Cathi Spooner: The play therapy process with that lens, we do a lot of identifying themes and how to hold that and what to do with that.
• 41:00
  Cathi Spooner: So, um, that's one of the reasons I keep it a really, really small group.
• 41:05
  Cathi Spooner: We, we do a maximum of 12 people.
• 41:08
  Cathi Spooner: Ideally we have like 10, usually 10 to 12.
• 41:12
  Cathi Spooner: Um, and that, that way we get a lot of hands-on a lot of individualized experiences.
• 41:20
  Cathi Spooner: So if you're interested in the training or trainings I have coming up, then pop over to my website at rh play therapy training.com.
• 41:31
  Cathi Spooner: That is rh play therapy training.com.
• 41:36
  Cathi Spooner: You can either, um, go on the courses or trainings page.
• 41:42
  Cathi Spooner: And you'll see the training registration for this one closes tomorrow using a neuroscience and attachment lens in sand tray and play therapy.
• 41:51
  Cathi Spooner: I have some other trainings coming up as well, so if you're interested, pop over to my website.
• 41:57
  Cathi Spooner: You can also check out the resources over there.
• 42:01
  Cathi Spooner: We're also putting links in the comments, so if you're interested, you can also check the comments or feel free to message me if you have questions, and I will see you next week.
• 42:14
  Cathi Spooner: Bye for now.
• 42:17
  Cathi Spooner: Thank you for joining me on this episode of Next Level Play Therapy.
• 42:22
  Cathi Spooner: I hope you found the discussion valuable and gained new insights and ideas to support your work helping children, adolescents, and families heal.
• 42:31
  Cathi Spooner: If you enjoyed this episode, be sure to subscribe to the podcast and leave a review.
• 42:36
  Cathi Spooner: Your feedback helps to improve and reach more people who can benefit from this information.
• 42:42
  Cathi Spooner: Remember, play therapy is a powerful tool for healing and growth.
• 42:47
  Cathi Spooner: Whether you're a new play therapist or experienced, I encourage you to continue your learning journey to unlock the potential of play in your own work in relationships.
• 42:58
  Cathi Spooner: If you have any questions or topics, suggestions for future episodes.
• 43:03
  Cathi Spooner: I'd love to hear from you.
• 43:05
  Cathi Spooner: Connect with me on social media and visit my website at Renewing Hearts Play Therapy Training to stay updated on upcoming episodes, trainings, and resources.
• 43:18
  Cathi Spooner: Thank you once again for listening to Next Level Play Therapy.
• 43:21
  Cathi Spooner: Until next time, keep playing, learning and growing.