The 27th Annual International Play Therapy Conference

October 12, 2010 Louisville, Kentucky

Narrative Approaches in Sand

Therapy:
Transformative Journeys for
Counselor and Client

Dee Preston-Dillon, Ph.D.

Creative Consultant
Brittany Lynn Sheehan
with Loraine Hunsaker
 Sand Symbol Story
Innate Expression of Experience
Lascaux Cave Painting
We began our journey
to bridge the internal with
our life-world over 30,000
years ago. We represented
culture on cave walls,
monoliths, sand, & stone
artifacts.
Ritual, Image, and
Story merged to bridge
inner images with
experience, social &
cultural worlds.
Sand scenes carry on
the sacred ritual of the
ancestors, image-making,
& our capacity to
transform through the
symbolic.
Purpose
The Purpose of this workshop is…

• To introduce
narrative
approaches for
sand therapy
• To demonstrate a
poetic stance for
cultural
amplification
Objectives
• To describe narrative techniques appropriate for sand
therapy

• To use cultural amplification to understand client’s

stories and sand scenes

• To describe the ethical and cultural dimensions of

narrative sand therapy

• To explore metaphors, symbols, and the construction

of stories for deeply creative and transformative play
therapy
 Journal Questions
The Intrusion of Ethnocentrism

“What part of our agenda steals integrity away from the client?”

“Where is the boundary between the clinician’s curiosity and a client’s

process?”

“What parts of the client’s story are we unable to hear?”

“What story elements do we imbue with our own presuppositions and

identifications?”

“How do we create a safe, culturally rich, mindful, integrated practice

that acknowledges our cultural embeddedness?”
 Narrative Sand Therapy Constructs
1) Cultural Representation: How does the sand scene reflect the
interconnectedness of identity, cultural integrity, and interpersonal
relatedness?

2) Voice: What is the role of attitude and language? How do we give primacy
to the client’s voice when alienated? How does the practice of cultural
amplification bridge voice, image, and story?

3) Mindful Attending: How do we cultivate presence, and attend to the

client’s personal and cultural life-world, while maintaining the integrity of
the unconscious? For client & clinician.

4) Narrative Practice: What narrative approaches are non-invasive and

respectful and maintain a safe process in sand? How do we amplify images
in sand and story in order to co-construct a revitalized narrative?

5) Competencies: What skills will support critical self-reflection, clinician

cultural awareness, appropriate use of symbols, and our ability to resonate,
compassionately to a combined sand and narrative process?
Overview
Narrative Sand Therapy helps clients represent emotional trauma and depict their
cultural world. Sand, symbols & story allow for multi-layered images to explore . .
.
Cultural Integrity, Identity, and Interpersonal Connection
_________________________________
 Symbol work in the sand sets boundaries for hands-on expression --
creative, intuitive, transpersonal and mundane
images and energy

 Narrative empowers clients to externalize and give Voice to experience

Image, Myth, and Metaphor converge for rich descriptions-- a context wherein
experience can be
Expressed, Contained, Witnessed, Honored.

A culturally mindful practice engages counselor and client

in a deeply resonating, validating process.
 Narrative Sand Therapy

To assist a client to…

Externalize the problem in the sand

Re-define power through symbol and story

Build a supportive group to

Witness & Validate

Personal . . . Cultural . . . Collective Experience require a
Safe & Protected Space for Expression . . . To Honor
.

Ancestors Indigenous Symbols & Stories

Evolving Culture
The Historical Moment . . .
Cultural Voices

Layers of meaning . . .
• The Story told by the client

• The evolving Story from the alienated point of view

(the original people, adolescent, elder)

• The evolving Story from the view of the Cultural Other

• The Original Story (raw, immediate experience)

The Ancestors call to us in body and psyche through play.

We are being asked to Listen and Attend . . . Silently
with every fiber of our Being.
 Layers of Meaning

• Stories told in sand • Collective story

• Story about the sand • Cultural inventions
scene
Narrative constructions connect
Client Sand Scene Story
Amplification thru Study & Voice

Narrative work centers on the idea that the problem, along

with unwitting associates, family members, and institutions,
alienate the client from her sense of power over the problem
(White, 2000; White & Epston, 1990).
Narrative Sand Therapy

Working with clients across the life span, from

diverse cultures, languages, and abilities –

Narrative Sand Therapy draws on metaphors and

symbols to empower the client and ground the
experience.

We are transformed as we witness

emerging, evolving expressions of
meaning
 The Narrative Process
_________________________________
Separate the problem from the client
Clinician creates safety within which client externalizes problem

Counselor & client develop a thick description of the story scene

Empower the client and restore integrity

Encourage the client’s agency in defining the problem and solution

Recognize the influence of personal & dominant culture

Uncover times when the problem did not exist or have power

Co-create a revitalized story that includes an evolving cultural

identity

Witness - find an appropriate audience to honor the transformation

Reflective Clinician
• Ground in existential
• Mind-body awareness
• Techniques to focus
Return to World
• Social-cultural-political
action
• Community witness
Create Safe Place Representation
• Mindful presence • Metaphor in action
• Environmental tone • Immersed in altered state
• Enfold process • Engaged creative process
• Externalize experience
Role of the Clinician
Attend Contain Witness Hold
Narrative
Engagement
• Invitation dialogue
• Story told
• Story reclaimed
• Validation
Role of the Clinician
Metaphor Mirror Amplify Collaborate
Return to Reflective
Practice
Dee Preston-Dillon, Ph. D.©
  The power of
narrative therapy rests
in the unfolding story

______________________________________________

 The power of
symbols in sand
rests in the non-
verbal
representations of
experience
Through Poetic Understanding, We . . .

move through a transformative

journey,
sand scenes and stories,

counselor and client

To co-construct an alternative
healing narrative.

Projection Reflection Externalize

Witness Connect
Validate Voice
 Preparation

The narrative sand

therapist attends to the
wounded healer within,
journaling, amplifying, and
exploring his/ her own story
in the sand.
Part of our transformation is the
discovery that we are a part
of every story
Journaling Questions for Clinician

• What was
Externalized?

• What was Reclaimed?

• What was Witnessed,

Acknowledged,
Affirmed, &
Validated?
A Deeply Resonating, Validating Process for
Transformation
 Thank You
Dee Preston-Dillon, Ph.D., Director

The Center for Culture and Sandplay, College Park, MD

(301) 345-9571
sandplayvoices@cultureplay.com
 Bibliography
The following is a list of sources categorized into themes. The categories are not meant to be comprehensive
but a sample of sources that inform the theory and interventions for Narrative Sand Therapy

Amplification in story

Chodorow, J. (Ed.) (1997). Encountering Jung: On active imagination. Princeton: Princeton University
Press.

Von Franz, M-L. (1970). An introduction to the interpretation of fairy tales. Dallas: Spring Publications.

Von Franz, M-L. (1972). The feminine in fairytales. Dallas: Spring Publications.

Von Franz, M-L. (1974). Shadow and evil in fairy tales. Dallas: Spring Publications.

Von Franz, M-L. (1977). Individuation in fairy tales. Dallas: Spring Publications.

Ethnic Identity

Ferdman, B. M. (2000). Why am I who I am: Constructing the cultural self in multicultural perspective.
Human Development, 43(1), 19-23.
Mark, G.Y., McGregor, D.P., & Revilla, L.A. (1996). Our history our way: An ethnic studies anthology.
Dubuque, IA: Kendall/ Hunt Publishing Co.

Nagel, J. (1994). Constructing ethnicity: Creating and recreating ethnic identity and culture. Social
Problems, 41(1), 152-176.

Negy, C., Shreve, T.L., Jenson, B.J., & Uddin, N. (2003). Ethnic identity, self esteem, and ethnocentrism:
A study of social identity versus multicultural theory of development. Cultural Diversity and Ethnic
Minority Psychology, 9(4), 333-344.

Wright, M. O., & Littleford, L. N. (2002). Experiences and beliefs as predictors of ethnic identity and
intergroup relations. Journal of Multicultural Counseling & Development,30(1), 2-21.

Newcomb, F.J., & Reichard, G.A. (1975). Sandplaintings of the Navajo Shooting Chant. New York:
Dover publications.

Parezo, N.J. (1983). Navajo sandpainting: from religious act to commercial art. Tucson, AZ: University
of New Mexico Press.

Reichard, G.A. (1977). Navajo medicine man sandpaintings. New York: Dover
Publications.
Riley, P. (Ed.) (1993). Growing up Native American: An anthology. New York: William Morrow.

Sandner, D. (1979). Navaho symbols of healing. New York: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich.

Stannard, D.E. (1992). The American holocaust. New York: Oxford University Press.

Myths & Metaphors

Campbell, J. (1949). The hero with a thousand faces. Bollingen Series XVII. Princeton: Princeton
University Press.

Feinstein, D & Krippner, S. (1988). Personal mythology: The psychology of your

evolving self. New York: St. Martin Press.

Romanyshyn, R. D. (1982). Psychological life: From science to metaphor. Austin: University Texas
Press.

Narrative Psychology

Akinyela, M. (2002). De-colonizing our lives: Divining a post-colonial therapy. The International Journal
of Narrative Therapy and Community Work, 2, 32-43.
Retrieved from http://www.narrativetherapylibrary.com.
Epston, D. (1999). Co-research: The making of an alternative knowledge. Narrative
Therapy and Community Work: A conference collection (ch.16), 137-157. Retrieved
from http://www.narrativetherapylibrary.com.

Harriott, L. & Heyward, B. (1999). Intertwining the present with the past for the future.
Gecko: A journal of deconstruction and narrative ideas in therapeutic practice, 3, 3-16. Retrieved from
http://www.narrativetherapylibrary.com.

McNamee, S. & Gergen, K. J. (Eds.). (1992). Therapy as social construction. Thousand Oaks: Sage.

Morgan, A. (2002). Beginning to use a narrative approach in therapy. The International Journal of
Narrative Therapy and Community Work, 1, 85-90. Retrieved from http://www.narrativetherapylibrary.com.

Raheim, S., et. al. An invitation to narrative practitioners to address privilege and
dominance. The International Journal of Narrative Therapy and Community Work,
1-17. Retrieved from http://www.narrativetherapylibrary.com.

Russell, S. & Carey M. (2004). Externalising – commonly asked questions. Narrative

therapy: Responding to your questions (ch.1), 1-17. Dulwich Centre Publications.

Schaefer, C., McCormick, J., & Ohnogi, A. (2005). Narrative Play Therapy: A collaborative approach. In J.
Aronson (Ed.), International handbook of play therapy: Advances in assessment, theory, research, and
practice (pp. 23-34). Lanham, MD: Jason Aronson.
Tomkins, S. (1998). Deserving the best: Challenging rules in therapy. Gecko: A journal of
deconstruction and narrative ideas in therapeutic practice, 3, 40-48. Retrieved from
http://www.narrativetherapylibrary.com.

Watson, G. (1998). Conversations about communication with men. Gecko: A journal of

deconstruction and narrative ideas in therapeutic practice, 3, 39-51. Retrieved from
http://www.narrativetherapylibrary.com.

White, M. (1999). Re-engaging with history: The absent but implicit. Reflections on
Narrative Practices: Interviews and Essays, 35-58. Adelaide: Dulwich Centre
Publications 2000. Retrieved from http://www.narrativetherapylibrary.com.

White, M. (1995). Reflecting teamwork as definitional ceremony. Re-Authoring Lives:

Interviews and Essays (ch.7), Adelaide: Dulwich Centre Publications. Retrieved from
http://www.narrativetherapylibrary.com.

Wingard, B. & Lester, J. (2001). Telling our stories in ways that make us stronger.
Dulwich Centre Publications. Retrieved from http://www.narrativetherapylibrary.com.
Reflective Practitioner

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Sandplay

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The Narrative Process
The Counselor Poet
 A thick description evolves as word-meanings overlap and
amplify each other.
• The meaning of one word takes on hues of the others.

 The counselor-poet is alert to nuances that suggest

• cultural associations…
• harmony and dissonance… contained in each
• word, image, & personal experience.

The clinician’s new understanding is greater than the meaning

of any one word alone.
A cluster amplifying alienation might include terms like:
Alienate exclude marginalize oppress reject diminish disaffect
capitalize objectify misappropriate isolate disenfranchise disconnect
demoralize undermine separate coerce dominate humiliate exploit
shame debase ignore deny set against bound discount disregard
defective

A cluster amplifying healing connections might consist of:

connect embrace accept include support acknowledge honor
respect recognize give benefit center reclaim rejuvenate revitalize
integrate balance admit esteem value aware take in liberate
flow regard consider care open to receptive whole
 Sand, Symbols & Story . . .
multi-layered images to explore . . .
Identity and interpersonal connection
Re-author alienating aspects of life

Symbols in sand . . . Require boundaries for expression

of our story . . . crisis, creative, intuitive, transpersonal,
and mundane.

Narrative empowers clients to externalize and give

voice to experience .

Amplification supports thick descriptions to reveal web

of connections.

Image and metaphor reveal and validate experience as

it is expressed, contained, witnessed, and honored..

A Deeply Resonating, Validating Process

Part of our transformation is the discovery that we are a part of every
story