Family therapy that doesn't actively and intentionally engage children is not family therapy, notes Daniel Sweeney's extended introduction in support of Lois Carey's creative synthesis of sandplay therapy with a family systems orientation. Reminding us that we can only take clients as far as we ourselves have been able to go, Carey reveals her own very personal involvement with the process. She explores the application of sandplay therapy as she learned it from Dora Kalff, among others, and shares her professional experience in a chapter on equipping the office with miniatures and also with cameras (for give-away Polaroids and for record-keeping slides) touching such bottom lines as how to deal with the mess and how to handle the theft of a figure. While Carey cites case examples, complete with pictures, to illustrate her use of sandplay in working with children, she also demonstrates that the medium appeals to the inner child in the adult. Moreover, the sandbox itself sets physical and symbolic limits that enhance therapy with family members, and the sandplay becomes a forum for alliances that the clinician can observe in action and intervene to restructure. Lois Carey makes the case effortless by teaching lessons bound to be welcomed by any professional looking for new tools or open to fresh perspectives.

Comprehensive in nature, this book provides the foundation for both novice and experienced professionals to perform sandplay therapy effectively with adults, children, and couples. Sandplay utilizes a small tray of wet or dry sand, in which clients create scenes using miniature objects--a nonverbal communication of their internal and external worlds. For therapists interested in exploring the ways that sandplay facilitates growth and healing and in expanding their reservoir of therapeutic tools by incorporating sandplay into their practices, this practical handbook will be an invaluable resource. After presenting the history and benefits of sandplay, the authors describe how to create a sandplay therapy room, including choosing sand containers, finding evocative objects, and displaying objects appropriately. They provide detailed, step-by-step instructions on how to conduct spontaneous and directed sandplay therapy sessions with individuals, couples, children, and families. Various ways of recording the creation of a sand world are described, so that both the process and the product will be saved even after the sand tray is dismantled.Not only does the book establish the foundation for incorporating sandplay into the reader's current psychotherapeutic practice, but it will also stimulate the creative process of the professional. Like the client who sees internal and interpersonal dynamics and dilemmas pictured in the sand, the therapist will find that this powerful experiential tool reveals insights, information, and avenues to explore. The authors illustrate the process with numerous sandplay experiences with clients. They also discuss clients for whom sandplay is contraindicated and some problems that might arise. To encourage the growth of the therapist, they include instructions on personal sandplay work.

Play therapy and family therapy both are well established therapeutic paradigms. Often, however, play therapists have minimal contact with the nuclear family of which their child patient is a member. Similarly, family therapists frequently view young children as disruptive and exclude them from family sessions. By combining both play and family treatment modalities as this unique book Family Play Therapy suggests, all family members can participate in a therapeutic process which, in its inclusion of everyone, is more genuine and therefore successful. Family Play Therapy encourages the blending of play therapy and family therapy by discussing and demonstrating various techniques and diverse theoretical approaches that will enable readers to broaden their repertoire when working with families and their young children. Each author describes his or her own creative avenue of expression such as puppetry, psychodrama, and sandplay, which facilitate the family's communication, helping members to find new ways to hear each other. Family play therapy and play therapy need not be exclusionary. The two approaches actually can enhance and enrich each other. While each therapist ultimately will use his or her own ideas in the critical combining of both methods, Family Play Therapy offers various possibilities and as such, helps therapists to help their family patients to be readily engaged in treatment and to experience therapy as a fun, inclusive, transforming time together.

TABLE OF CONTENTS: 1. Introduction to individual sandplay therapy 2. Introduction to sandplay therapy with families 3. Equipping and maintaining and sandplay office 4. Beginning treatment 5. Examples of individual sandplay therapy 6. Examples of family sandplay therapy 7. The person of the therapist 8. Similarities and differences.

Sandtray Therapy is an essential book for professionals and students interested in incorporating this unique modality into work with clients of all ages. The third edition includes information on integrating neurological aspects of trauma and sandtray, updates per the DSM-5, and a new chapter on normative studies of the use of sandtray across the lifespan. As in previous editions, readers will find that the book is replete with handouts, images, examples, and resources for use in and out of the classroom. The authors’ six-step protocol guides beginners through a typical session, including room setup, creation and processing of the sandtray, cleanup, post-session documentation, and much more.

Play Therapy Treatment Planning with Children and Families is a comprehensive guide that provides an integrative and prescriptive approach to creating customized treatment plans. It’s an excellent textbook for graduate programs in social work, counseling, and family therapy and an invaluable guide for practicing clinicians in all settings. After exploring and explaining the many modalities for treating children and adolescents, this book provides sample treatment plans using a variety of case vignettes. Chapters also take readers through a road map for case conceptualization, meeting with caregivers, problem identification, goal development, diagnosis determination, determination of interventions and termination, and much more.

Child and family psychotherapist Eric J. Green draws on years of clinical experience to explain his original model of Jungian play therapy. The empathic techniques he illuminates in this book can effectively treat children who are traumatized by abuse, natural disasters, and other losses, as well as children who have attention deficit and autism spectrum disorders.