The theme of the CAST 2022 Web Conference is: Holding the free and protected space in our time. This theme resonates strongly with the increased need for safety and containing in uncertain times, like the time of COVID-19 we recently have faced collectively. Join us for two days of presentations, speakers and discussions, including the keynote presentation Freedom and protection of the therapeutic space by Maria Kendler. The conference will be simultaneously presented in English and in French. The Canadian Counselling and Psychotherapy Association (CCPA) has granted 15 CEUs for attendance at the CAST conference.
Keynote:
Freedom and protection of the therapeutic space
Original and recent reflections
The creation of a “free and protected space” was central to Dora Kalff in order to make psychotherapy work in an optimal way. In this lecture we will explore how she described the idea of freedom as well as the task to protect the client’s process from outer and inner disturbances. According to her, the therapist has to bring both – freedom and protection – actively into the therapeutic relationship. This approach is somewhat different from the classical concept of transference. A specific inner activity and perhaps concrete interventions may be necessary in order to create and recreate the “free and protected space” throughout a therapy session and a whole Sandplay process. Practical examples from literature about Sandplay therapy and from my own experience will illustrate how this essential concept can be put in practice, especially when the usual setting is disturbed by outer irregularities like sanitary regulations due to the actual pandemic.
Presentation Abstracts
Holding the Therapeutic Space by Staying with the Image
A Sandplay therapist’s ability to hold the shared space securely and sufficiently free dependsupon an ability to hold that space anytime, and on consciousness about challenging differencesthat might occur. The presenter’s focus on the whole image and its contextualized elements provides both theory and practice in letting images guide in meaning-making.
The Night Journey on the Sea: Exploration of Flooding in Sandplay
This presentation aims to provide reflections on the phenomenon of flooding in Sandplay. It contains: Mythical considerations and the significance of flooding in Jungian thought; Sandtray images from a 8-year-old boy’s process; Reflections about therapists’ challenges on creating a temenos; Exploration of ‘boat’ and ‘river’ symbols in articulation to flooding.
Virtual Sandplay Therapy for therapists and clients with disabilities
Virtual sandplay therapy for clients with disabilities has given them the support formerly only accessible for neurotypical people. Furthermore, therapists with disabilities should also have theopportunity to become certified sandplay therapists by using virtual sandplay with clients (having different needs or neurotypical persons) or for the therapist’s process toward certification.
A young girl’s journey to reconcile the life and death polarity
The seven-year-old girl was born with Hypoplastic Left Heart Syndrome (HLHS). The sandplay journey started when she was waiting for a heart transplant after three major surgical operations. This process created the free and protected space for her to express her world of chaos, anxiety and fears, and thus reconcile the life and death polarity.
Answers blowing in the wind: Wind symbolism in sandplay
The invisible air-borne COVID-19 virus invaded consciousness and provoked uncertainty. It compelled change beyond human control. Wind imagery in sandplay represents the element of air and expresses the invisible life force/trickster energy driving individuation. Wind symbolism also permeates the heroic journey through destruction, visible/invisible creation and renewal of vitality.
A Giraffe’s Eye View: Exploring This Rich Symbol
The giraffe is chosen often in sandplay, especially by child clients. This presentation will explore the rich meaning of this symbol…both its positive and shadow aspects.
Silence – A Core aspect of free and protected space
In attending to “holding free and protected space,” I explore silence poetically and philosophically—as a core aspect of the process, beauty, and ethic of Sandplay Therapy. Here silence is understood as animate, paradoxical, and ontological—having a weight that we don’t
find in any word; “it is heavy with everything that we have lived, are living now and everything that we shall experience” (Sciacca in Fiumara, 1990, p.105).
Sharing Our Core Stories to Strengthen Resilience as Sandplay Therapists
We are living in a time of extraordinary upheaval and uncertainty, presenting even greater challenges for us as Sandplay therapists in terms of creating and maintaining a “free and protected space” for our clients. Kalff spoke eloquently about providing sheltered space to
protect the psyche of our clients. It’s vital that we also protect and strengthen the resiliency of ourselves as professionals.
Saving the Princess, Protecting the Gems: Healing from sexual abuse and loss
This sandplay case, presented to STA for certification, follows the sandplay journey of a five year old girl’s healing from abuse and loss, experienced through the comfortable media of sand, water, and miniatures.
Images of Respect, Caution and Survival
Survival is archetypal: fundamental to life. The instinctual pattern ‘fight/ flight’ develops into more nuanced strategies: isolation, quarantine, cover, hide, separate, distance; enacted in both inner and outer worlds. Images of self preservation in the trays of a person exploring destabilising questions of gender reveal an important level of care.
Forms Created in the Sand
This presentation will involve an exploration of a sandplay process where the hands and to a lesser extent the clients dreams are prominent features of his process.The presentation will focus on the different stages in the client’s psychological development. This sandplay process
represents the final case study for CAST ISST Sandplay therapist certification.