Sandplay (Kalff)

Domain VIII · Creative & expressive arts therapies · Dora Kalff · 1966 · Switzerland

What it is

Sandplay is a non-directive, Jungian-based psychotherapy method. The client makes images with sand, water and miniature figures in a standard tray while the therapist watches as an attuned witness. Dora Kalff (1904–1990), a Swiss Jungian, studied with C. G. Jung and with Margaret Lowenfeld, the…

Format

• Kalffian sandplay has no manualised phases or fixed session count. It is an open-ended process within ongoing psychotherapy. The phase structure below is a practical arrangement of what the sources describe; where a source exists it is tagged.
• ISST was founded by Kalff with 13 founding members from six countries and inaugurated in 1985. It is based in Zürich and acts as an umbrella for regional societies (15 at the time of the interview, with developing groups in a further 20 countries). The ISST Board and General Assembly set minimum…

Who practises it, and how they are trained or regulated

• Phase 0: Training and set-up before first use. Do not offer sandplay until you have trained in it and had your own sandplay process. ISST certification requires a personal process with an ISST-certified therapist, and the ISST president warns that the method can harm when used inappropriately or by inadequately trained people. Professional frame:
• STA (USA) levels: Associate (open to anyone); Registered Sandplay Practitioner (RSP); Certified Sandplay Therapist (CST); Teaching Member (CST-T). RSP and CST both require a postgraduate degree, licensure in a mental-health field and malpractice insurance. RSP: personal sandplay process, 36 training hours, 15–25 consultation hours, 2 references.
• CST: 100 hours of analysis, psychotherapy or personal sandplay; 120 training hours; consultation of 40 hours before candidacy then 80 more; an advisor; a first symbol paper; an advisory interview (after which the applicant is a Candidate); a second symbol or theory paper; and a final case paper.

Questions to explore with your client

• What drew you to it, and what are you hoping it will change?
• Is there physical contact? Was it explained beforehand, and do you feel free to say no or stop at any point?
• Is it a group, retreat or community? How do they respond if someone wants to leave or raises a concern?
• Does it use a device, heat, cold, water or a physical procedure? Has a medical professional checked that it is safe for you?
• Who runs it, and what training or registration do they hold?
• What actually happens in a session or meeting, and how often?
• What does it cost, and is there pressure to commit to more?
• How do you feel afterwards, in the hours and days that follow?
• Does it fit with, or clash with, the work we do here?

What practitioners of it watch for

• stage labels turning into expectations you press on the client.
• your own reactions while dismantling. Note them; they can be useful countertransference material.
• a collection so large it overwhelms, or so sparse it limits expression; adjust after consultation.
• a client who wants to photograph it themselves. Decide your policy in consultation and keep to it.
• the limit being taken as rejection. Afterwards, check the relationship with a brief, warm comment.

When to involve someone else

• New or worsening physical symptoms, or advice to stop or change prescribed medication: involve the client's doctor or prescriber.
• Signs of coercion, isolation from family and friends, escalating costs or secrecy: discuss openly and consider safeguarding.
• A crisis or thoughts of suicide: follow your crisis protocol. In the US, call or text 988; in the UK and Ireland, Samaritans on 116 123.

Drawn automatically from the guide's own sections. Stay curious: neither endorse nor dismiss what the client values, and check anything that matters against the full guide and its sources. Not medical advice.