Sandplay: Therapy with Children and Families [Hardcover]

Lois J. Carey (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 1, 1999

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.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"...a `must have' addition for play therapists interested in including sandplay in their work with children and families." -- (Athena A. Drewes, 1999)

"...attests to the healing power of the therapeutic relationship as demonstrated by a master practitioner." -- (Nancy Boyd Webb, 1999)

"Above all, the book attests to the healing power of the therapeutic relationship as demonstrated by a master practitioner." -- Nancy Boyd Webb, 1999

About the Author

Lois Carey, M.S.W., B.C.D.S.W., is a clinical social worker in private practice. She graduated from Columbia University School of Social Work, and later studied Jungian theory and Sandplay Therapy in Switzerland, California, and New York. She is a Registered Play Therapy Supervisor of the Association for Play Therapy, a board member of the New York Branch of the Association for Play Therapy, and a Registered Play Therapy Professor of the International Play Therapy Association. She is the Director of the Center for Sandplay Studies, and has lectured and taught Sandplay to professional groups throughout the United States and abroad. Mrs. Carey has published articles on Sandplay, and was the co-editor of Family Play Therapy with Dr. Charles Schaefer.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 206 pages
• Publisher: Jason Aronson, Inc. (April 1, 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0765701618
• ISBN-13: 978-0765701619
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 6.3 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #493,766 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

35 of 37 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Sandplay Therapy with Children and Families, March 5, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: Sandplay: Therapy with Children and Families (Hardcover)

Lois Carey's book Sandplay Therapy with Children and Families is an interesting study of family therapy and play therapy in the sand. The core of her book focuses on families working in the sand with small miniatures and then the communications that result from their creations. She reviews family therapy and sandtray techniques and then brings these approaches together in her clinical examples. She shows us how we can use the sandtray and play therapy in our work with families to increase understanding, share feelings and communicate through the miniatures. This is a valuable contribution. A better title for the book, however, would have been Play Therapy with Families in the Sand. Her work does not hold to the basic theoretical principles of Sandplay Therapy. Sandplay is a Therapy developed by Dora Kalff that integrated the work of C. G. Jung and followed some of the principles of individuation that could be noted in a series of trays. Kalff and Jung honored the power of the unconscious and the healing that may be set in motion when the work of the unconscious unfolds through inagining. Carey mentions the archetypes but she does not show us how they work in and through our psyches. Nor does she show how the individuation process can include the integration of opposites on the path toward wholeness. This kind of integration can be seen in a series of trays that an individual creates in the process of Sandplay Therapy. Lois Carey's approach to working with families does not include a focus on the work of the unconscious and the unfolding of the imaginal that might occur in a series of sandtrays. The work of the family members in individual Sandplay Therapy and how the processes parallel, or differ from, each other might make an interesting study. This is not what Carey's book presents. Her book is a useful contribution that combines play therapy techniques and sandtray therapy in working with families.

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent resource, February 28, 2003

By A Customer

This review is from: Sandplay: Therapy with Children and Families (Hardcover)

Very few of us are trained in the use of sandplay with a family system. I found this book extremely helpful and informative not only for families, but in basic sandplay information. Of course the author cannot go into detail about every aspect of the unconscious or archetypes - that is why extensive training is available and necessary for sandplay and play therapists. Rather, I think of this book as a resource for those who have undergone or are undergoing their play and/or sandplay training. It's a must on my book shelf, I will likely read it again, and recommend it to other sandplay and play therapists.