About Judy
Hello again. Let me tell you a bit more about who I am and how I work. I maintain a private practice in Monterey, California and have been using both verbal therapy with adults as well as sandplay therapy. Because I have a teaching background in special education as well as counseling, I offer play therapy and sandplay for children from four years of age into adulthood.
Sandplay is effective for adults as well as children. I learned this technique directly from it’s founder, psychotherapist Dora Kalff who lived and worked in Switzerland. She was a student of C.G. Jung, therefore there is a direct lineage back to this psychological tradition.
Sandplay can heal and transform early wounding and traumas that occur in developing personalities. There is always ability to contact and transform unconscious aspects as described by psychologist C.G. Jung. This is an integral part of the sandplay process. Transformation becomes possible by inviting children and adults to play with a variety of small miniatures in a sandtray sized to allow one to take in all aspects of the box. The stories created in the sand offer silent healing possibilities. Sandplay is now a very accepted process to treat Post Traumatic Stress Disorders, and recent neuroscience has proven its effectiveness for all ages of clients. In addition, it invites creativity, fantasy, and imagination to be activated.
It has been said that a picture is worth a thousand words, and that is what sandplay invites into the therapy room. Sometimes there are not words for what one feels and knows. Clients are invited to experience both verbal discussion and then if so desired, also create a sandplay scene during an hour long session. For many, it becomes a live, creative process that brings new vitality to one’s imagination. Many clients have exclaimed, “I don’t know where this came from,” as they gaze upon their own creations in the sand.
I also invite adult clients to pay attention to their dreams, as well as symptoms that arise in the body. There is growing evidence through neurobiology that our mind, body, and spirit all have direct interaction with one another. Bringing along a dream journal is encouraged, and time to reflect on imagery and symbols is always a rich process of growth.
For practicing professionals, I offer consultation and supervision, both online and in person. I teach summer programs abroad for Caring for the Soul offering two week intensives for Sandplay training in Switzerland as well as Interior Rhythms, which integrates Sandplay, dreams, and body awareness in relation to inner and outer landscapes. Please go to Caringforthesoul.org for program information.
Active in my profession, I have served as a board of trustee for the International Society for Sandplay Therapy, am a past president of Sandplay Therpists of America, and am a past Treasurer and board member of the Marion Woodman Foundation. I completed the earliest program offering of BodySoul Rhythms® Leadership Training.
I am a contributing author in Sandplay Supervision, edited by Rie Mitchell and Harriet Friedman, (Routledge), and Living the Tides of Uncertainty, (STA), and am the editor of Pearls, Defining Moments in Our Lives, published in 2014. I have had various articles published both nationally and internationally. I am assistant editor to the Journal of Sandplay Therapy.
Finally, I am co-owner of Caring for the Soul, which offers international programs in the areas of Sandplay and Jungian Psychology. I am Certified as a Sandplay Teacher in Sandplay Therapists of America (STA) and the International Society for Sandplay Therapy (ISST).
Where Else to Find Judy:
Sandplay Therapists of America