By Jessica Stone, Ph.D., RPT-S

            Storytelling has a rich, vast history. Passed down from generation to generation, stories have informed, taught, warned, expressed, and so much more. Utilizing storytelling in therapy has been highlighted in everything from narrative therapies to play therapy to bibliotherapy. When integrating storytelling into therapy it is important to have a variety of ways for the client to express themselves.  People are different, their stories are different, and how they tell their stories should respect and reflect such differences.

“Each individual owns their own story, and any effective helper knows this” (Lyons, 2019, para 4).

Storytelling 

Storytelling describes the social and cultural activity of sharing stories, sometimes with improvisation, theatrics or embellishment. Every culture has its own stories or narratives, which are shared as a means of entertainment, education, cultural preservation or instilling moral values  (Wikipedia, 2020, para 1).

Storytelling predates writing. The earliest forms of storytelling were usually oral combined with gestures and expressions. In addition to being part of religious rituals, some archaeologists believe rock art may have served as a form of storytelling for many ancient cultures.^[2] The Australian aboriginal people painted symbols from stories on cave walls as a means of helping the storyteller remember the story. The story was then told using a combination of oral narrative, music, rock art and dance, which bring understanding and meaning of human existence through remembrance and enactment of stories.^[3] People have used the carved trunks of living trees and ephemeral media (such as sand and leaves) to record stories in pictures or with writing. Complex forms of tattooing may also represent stories, with information about genealogy, affiliation and social status.^[4]

With the advent of writing and the use of stable, portable media, stories were recorded, transcribed and shared over wide regions of the world. Stories have been carved, scratched, painted, printed or inked onto wood or bamboo, ivory and other bones, pottery, clay tablets, stone, palm-leaf books, skins (parchment), bark cloth, paper, silk, canvas and other textiles, recorded on film and stored electronically in digital form. Oral stories continue to be created, improvisationally by impromptu storytellers, as well as committed to memory and passed from generation to generation, despite the increasing popularity of written and televised media in much of the world.

 (Wikipedia, 2020, para 3-4)

Sand Storytelling

            Telling stories in safe, non-threatening, projective, creative, even non-verbal ways can be important parts of mental health treatment.  Sand therapies (tray and play) can allow clients to express both conscious and sub-conscious experiences, concerns, self-and other- perceptions and so much more.  Many sand therapists utilize their sand tools to allow the space and environment for people to express such stories.  Some have even formalized the process, such as Lara Kazsa and her SandStory Therapy® technique. “SandStory Therapy® is a gentle and safe way of working therapeutically with sand and symbols within a contained sandtray that offers clients the opportunity to tell their ‘story in the sand’.” (Kazsa, 2020, para 5).

Virtual Sandtray Storytelling

            The Virtual Sandtray allows clients to access the powerful process of sand therapies both in person and via telehealth.  This tool expands the traditional sand therapies to include digital native’s culture, interests, and knowledge, while also expanding the ways one’s world can be depicted.  Want to have a dragon who can fly?  A house that is levitated/floating? A forboding sky or lava under the surface?  You can do all of this and more in the Virtual Sandtray.

            One technique – Virtual Sandtray Storytelling – can be used in person and via telehealth in the remote feature.  Starting with an empty tray of sand, the person chosen to go first (either the client or therapist in individual therapy or different members of a group or family) chooses 5  models (miniature/item/symbol, etc.) and buries them in the sand.  The other person looks away.  When all 5 are buried, the other person re-engages and looks for the items by digging in the sand.  Once all 5 items are found, the person then tells a story about the items.  This is then repeated by the next person and so forth.  The number of items can be altered, especially for younger children, as needed and appropriate per the client’s needs. Advanced VSA Storytelling includes changing the liquid layer and/or skybox to add an additional mood element for the person to incorporate into the story. 

Have fun!

References

Kasza, L. (2020). What is Sandstory therapy? https://www.larakasza.com/sandstory-therapy

Lyons, J. (2019, July). One person, one story, one CANS/ANSA. https://tcomconversations.org/2019/07/17/one-person-one-story-one-cans-ansa/

Wikipedia (2020, December). Storytelling.  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Storytelling

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            One of the powerful benefits of using the Virtual Sandtray App (VSA) is the ability for multi-level, multi-dimensional depiction of one’s world. As we know, sand therapy was created by Dr. Margaret Lowenfeld to provide “a way to allow children to share their inner worlds” (Homeyer, 2020).  The World Technique was born, and with it, Projective Play Therapy formed (Lowenfeld, 2007; Homeyer, 2020). Numerous adaptations followed and this creative, expressive, projective technique used to work with clients of all ages is a mainstay for therapists many different theoretical foundations and approaches. 

            The Virtual Sandtray App allows the client to customize a number of components within the tray to allow for a greater level of expression and creation.  Sandtray is not merely about putting items in the sand or having a representation of an item placed on a sand-like field; sandtray is a series of processes which culminate in a mind-body connection and expression of one’s inner world, experiences, and how one sees themselves within multiple layers of being. To create a tray, the process must be intentional and immersive. Miniatures, items, figurines, symbols, models…  whatever you call them, must be selected ~ a process by which the mind and body feels a connection to the  depiction and how it will assist the person in expressing what is needed. A mindful process of scrolling through items, placing them one by one with one’s fingers, customizing the item individually to be “just right”, moving the sand with one’s fingers; these are all part of the process of intentional, immersive, projective creation ~ as intended by what we know from Dr. Lowenfeld’s writings and teachings. All of these critical features have been incorporated into the Virtual Sandtray.

            Additionally, when one ponders the components of intentional, immersive, creative projections (IICP), it would be natural to wonder what new mediums and platforms can provide.  Given the absence of many limitations in the traditional sandtray process, what might expand this IICP process? Here at Virtual Sandtray we believe the ability for multi-level, multi-dimensional depiction is a key portion of this process. Therefore, we developed features such as a liquid layer, skybox, and the ability to have 3 different layers to one’s world:  the base tray world, the sky world, and the VSA Underworld^TM.

            The VSA Underworld is created by removing sand from the tray, placing items in the liquid layer (think of a layer similar to the classic blue-bottom tray), changing the liquid layer to the desired color and texture, and then burying the items under the sand. Then, when the tray is tilted downward and the user zooms in, a world beneath the sand is revealed.  When the tray is tilted back to a level position, the Underworld disappears, tilt back down and it reappears.  A common use is to have the sand level be what the client shows to their world – what their friends, partners, families, peers, co-workers, etc. see and are allowed to know, while the Underworld is that which energy is expelled to hide. It could also be two visible but distinct portions of oneself or one’s world.  The possibilities are virtually endless!

            To learn more about this technique – play around with the Virtual Sandtray! Bury items, tilt all the way down, and zoooooooooooom in.  Keep zooming until you achieve the desired amount of the Underworld being shown.  Rotate around in the tray to reveal different items and portions of the depiction.  Take photos and videos of each and all. These IICP depictions allow for such ownership and investment in the creation; the meaning to the person, the process, the therapy, and the movement toward the therapeutic goals is priceless.  Enjoy!

Lowenfeld, M. (2007). Understanding children’s sandplay: Lowenfeld’s World Technique. Sussex Academic Press.

Homeyer, L. (2020). History of sand therapy. https://worldsandtherapy.org/history-of-sand-therapy

To learn more about the VSA Underworld technique (and more), please take the Level III VSA course, offered in 2021 through this website (under trainings).

To learn more about Dr. Lowenfeld, please read her books and visit The Lowenfeld Trust website: http://lowenfeld.org/

For more information about the Virtual Sandtray®© App, please visit: https://sandtrayplay.com/newsite/

Dr. Jessica Stone, PhD is a psychologist, international speaker, sought after clinical supervisor, and renowned play therapist.  She is the co-creator of The Virtual Sandtray®©, a best-selling author, and developer of Digital Play Therapy. Dr. Stone has been featured for her work throughout the virtual world as an innovator, ambassador of play, and stalwart advocate for the use of digital technology in the field of psychology.

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