narrative approaches in sand therapy: transformative...
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The 27th Annual International Play Therapy ConferenceOctober 12, 2010 Louisville, Kentucky
Dee Preston-Dillon, Ph.D.
Narrative Approaches in Sand Therapy:
Transformative Journeys for Counselor and Client
Creative ConsultantBrittany Lynn Sheehanwith Loraine Hunsaker
Lascaux Cave Painting
We began our journey to bridge the internal with our life-world over 30,000 years ago. We represented culture on cave walls, monoliths, sand, & stone artifacts.
Ritual, Image, and Story merged to bridge inner images with experience, social & cultural worlds.
Sand scenes carry on the sacred ritual of the ancestors, image-making, & our capacity to transform through the symbolic.
Sand Symbol StoryInnate Expression of Experience
Purpose
• To introduce narrative approaches for sand therapy
• To demonstrate a poetic stance for cultural amplification
The Purpose of this workshop is…
Objectives• To describe narrative techniques appropriate for sand
therapy
• To use cultural amplification to understand client’s stories and sand scenes
• To describe the ethical and cultural dimensions of narrative sand therapy
• To explore metaphors, symbols, and the construction of stories for deeply creative and transformative play therapy
“What part of our agenda steals integrity away from the client?”
“Where is the boundary between the clinician’s curiosity and a client’s process?”
“What parts of the client’s story are we unable to hear?”
“What story elements do we imbue with our own presuppositions and identifications?”
“How do we create a safe, culturally rich, mindful, integrated practice that acknowledges our cultural embeddedness?”
Journal QuestionsThe Intrusion of Ethnocentrism
1) Cultural Representation: How does the sand scene reflect the interconnectedness of identity, cultural integrity, and interpersonal relatedness?
2) Voice: What is the role of attitude and language? How do we give primacy to the client’s voice when alienated? How does the practice of cultural amplification bridge voice, image, and story?
3) Mindful Attending: How do we cultivate presence, and attend to the client’s personal and cultural life-world, while maintaining the integrity of the unconscious? For client & clinician.
4) Narrative Practice: What narrative approaches are non-invasive and respectful and maintain a safe process in sand? How do we amplify images in sand and story in order to co-construct a revitalized narrative?
5) Competencies: What skills will support critical self-reflection, clinician cultural awareness, appropriate use of symbols, and our ability to resonate, compassionately to a combined sand and narrative process?
Narrative Sand Therapy Constructs
OverviewNarrative Sand Therapy helps clients represent emotional trauma and depict their cultural world. Sand, symbols & story allow for multi-layered images to explore . . .
Cultural Integrity, Identity, and Interpersonal Connection_________________________________
Symbol work in the sand sets boundaries for hands-on expression --
creative, intuitive, transpersonal and mundane
images and energy
Narrative empowers clients to externalize and give Voice to experience Image, Myth, and Metaphor converge for rich descriptions-- a context wherein
experience can be Expressed, Contained, Witnessed, Honored.
A culturally mindful practice engages counselor and client in a deeply resonating, validating process.
Narrative Sand Therapy
To assist a client to…
Externalize the problem in the sand
Re-define power through symbol and story
Build a supportive group to
Witness & Validate
Personal . . . Cultural . . . Collective Experience require a Safe & Protected Space for Expression . . . To Honor
Ancestors Indigenous Symbols & Stories Evolving Culture
.
Layers of meaning . . .• The Story told by the client
• The evolving Story from the alienated point of view(the original people, adolescent, elder)
• The evolving Story from the view of the Cultural Other
• The Original Story (raw, immediate experience)
The Ancestors call to us in body and psyche through play.We are being asked to Listen and Attend . . . Silently
with every fiber of our Being.
The Historical Moment . . . Cultural Voices
Layers of Meaning
• Stories told in sand• Story about the sand
scene
• Collective story• Cultural inventions
Narrative work centers on the idea that the problem, along with unwitting associates, family members, and institutions, alienate the client from her sense of power over the problem (White, 2000; White & Epston, 1990).
Narrative constructions connectClient Sand Scene StoryAmplification thru Study & Voice
Narrative Sand Therapy
Working with clients across the life span, from diverse cultures, languages, and abilities –
Narrative Sand Therapy draws on metaphors and symbols to empower the client and ground the
experience.
We are transformed as we witness emerging, evolving expressions of
meaning
Separate the problem from the clientClinician creates safety within which client externalizes problem
Counselor & client develop a thick description of the story scene
Empower the client and restore integrityEncourage the client’s agency in defining the problem and solution
Recognize the influence of personal & dominant cultureUncover times when the problem did not exist or have power
Co-create a revitalized story that includes an evolving cultural identity
Witness - find an appropriate audience to honor the transformation
The Narrative Process_________________________________
Reflective Clinician• Ground in existential• Mind-body awareness• Techniques to focus
Create Safe Place• Mindful presence• Environmental tone• Enfold process
Representation• Metaphor in action• Immersed in altered state• Engaged creative process• Externalize experience
Narrative Engagement• Invitation dialogue• Story told• Story reclaimed• Validation
Return to World• Social-cultural-political
action• Community witness
Return to Reflective Practice
Role of the ClinicianMetaphor Mirror Amplify Collaborate
Role of the ClinicianAttend Contain Witness Hold
Dee Preston-Dillon, Ph. D.©
______________________________________________
The power of narrative therapy rests
in the unfolding story
The power of symbols in sand rests in the non-verbal representations of experience
move through a transformative journey,
sand scenes and stories,
counselor and client
To co-construct an alternative healing narrative.
Projection Reflection Externalize Witness ConnectValidate Voice
Through Poetic Understanding, We . . .
The narrative sand therapist attends to the wounded healer within,
journaling, amplifying, and exploring his/ her own story
in the sand.Part of our transformation is the
discovery that we are a part of every story
Preparation
Journaling Questions for Clinician
• What was Externalized?
• What was Reclaimed?
• What was Witnessed, Acknowledged, Affirmed, & Validated?
A Deeply Resonating, Validating Process for Transformation
Thank YouDee Preston-Dillon, Ph.D., Director
The Center for Culture and Sandplay, College Park, MD(301) 345-9571
Bibliography
Amplification in story
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Ethnic Identity
Ferdman, B. M. (2000). Why am I who I am: Constructing the cultural self in multicultural perspective. Human Development, 43(1), 19-23.
The following is a list of sources categorized into themes. The categories are not meant to be comprehensive but a sample of sources that inform the theory and interventions for Narrative Sand Therapy
Mark, G.Y., McGregor, D.P., & Revilla, L.A. (1996). Our history our way: An ethnic studies anthology.Dubuque, IA: Kendall/ Hunt Publishing Co.
Nagel, J. (1994). Constructing ethnicity: Creating and recreating ethnic identity and culture. Social Problems, 41(1), 152-176.
Negy, C., Shreve, T.L., Jenson, B.J., & Uddin, N. (2003). Ethnic identity, self esteem, and ethnocentrism: A study of social identity versus multicultural theory of development. Cultural Diversity and Ethnic Minority Psychology, 9(4), 333-344.
Wright, M. O., & Littleford, L. N. (2002). Experiences and beliefs as predictors of ethnic identity and intergroup relations. Journal of Multicultural Counseling & Development,30(1), 2-21.
Newcomb, F.J., & Reichard, G.A. (1975). Sandplaintings of the Navajo Shooting Chant. New York: Dover publications.
Parezo, N.J. (1983). Navajo sandpainting: from religious act to commercial art. Tucson, AZ: University of New Mexico Press.
Reichard, G.A. (1977). Navajo medicine man sandpaintings. New York: Dover Publications.
Riley, P. (Ed.) (1993). Growing up Native American: An anthology. New York: William Morrow.
Sandner, D. (1979). Navaho symbols of healing. New York: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich.
Stannard, D.E. (1992). The American holocaust. New York: Oxford University Press.
Myths & Metaphors
Campbell, J. (1949). The hero with a thousand faces. Bollingen Series XVII. Princeton: Princeton University Press.
Feinstein, D & Krippner, S. (1988). Personal mythology: The psychology of your evolving self. New York: St. Martin Press.
Romanyshyn, R. D. (1982). Psychological life: From science to metaphor. Austin: University Texas Press.
Narrative Psychology
Akinyela, M. (2002). De-colonizing our lives: Divining a post-colonial therapy. The International Journal of Narrative Therapy and Community Work, 2, 32-43.
Retrieved from http://www.narrativetherapylibrary.com.
Epston, D. (1999). Co-research: The making of an alternative knowledge. Narrative Therapy and Community Work: A conference collection (ch.16), 137-157. Retrieved
from http://www.narrativetherapylibrary.com.
Harriott, L. & Heyward, B. (1999). Intertwining the present with the past for the future.Gecko: A journal of deconstruction and narrative ideas in therapeutic practice, 3, 3-16. Retrieved from http://www.narrativetherapylibrary.com.
McNamee, S. & Gergen, K. J. (Eds.). (1992). Therapy as social construction. Thousand Oaks: Sage.
Morgan, A. (2002). Beginning to use a narrative approach in therapy. The International Journal of Narrative Therapy and Community Work, 1, 85-90. Retrieved from http://www.narrativetherapylibrary.com.
Raheim, S., et. al. An invitation to narrative practitioners to address privilege and dominance. The International Journal of Narrative Therapy and Community Work,1-17. Retrieved from http://www.narrativetherapylibrary.com.
Russell, S. & Carey M. (2004). Externalising – commonly asked questions. Narrative therapy: Responding to your questions (ch.1), 1-17. Dulwich Centre Publications.
Schaefer, C., McCormick, J., & Ohnogi, A. (2005). Narrative Play Therapy: A collaborative approach. In J. Aronson (Ed.), International handbook of play therapy: Advances in assessment, theory, research, and practice (pp. 23-34). Lanham, MD: Jason Aronson.
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Reflective Practitioner
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Schön, D. (1983). The Reflective Practitioner. How professionals think in action.London: Temple Smith.
Schön, D. (1987). Educating the Reflective Practitioner. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.
Sandplay
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A thick description evolves as word-meanings overlap and amplify each other.
• The meaning of one word takes on hues of the others.
The counselor-poet is alert to nuances that suggest
• cultural associations…
• harmony and dissonance… contained in each
• word, image, & personal experience.
The clinician’s new understanding is greater than the meaningof any one word alone.
The Narrative Process The Counselor Poet
A cluster amplifying alienation might include terms like:
Alienate exclude marginalize oppress reject diminish disaffect capitalize objectify misappropriate isolate disenfranchise disconnect demoralize undermine separate coerce dominate humiliate exploit
shame debase ignore deny set against bound discount disregard defective
A cluster amplifying healing connections might consist of:
connect embrace accept include support acknowledge honor respect recognize give benefit center reclaim rejuvenate revitalize integrate balance admit esteem value aware take in liberate
flow regard consider care open to receptive whole
Symbols in sand . . . Require boundaries for expression of our story . . . crisis, creative, intuitive, transpersonal, and mundane.
Narrative empowers clients to externalize and give voice to experience .
Amplification supports thick descriptions to reveal web of connections.
Image and metaphor reveal and validate experience as it is expressed, contained, witnessed, and honored..
Sand, Symbols & Story . . . multi-layered images to explore . . .
Identity and interpersonal connectionRe-author alienating aspects of life
A Deeply Resonating, Validating ProcessPart of our transformation is the discovery that we are a part of every
story