Maggie Baron and Helen Gogarty International Sandplay Therapy Trainers

Maggie Barron and Helen Gogarty will give an overview of the therapeutic method of Sandplay as it was conceived by the Swiss psychotherapist, Dora Kalff. This is a method of psychotherapy based on practical and creative work in the sand tray. In the creation of three-dimensional pictures in the sand, there is a total involvement of body, mind and soul. The bringing of psyche and soma together in the act of creation can have a powerful healing effect.

Kalff developed the technique of sandtray therapy that Margaret Lowenfeld had used in her work with children. Kalff developed this in line with the teaching of C.G.Jung, giving more emphasis to the symbolic significance of the trays and the objects used. She used this technique with great success in her work with both adults and children. She called her method 'Sandplay'. Maggie and Helen will give presentations of theory and of their work in Sandplay. The powerful transformations that are encountered in this work often seem to reach a deeper level than can be experienced in verbal therapy alone.

When using sandplay therapy the client creates a world in a sand tray that is three-dimensional picture of their inner state using objects and figures in the protected presence of a trained practitioner

Maggie Baron  Dip.Ed.  BISS/ ISST member of the Site for Contemporary Psychoanalysis

Kalffian Sandplay, a practice of the image, symbolically understood, has focused my interest in the efficacy of the role of imagination in our work with children and adults. After many years of observing individuals engaging in Sandplay, I have come to learn following C.G.Jung's perspective that universal structures mould the individual imagination and that each individual articulates these structures in a unique and personal way. The consequence of this for Sandplay is the efficacy of the image and its symbolic value in our therapeutic work of potential repair and transformation. Each individual finds access to the specific expression and iconography of their emotional world embodied in a concrete container (sandtray) using water, sand and miniatures.      

Helen Gogarty is an Attachment and Jungian Therapist specialising in the assessment and treatment of attachment and emotional disorders and unresolved trauma. She has trained internationally in the study of attachment theory through the International Association for the Study of Attachment [IASA] and completed her Doctorate in Attachment Theory at the University of Ulster in 2002. She is a qualified coder for both the Strange Situation Procedure and the Adult Attachment Interview and has considerable experience in training professional staff both nationally and internationally. She is also a qualified Jungian Sandplay Therapist and a teaching member of the British and Irish Sandplay Society.

Dr Gogarty has worked in the field of Fostering and Adoption since 1985 as part of a Multidisciplinary Service dedicated to the treatment of sensory and attachment disorders in children and adults. She has over twenty year's clinical experience as an Attachment and Sandplay Therapist, attached to the Therapeutic Foster Care Support Service in County Donegal, Ireland. For many years, she has provided training in the area of attachment to professionals and foster parents. The assessment and therapy model that she helped to develop, known as the Foster Care Assessment and Therapy Service, was recognised as a National Model of Good Practice by the Department of Health & Children in 2004. She regularly provides expert evidence in court in relation to attachment and alternative care for children.

Following her doctoral research at the University of Ulster Dr Gogarty developed a number of measures and protocols for the assessment of multiple attachments, especially in relation to foster care and adoption. Using her experience as a symbolic play therapist, she has also developed a Home-Based Attachment Programme, given to foster and adoptive parents in order to assist them to re-parent children who have attachment difficulties following early developmental trauma. Using her skills as a Jungian Sandplay Therapist, she has developed a number symbolic and narrative methods to help children in care to comprehend and come to a realization of the permanence of their secure base.

Dr Gogarty has trained with the International Society for the Study of Dissociation and Trauma [ISSTD] in the assessment of Childhood Dissociation and Trauma and has qualified as a therapist in Lifespan Integration. Having retired from the Child and Family Agency in December 2013, Dr Gogarty now runs her own private practice undertaking attachment assessments and providing specialist advice and support services in the area of alternative care.

BISS - British and Irish Sandplay Society

ISST - International Society for Sandplay Therapy

Also being launched is the new development of a CYP Counsellors’ network from 1.30-3pm on Sunday 26th April

ALL WELCOME TO ATTEND

There has been significant interest among practitioners in the creation of a national network for counsellors working with children and young people. Simpson House - CrossReach too, are keen to support this potential development and are willing to progress this initiative offering resources, in the first instance, hosting this meeting to explore the concept further and to establish what shape such a network might take and what its focus might be.

It is suggested that the proposed network may go some way to addressing any isolation that individual practitioners may experience and offer a platform for dialogue between those counsellors specialising in counselling children and young people, who offer their services in diverse settings. After all, it is recognised that, “the relationship between specialist CAMHS and school- and community-based counselling services has been reported as variable on a number of dimensions including the extent of mutual knowledge, understanding and respect and levels of interaction¹”.

In light of the above, Simpson House – CrossReach offer to host this inaugural meeting, although it should be stressed that Simpson House do not view this as developing into a membership fee-based arrangement and are not seeking any ownership in any way or any stage in the future. We are happy to offer venues and set-up coordination.

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  sharing developments in the field and good practice examples;
  
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  establishing a peer community offering mutual support
  
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  sharing training opportunities
  
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  sharing values and clarifying differences