SANDTRAY THERAPY

Sandtray Therapy for Trauma Healing

Creating safety. Making sense of your story. Finding the pieces of yourself again.

When you’ve been through trauma, words don’t always feel enough—or even possible. The memories may live in your body, the flashbacks may feel like they come out of nowhere, and the parts of you that survived may still carry the weight of what happened.

Sandtray Therapy is a gentle yet powerful way to explore your story without needing to explain everything out loud. Using miniature figures, objects, and a tray of sand, you can create a 3D world that reflects your inner world. This process gives your brain and body a way to process memories, emotions, and beliefs in a safe, contained way.

Why Sandtray Therapy Works for Trauma

Trauma is stored in the brain differently than everyday memories. This means that talking about what happened isn’t always enough to bring lasting relief. Sandtray Therapy:

• Bypasses the overwhelm of verbal processing so you can explore your experience at your own pace.

• Engages both sides of the brain—stimulating creativity and problem-solving alongside emotional processing.

• Creates emotional distance so you can view your story from a safe perspective, reducing the risk of retraumatization.

• Brings the unconscious to the surface—often revealing beliefs, feelings, and memories you didn’t even realize were connected.

Integrating Sandtray with EMDR & Parts Work

I often combine Sandtray Therapy with Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR) and parts work for a deeper, more embodied healing process:

• With EMDR: The sandtray scene becomes a visual representation of the memory or belief we are targeting. This can help you stay grounded during processing and bring clarity to how the past connects to the present.

• With Parts Work: The figures in your tray can represent the different “parts” of you—the hurt child, the protector, the voice of shame, or the hopeful self. This makes it easier to see and speak to these parts with compassion, creating space for integration and healing.

If You’re Living with PTSD, You Might Be Feeling…

• Like your nervous system is always “on,” scanning for danger.

• Disconnected from yourself or from others, even in safe moments.

• Haunted by flashbacks, nightmares, or memories that intrude when you least expect it.

• Overwhelmed by emotions—or feeling nothing at all.

• Tired of trying to explain your pain to people who don’t understand.

Sandtray Therapy meets you exactly where you are. You don’t have to know where to start, and you don’t have to tell the whole story all at once. In the tray, you can safely explore your experiences in a way that feels tolerable, supported, and in your control.

What a Sandtray Session Looks Like

• We begin by centering and creating safety together.

• You’ll choose miniature figures, objects, and symbols that represent thoughts, feelings, memories, or parts of yourself.

• You’ll place them in the sand in any way that feels right to you—there’s no “wrong” way to do this.

• Together, we’ll explore the meaning of your scene and how it connects to your healing goals.

• If integrating EMDR, we’ll use bilateral stimulation to reprocess the painful memory or belief while you remain connected to the visual safety of your tray.

Healing Is Possible

PTSD can make life feel small, heavy, and hopeless. Sandtray Therapy offers a way to access the deeper parts of your story, reclaim the pieces of yourself that have been buried, and move toward a life that feels freer and more connected.

You don’t have to face the past alone.
If you’re ready to try a different, more creative, and deeply supportive approach to trauma healing, I invite you to reach out today.