CLINICAL OBSERVATION IN THERAPEUTIC PRACTICE: THROUGH THE LENS OF JUNGIAN SANDPLAY

Workshop Overview

Children communicate in more ways than through words. Behaviour, affect, movement, silence and symbolic expression can all offer valuable information. This workshop develops a more attentive way of noticing these cues before moving towards interpretation.

A key focus of the workshop is the distinction between what we notice and the meaning we assign to it. Participants explore a disciplined observational stance grounded in curiosity, careful description and awareness of context, rather than premature conclusions.

Through an anonymised composite case, participants consider spatial organisation, boundaries, relationships between figures, recurring themes and movement over time. The emphasis is not on learning Sandplay Therapy as a modality, but on strengthening ways of seeing that can be carried into broader therapeutic work.

Certification

This workshop is for you if you want to develop your skills and understand a more attentive approach to what may be communicated beyond verbal content.

Open to anyone over the age of 18 with an interest in the topic, this workshop also awards CPD points to eligible professionals upon successful completion. 

The principles explored can support reflection across different therapeutic orientations and client populations. Jungian Sandplay is used as an applied lens rather than taught as a therapeutic modality.

Workshop Presenter

Dr Celia van Wyk is a Jungian Sandplay Therapist and Teacher-Consultant (STR-CT), and President of the Association for Sandplay Therapy (AST). She holds a PhD in Mental Health Counselling and has worked in private practice since 2005 with children, adolescents and adults in South Africa.

Her background includes education and remedial teaching, alongside international training and consultation in Sandplay. She founded Sandplay South Africa and contributed to the first Sandplay South Africa Congress in 2025. Her professional interests include water symbolism, integrative approaches and the neurological foundations of healing.