This is part of WTOP’s continuing coverage of people making a difference in our community, reported by Stephanie Gaines-Bryant. Read more of that coverage.
When you think about playing in the sand, you may think of being on the beach or on a children’s playground. But, sand tray therapy can be used to help people of all ages deal with mental health issues.
Clinical social worker and therapist Sabra Starnes is the owner of Next Place Therapy Services, LLC in Largo, Maryland. She said sand tray therapy is a different way of getting in touch with your feelings.
Starnes said she uses a type of sand that’s different from the sand you might find on a beach: “I use a nice smooth sand that, also for clients helps them feel calm, helps them to feel regulated.”
She said the sand is placed in a box that’s the size of a dresser drawer. Props are also used. “The figures and the miniatures are ways that they can use to kind of create the visual story.”
Starnes said clients can create a visual story that they may not be able to tell with words.
She told WTOP that the therapy helps clients use right-brain and left-brain thinking: “Their create side and also their problem solving side.”
Starnes said her focus is on helping clients between the ages of 3 and 16 deal with issues, such as school, divorce, separation, loss and grief.
She said the goal at Next Place Therapy Services is to make clients feel heard, to feel safe and to trust that they can talk about whatever is going on in their lives.
According to Starnes, Next Place Therapy Services is partnering with D.C.’s Office of Student Support and Education to teach sand tray therapy to charter and public school therapists at 1050 First Street in Northeast on Wednesday, Sept. 4, 2024.
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