2023 Training

This six-hour seminar is intended to familiarize students with Jung’s concept of the Self and apply it to the psychotherapy process of individual patients. In particular, the symbol of the mandala will be presented as a Self symbol from several cultural perspectives, illustrating both the personal and archetypal significance of this image.  Utilizing case material, students will learn how to discern images which represent the Self archetype.  The mandala symbol may arise in a sandplay process as a unifying symbolic element when a patient is struggling to contain or find a relationship to opposites or opposing emotional experiences.  Jung's concept of the transcendent function, the use of a symbol which facilitates a transition from one psychological attitude or condition to another, will be applied to case material as an example of the development of a more flexible and resilient ego. The role of sandplay therapy, a non-verbal and non-intrusive modality, will be discussed as a means of expressing and amplifying unconscious material. Participants will have an opportunity to create Self- images to help them integrate these concepts and apply them to clinical material. Case material will be presented, one child case, one adult case, to further amplify the depth of the mandala symbol and creation in sandplay process.