From Hyperarousal to Harmony: Nervous System Mapping in the Tray

Event: From Hyperarousal to Harmony: Nervous System Mapping in the Tray

Venue: 2205 York Rd

Date: February 28, 2026 at 11:00 AM (Eastern Time)

Trauma can significantly disrupt autonomic regulation, leaving children, adolescents, and adults cycling between hyperarousal, hypoarousal, and brief windows of regulated engagement. These shifts often appear in therapy through behavior, posture, sensory responses, and symbolic expression. This training provides a clinical framework for “nervous system mapping” using sand tray work, expressive modalities, and metaphor to help clients externalize and understand their physiological states. Participants will learn how to guide clients in identifying cues of activation, collapse, and safety; develop language for interoceptive experience; and use sand tray representations to track regulation patterns over time.

Drawing from neuroscience, polyvagal theory, and trauma-informed expressive practices, the training emphasizes interventions that support co-regulation, autonomic awareness, and the development of personalized regulation strategies. Applications for children, adolescents, and adults will be explored through clinical examples, experiential activities, and structured therapeutic techniques.

Objectives:

• Identify signs of autonomic dysregulation (hyperarousal, hypoarousal, shutdown, and safety) as they appear in children’s, adolescents’, and adults’ play and sand tray scenes.
• Apply nervous system “mapping” techniques within sand tray and symbolic play to help clients externalize physiological states and build insight.
• Integrate sensory, movement, and expressive elements into play therapy sessions to enhance interoceptive awareness and stabilization.
• Implement mind-body frameworks that enhance client safety, adaptive functioning, and autonomic regulation.
• Evaluate changes in client regulation across sessions using mapping, narrative tracking, and embodied awareness tools.

Continuing Education:

My Crossing Paths Training Center has been approved by NBCC as an Approved Continuing Education Provider, ACEP No. 7253. Programs that do not qualify for NBCC credit are clearly identified. My Crossing Paths Counseling Center is solely responsible for all aspects of the programs.
My Crossing Paths Training Center is approved by the Florida Board of Clinical Social Work, Marriage and Family Therapy, and Mental Health Counseling. Provider # 50-37274.

My Crossing Paths Training Center has been approved by the Association for Play therapy, APT No. 23-705. Programs that do not qualify for APT credit are clearly identified.

My Crossing Paths Training Center, has been approved as an Association of Social Work Boards Approved Continuing Education (ACE) Provider. ACE provider approval number is 1877. Training that are ACE approved with be identified on the training material with correct CE credit and type.

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Host or Publisher Julia Knach, My Crossing Paths Counseling Center