ILAPT Southern Illinois Training: Intermediate Sandtray Play Therapy

Deepening the Journey: Intermediate Sandtray Play Therapy for Clinical Insight and Change

This intermediate workshop expands clinicians’ competence and confidence in using sandtray in play therapy for deeper clinical work with children, adolescents, and adults. Building on foundational sandtray skills, participants will explore advanced applications including thematic analysis, symbolic process tracking, sandtray-informed case conceptualization, trauma-responsive pacing, and integrating sandtray within CCPT and other play therapy theoretical orientations. Through experiential practice clinicians will learn to facilitate multi-tray process work, deepen reflective dialogue, and support client meaning making. Attention will be given to cultural humility, worldview differences in symbolic expression, and therapist self-awareness as essential components of ethical practice. Aligned with the Therapeutic Powers of Play, the workshop highlights how sandtray promotes emotional competence, self-expression, resilience-building, and access to the unconscious. Participants will refine skills, receive structured feedback, and leave with advanced techniques to strengthen clinical integration, fidelity, and therapeutic presence in the playroom.

Date: Saturday, July 11, 2026

Time: 9:00 am - 4:00 pm

Location: John A. Logan College; 700 Logan College Dr, Carterville, IL 62918

Please note: This is a Live Event with no live streaming available

ABOUT OUR PRESENTER

Mandy Kellums Baraka, PhD, LCPC, BC-TMH, RPTTM, is a counselor educator, play therapist, and international trainer whose work centers on presence, formation, and culturally attuned care. She teaches graduate counseling courses in clinical mental health, multicultural counseling, crisis and trauma, and play therapy, and regularly facilitates trainings for counselors, churches, and ministry teams around the world. Dr. Baraka’s scholarship includes supervision and transnational supervision, spiritual development in counseling, and creative counseling approaches. She is passionate about creating experiential learning spaces that help mental health professionals and students deepen self-awareness, expand clinical imagination, and embody compassion in the therapy room. Dr. Baraka is currently the Illinois Counseling Association President Elect-Elect, is an Associate Professor of Clinical Mental Health Counseling at Wheaton College (IL), and provides counseling for children, adolescents, and adults at Stenzel Clinical Services.

LEARNING OBJECTIVES:

1. Apply intermediate-level sandtray play therapy skills to facilitate symbolic expression, meaning-making, and client-led processing.

2. Know at least three methods for integrating 2 play therapy theory principles into sandtray facilitation and reflective responses.

3. Conduct thematic and symbolic analysis of sandtray worlds to enhance play therapy case conceptualization and treatment planning.

4. Identify trauma-responsive pacing strategies and regulate session flow during sandtray play therapy with children and adolescents.

5. Integrate cultural and social diversity considerations when interpreting symbols and supporting clients’ worldview expressions in sandtray.

6. Facilitate multi-tray sequencing (beginning, middle, and later-phase trays) to track therapeutic movement over time in play therapy.

7. Explain how the Therapeutic Powers of Play are activated through sandtray interventions.

8. Demonstrate increased therapist self-awareness and ability to regulate one’s internal responses while facilitating deeper sandtray process.

Continuing Education Credits

This course meets the requirements for 6 contact CE credits under the Association for Play Therapy categories:

Skills & Methods- 3.5 hours; Special Topics- 1.5 hours; Cultural & Social Diversity - 1 hour

CE is awarded for master's-level mental health professionals or students, specific to play therapy.

Credits are offered and awarded to participants who attend the event in its entirety and complete and submit an evaluation.

ILAPT offers continuing education specific to play therapy. APT Approved Provider 99-076 maintains responsibility for the program.

ILAPT has been approved by NBCC as an Approved Continuing Education Provider, ACEP No. 5897. Programs that do not qualify for NBCC credit are clearly identified. ILAPT is solely responsible for all aspects of the programs.

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Host or Publisher Illinois Association for Play Therapy