Are We There Yet? Ethical Issues Associated with Self-Identifying as a Sandplay Therapist

Abstract

The journey of becoming a registered or licensed sandplay therapist is also long and taxing and not many professionals reach the point of registration and/or certification to their national or international body. The journey may begin and end for some with a short 3-h introduction course to sand tray—or it may involve an epic journey involving years of travelling to get training and supervision by accredited international teachers in sandplay therapy. For us in New Zealand, training opportunities are limited, resulting in professional practitioners having very different journeys and final destinations. In this chapter, we discuss the ethical dilemmas we have encountered working in agencies where not everyone is on the same journey. We also explore the implications that the varied therapist journeys may have for the uninformed client; our own professional bodies; our co-workers, as well as management or supervision, that is being managed and/or supervised (or managing and supervising) by someone who is on a completely different path than our own with respect to their expertise, training and supervision. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2016 APA, all rights reserved)