We all love playing in the sand! Using sand play therapy in critical reflection with students in practice placement

Abstract

This paper introduces a creative therapeutic technique used in Projective Play Therapy called sand play therapy that I evolved in my work with students on placement to help them reflect on practice. In this paper I describe my experience of facilitating a sand tray exercise I devised as part of a group seminar programme for BA Social Work students to help them both explore their practice in placement and examine Learning Outcomes linked with knowledge from their module learning. Finally I discuss the evaluation undertaken with participating students about the usefulness of the exercise as an intuitive reflective tool.