28th Edition

Ya'll. I think we may be coming up on some actual HOPE....

.... *knocks on wood, throws salt over my shoulder, rubs rabbit foot, frames a four-leaf clover* 🙂

Not only is the weather starting to turn a little (yes we are back with just rain and my husband is starting his garden), we also seem to be at a turning point with his Pandemic (or as my teens say - the Panoramic, Pillow Fort, Panera, Panini).

Cases are going down and things are starting to open up!

What this means for you - you can maybe get a vacation this year, see your grandparents, and YES, get back into your sandtray room!

Without my sandtray room in my therapy practice, I feel like a one-armed paper-hanger in a wallpaper factory

Although the world is starting to get brighter, we still need to be aware of the lingering effects of this prolonged stress and isolation has on our own bodies as well as our clients.

With this kind of collective trauma, our bodies keep the score and we may still have trauma triggers that seem to come from nowhere or our general bandwidth for stress is just lower than it was in 2019.

As a reminder, allow grace and space for yourself and your clients.

As this New Yorker cartoon depicts, our world tends to gravitate towards the self-help and pick-yourself-up-by-the-bootstraps train of thought.

While this can be helpful and motivational for some, when we are in dire situations (or our body is perceiving this as to be the case), surface, unsolicited advice is not helpful.

What is helpful - sitting with yourself or your clients in the dark, holding space and saying "Yes, this hurts and it sucks and I'm here."

BTW- Click on the picture below to find other forms of not helpful unsolicited advice 🙂

Since I've been sharing (and you've been loving) the info I find interesting around the webs, I thought we'd make it official with a TITLE (I know!)

If you're new to the Sandtray Ally, this is you get a peek inside of my head at what I think is 1. interesting and 2. helpful for you.

I also love to laugh so I do throw in some humor in to spice things up a bit.

Let's get started shall we?

• Do you love to learn and think new ideas are fascinating? RAISING HAND HIGH SO YOU CAN SEE I'M WAVING! Yep, that's me and I'm betting you too. Turns out many of us have a 'Nerdy Dopamine Pathway' that lights up when we seek to learn new information, are curious about the world, and are exposed to new ideas.

Check out how this works in this article The Nerdy Dopamine Pathway - it'll make you feel less weird when everyone gets dopamine hits from loud concerts, big parties etc. and you just long for the days when you can attend a psychology conference in- person to soak up all of the latest in neuroscience info.

You're not weird, you're brain just works differently.

• Talking about nerdy pastimes, let's discuss reading. Turns out that reading is a really good thing for your brain and mental health, especially in times of isolation and high stress. Take home point here - don't feel guilty about reading that fiction book when you feel like you should be doing work or reading for work.

Reading is a huge stress reliever itself and allows us to travel and connect with others in book form when we can't otherwise. This Wall Street Journal Article explains it oh so well. Oh, and Scroll to the bottom to see my top 3 book recommendations of late 🙂

• Feeling overworked and burned out - even more than usual? Check out this New York Times article detailing how you are NOT alone and how no one has openings in the mental health field. Yes, it's job security but at what cost??

• Want a to-do list that is easy to get done EVERYDAY? Check out this video of how one man achieves his to-do list everyday (click - I promise you won't regret it)

One last thing you're going to want to get in on...

For the whole month of March, the International Association of Sandtray Therapy (IAST) is talking all about why YOU need to join us.

We're calling this month Membership March. During this month, we're going to be highlighting our organization, it's members, and also giving away miniatures and sandtray stuff!

To get in on all of the action, follow us on Facebook over at https://www.facebook.com/IA4ST

The IAST is the credentialing organization that puts the 'you're trained' stamp on sandtray therapists worldwide.

If you're wanting to get in on shaping the future of sandtray therapy, you need to join us.

For a snapshot of what we've been doing thus far -

• Working on our 3rd Sandtray Summit (and yes we even did a virtual summit during the pandemic and it was amazing) - the next one is November 6th-7th, 2021 in Disney Springs! To get notified when we open up enrollment, sign up here - www.sandtraysummit.com
• Working on details for grants and scholarships for members
• The formation of a sandtray journal - https://sandtraytherapy.org/ijst-journal/
• The addition of a new board member (Carmen Jimenez-Pride) and a diversity committee to ensure all voices are heard
• AND MUCH MORE!!

At IAST, we are determined to take sandtray to the world and allow ALL THERAPISTS a seat at the table, no matter location or background.

Now more than ever, we need you and your voice to help us serve sandtray therapists - and the way you do this is by becoming a member.

Click on the NAVY button below to join us!