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The Relational Field of Sandplay Therapy - Linda Cunningham, Ph.D, LMFT, CST-T

  • Unitarian Universalist Congregation of Marin 240 Channing Way San Rafael, CA, 94903 United States (map)

Transference, Countertransference and Co-Transference

Understanding the concepts of transference further deepens the therapist’s self-awareness of somatic, emotional, relational, symbolic and spiritual connections with the client. Theoretical material will help sandplay practitioners to better understand transference, countertransference and how they relate to co-transference and the relational field. Special attention will be given to how the experience of co-transference may manifest in our bodies or feeling states, and we will apply this knowledge to our work with clients.  In-depth analysis of sand trays and processes will demonstrate how sandplay enables clients to symbolize and express their deepest emotions related to preverbal trauma. We will discuss the impact of the co-transference upon the therapist and client as it affects healing and transformation.

Linda Cunningham, Ph.D, LMFT, CST-T, is a teaching member of STA/ ISST and the author of Sandplay and The Clinical Relationship (2013). She has written many articles for the Journal of Sandplay Therapy on the topic of the therapeutic relationship in sandplay, and has presented at both national and international conferences. Linda has taught sandplay as well as contemporary relational theory in graduate and postgraduate settings and currently gives trainings in Depth Psychotherapy and Sandplay in San Francisco. She was core faculty in Sonoma State University’s Depth Psychology Graduate Program and adjunct faculty at California Institute of Integral Studies. She is in private practice in San Francisco and Marin.