Barbara Turner began her study of Jungian Sandplay therapy with the founder of the method, Dora M. Kalff, in Switzerland in 1988. She has done extensive research into the theory and healing process of Sandplay. She focused her doctoral studies on the Sandplay method, writing her dissertation on methods of understanding Sandplay process.  Dr. Turner was instrumental in returning the classic books in Sandplay to print and is the author of what is considered by some to be the authoritative text on Jungian Sandplay, The Handbook of Sandplay Therapy, now translated into Korean, Chinese, Russian and Italian.  Now available in the Revised Edition, with full color photos and searchable index. The Handbook, is the most read book on Sandplay around the world.  She teaches Sandplay therapy to mental health clinicians internationally and serves as consultant to practicing Sandplay & play therapists. 

Dr. Turner has co-authored with Dr. Kristín Unnsteinsdóttir, Sandplay and Storytelling: The Impact of Imaginative Thinking on Children's Learning and Development, as well as Sandtray Play in Education. She is also the chief editor of The Routledge International Handbook of Sandplay Therapy. 

Dr. Turner is the founder of the Association for Sandplay Therapy - AST, the international professional organization dedicated to maintaining the core principles of Sandplay in our work and teaching - clarity, loving kindness & humility. 

Living in a world that is torn by the ignorance of hatred, violence and pain is challenging for all adults and children alike. This is a condition of being alienated from our centers, the Self, as Carl Jung called it. Until we realign with the divine center within us, we perpetuate the collective agony. Sandplay provides the opportunity for us to re-discover our central truth and to re-order ourselves to a meaningful and purposeful existence. Even doing this one person at a time has a tangible influence on the collective state of human life. We become quietly powerful points of loving compassion, clarity, and humility that exert an impressive influence on all those we touch.      

Our work in Sandplay activates this powerful, transformative energy, and provides a still point in the midst of the disordered chaos. We should never underestimate the power of this change in even one human being. 

My presentation will introduce the Sandplay method. We will take a wide-ranging overview to familiarize ourselves with the breadth and depth of Sandplay. We will examine various types of psychological work that is done in Sandplay, including healing, transformational development, digressive attachment play, and neurodevelopmental repair. Rich case material will be used to illustrate how these profound human changes occur in the Sandplay process.