Equine Facilitated Sand Play
About Equine Facilitated Sand Play Therapy
Sand Play is a cutting edge healing modality, a creative & powerful way to process what lies outside of your conscious thinking mind in a safe, supportive way.
The client, supported by a trained "holder", chooses from a large collection of figures and builds a miniature “world” in the tray of sand that reflects what is going on in their lives, allowing them to process inner thoughts, struggles, and concerns through the figures.
By making changes in their make-believe world, clients are often empowered to make similar changes in their real world.
Horses & Sand Play
In 2018 Gretchen Morgan (Licensed Clinical Social Worker and founder of Lighthouse Counselling & Sand Play Training Center) together with Sally Nilsson (experienced Eponaquest Equine Facilitated Learning facilitator and co- founder of Tula Vida), explored combining the power of the sand with the wisdom of the horses - and they were blown away by the depth, insight & meaning it added to client experiences.
Horses both support the process & engage with the figures.
Equine Facilitated Sand Play is a profound experience, awakening your consciousness and inner feelings. Working with the sand, supported by your horse, can reveal and shift whatever is asking for your attention to heal.
Sally explains: "Horses have an incredible capacity to sense what is going on inside us, and to support and guide us to explore, connect with and discover ourselves in a safe way. This is what Sand Play is accessing too so we thought together they would be a powerful combo - and the horses seem to love it!”
Gretchen continues: “Even we were amazed at first by how interactive and engaged the horses were, not just as a calming and supportive presence but seemingly able to indicate, move – and even choose - figures that turned out to be hugely significant for the client.”
"A profoundly insightful & healing experience." Client, 2021
