Past Events

Third CAST Web Conference

April 9-10, 2022

Holding Free and Protected Space in Our Time

The theme of the CAST 2022 Web Conference is: Holding the free and protected space in our time. This theme resonates strongly with the increased need for safety and containing in uncertain times, like the time of COVID-19 we recently have faced collectively.

Join us online April 9 & 10, 2022 for two days of presentations, speakers and discussions, including the keynote presentation Freedom and protection of the therapeutic space by Maria Kendler.

The conference will be simultaneously presented in English and in French. Bring your own translator for other languages! To arrange translation please email.

The Canadian Counselling and Psychotherapy Association (CCPA) has granted 15 CEUs for attendance at the CAST conference. Additionally, there are 5 ISST training hours for full attendance at the CAST conference.

See the full CAST Web Conference 2022 Program here.


Second CAST WEB Conference Keeping Connection through Sandplay Therapy

November 7, 2020
Keeping Connection through Sandplay Therapy

For conference program – Click Here. If you’d like to read more about our full program that provides 100 hours of ISST training – Click Here


First CAST WEB Conference

November 4, 2018
Connecting through Sandplay Therapy

For conference program – Click Here


2017 Second Joint British Columbia Play Therapy Association (BCPTA) and Canadian Sandplay Therapy Association (CAST) National Conference

Vancouver, BC
May 12-14, 2017
Making Connections in Play and Therapy

It is with great joy that the British Columbia Play Therapy Association (BCPTA) and the Canadian Association for Sandplay Therapists (CAST) organized our second joint conference. Our hope was to bring new and deeper experiences of play and therapy into our daily life and work. Our conference aimed to exemplify all we hold in common: our faith in the inner healing potential of the psyche, our passion for play and its deep access to our creativity, and our desire to meet with like minds who share our field of interest. The conference committee of 2017 prepared a unique selection of presentations, including our keynotes: DR. BRENDA WEINBERG and DR. JOHN ALLAN together with MARY ANNE PARE M.Ed, RCC, CPT-S. In their presentations our keynotes spoke of the history and principles of play and sandplay therapy, affirmed our convictions, and challenged us to new understandings of the work we share. We missed those of you who were unable to join us, and hope that you already have our next event on your calendar!

For conference program – Click here.


2014 First Joint British Columbia Play Therapy Association (BCPTA) and Canadian Sandplay Therapy Association (CAST) National Conference

Vancouver, BC
February 28, March 1&2, 2014
Play and Process: In Play, Sandplay and Expressive Therapies

“It is in playing and only in playing that the individual child or adult is able to be creative and to use the whole personality, and it is only in being creative that the individual discovers the Self.” (Winnicott, 1971)

Play, sandplay, and expressive therapies share much in common although they are also distinctive practices founded on particular theories and histories. This conference offered a rare opportunity for play therapists, Jungian/Kalffiansandplay therapists, and expressive arts therapists to engage in informative conversations about play and process: how they think about it, and how they practice. The conference facilitated learning and appreciation of similarities and differences, encouraged provocative dialogue among practitioners, and promoted collegiality amongst therapists who value play and creative expression in their clinical practice. The conference theme invoked ideas and curiosity about the nature and role of play, playing, and process across modalities. The coming together of play therapists and sandplay therapists created such a rich and nourishing event, that many were eagerly anticipating the next joint conference.


The 23rd ISST Congress

Ottawa, Canada
August 5-10, 2015
Finding the Stillpoint… at the Crossroads

“In all chaos there is a cosmos, in all disorder a secret order.”

~ C.G. Jung

Finding a stillpoint in today’s every-changing world is a monumental task and is essential for the survival of soul and spirit. The world is in crisis and our humanity is at stake as we are faced with ever increasing change, conflict, and violence. Amidst these global circumstances, deeper psychological wellsprings are needed to contain trauma, and offer some version of constancy and hope in uncertain times. In our work, a personal Jungian psychoanalytic focus using Sandplay Therapy is a way of discovering an inner stillpoint.

People are at crossroads as they enter into therapy, mostly expecting an easy and fast solution. How do we continue to hold for the integrity of a process that encourages slow unfoldment of the psyche to deal with the dilemmas and problems confronting us? How do we create visions of crossroads that hold the tensions that arise in any conflict? What can Sandplay offer that contains profound, abiding changes, which are needed when people are faced with untenable choices or hopelessness in their inner and outer worlds?

We will convene in a unique landscape at the Shaw Centre (Convention Center) in Ottawa, the capital city of Canada. The city stands on the south bank of the Ottawa River, holding our symbol of a crossroads meeting place as well as a place full of history, charm and culture. The Convention Center is just minutes away from the historic Rideau Canal, Byward Market, Parliament Building, and many cultural sites and museums. We look forward to meeting you here!

For conference program – Click here.


CAST Sixth National Conference

Toronto, Ontario
November 4-6, 2011
Emergence in Sandplay: Process and Symbols of Becoming

For Conference program click here

The Canadian Association for Sandplay Therapy (CAST) is pleased to announce its sixth National Conference. Our choice of emergence as the conference theme celebrates the ever emerging and growing field of Sandplay Therapy in Canada. The word emergence comes from the Latin emergere: to dip, plunge, merge, or immerse oneself; as well as to arise, or to bring to light. These meanings reflect elements of processes that are central to the experience of Sandplay: instinctual movement from one state to another; the dynamics of becoming and engaging the imagination to release what is held in the inner world; deepening the relationship with the unconscious through symbolic manifestation. Through its material elements and the boundaries of the “free and protected space”, Sandplay creates an environment in which the impulse towards becoming can emerge into the light.

Some questions to consider with respect to emergence in Sandplay might be: how do we come to recognize and “know” emergence? what are the many symbolic forms in which it can manifest? what qualities of emergent energy do we see in Sandplay? what is the role of play? how is the body engaged? how does the therapist remain anchored with faith in the process of emergence?

This conference aims to create an atmosphere for Canadian members to engage in intimate discussions of presented materials, to deepen collegial relationships, and to build fruitful connections among one another. At our evening banquet, we will take the opportunity to honour the founding members of CAST who brought it into existence. During our AGM luncheon we will celebrate new and future opportunities for CAST. An especially important focus will be on giving voice to our emerging Sandplay therapists and trainees whose commitment to learning is an inspiration.

The conference committee invites proposals from CAST certified members and members in training. Presentations may focus on clinical or symbolic material related to the conference theme.

Presentations may be given in French or English. No translation will be available for conference presentations.


2009 The Sand and the Pearl: Images of Transformation in Sandplay Therapy

2009 Montréal, CAST’s first multilingual conference, The Sand and the Pearl: Images of Transformation in Sandplay Therapy

Click here for the Conference program
Pour le programme du colloque, cliquer ici


2006 Connecting Through Sandplay: Process, Research, Community

June 8 – 10, 2006 Queens University in Kingston, Ontario

CAST National Conference

Abstracts are not available for all presentations at this time.

Presentations

Nehama Baum PhD, C. Psych, ISST Teaching Member
Presentation – Sandplay and an Individual with Schizophrenia: A Case Study

Brenda Weinberg MA, ISST Teaching Member
Presentation – Sandplay and Neurological Research
Click here for abstract in English
Pour l’abstract en français, cliquer ici

Nena Hardie PhD (Psych), ISST Teaching Member
A discussion of adoption issues; case material from Survivor Guilt in a Child of Foreign Adoption

Joan NĂ©meth BA., ISST Teaching Member
Presentation – Strengthening for the Descent
Click here for abstract in English
Pour l’abstract en français, cliquer ici

Maria Iosue MA, MSW, ISST Certified Member
Presentation – Connecting East and West through the Symbol of the Elephant
Click here for abstract in English
Pour l’abstract en français, cliquer ici

Yvon Rivière PhD, Dip.Anal.Psych. ( Zurich ), ISST Certified Member
Presentation – Beyond the Talking Cure

Research Papers

Louise Lacroix MA, Advanced Candidate
Research Paper – Tsunami Representation within Creative Expression Workshops for Immigrant and Refugee Preschoolers, and the use of Sandplay
Click here for abstract in English
Pour l’abstract en français, cliquer ici

Denise Tanguay MA, ATR, Advanced Candidate
Research Paper – L’Ă©valuation en jeu de sable: Une Ă©tude rĂ©alisĂ©e avec le Test du monde de Charlotte Buhler
Assessment in Sandplay: A study with Charlote Buhler’s World Test
Click here for abstract in English
Pour l’abstract en français, cliquer ici

Symbol Papers

Catherine Brooks-Peduhbun Migizi Kwe (Early Morning Eagle Woman), Advanced Candidate
Symbol Paper – Trees as a Symbol of Life, Growth, Balance

Frances Burnell, APN, AWCCA, Advanced Candidate
Symbol Paper – The Ancient Fisher

Regina Cowan RN, ATC, BScN, M.Ed. ATC, Advanced Candidate
Symbol Paper – Paths of the Heart: HeARTists’ Ways of Knowing

Olga Lipatadova MA, ATP, CCC, Advanced Candidate
Symbol Paper – The City
Click here for abstract in English
Pour l’abstract en français, cliquer ici

Heloisa da Silva Porto, Advanced Candidate
Symbol Paper – Sandplay as an Instrument of Resonance of Psyche, Body and Environment
Click here for abstract in English
Pour l’abstract en français, cliquer ici

Conference Reflection

Jackie Jenkins
A Personal Reflection on the Conference – Gates in the Sand
Click here for A Personal Reflection on the Conference


2002 Sandplay, Healing and the Body

In March 2002, CAST and The School of Nursing at Atkinson College, York University, co-sponsored a conference, Sandplay, Healing and the Body. Eva Pattis (US and Italy) focused on the importance of the body in analytical psychotherapy and in Sandplay Therapy. With Sandplay slides to illustrate, she discussed how the contact of hands with sand may evoke early childhood experiences, and how hands in the sand may express unconscious material imbedded in the pre-verbal layer of the psyche. In her workshop, using clay, participants were able to experience the relationship of internal images to pre-verbal experiences and the body’s (i.e., the hand’s) expression of them.

On the second day of Sandplay, Healing and the Body, Rosalind Winter (US) lectured on alchemy, the ancient art of transforming the “prima materia” into gold, and its relationship to, and, manifestation in, in-depth psychotherapy and Sandplay Therapy. Through the presentation of clinical material, Winter demonstrated that, within the safe and protected space created by the therapeutic alliance and the sandtray, a possibility for accessing the depths of the unconscious is created. She showed how, in this sacred space of the “alchemical vessel”, the work may unfold, and the ego’s relationship to the Self may develop from one of identification to dialogue.

1999 Hands of Creation: Crossing the Threshold to the New Millennium

1999 Vancouver, CAST hosted the ISST Congress, Hands of Creation: Crossing the Threshold to the New Millennium

The 15th International Congress of the International Society for Sandplay Therapy (ISST) was hosted by CAST in Vancouver in August 1999. The name and the theme of the Congress, Hands of Creation: Crossing the Threshold to the New Millennium, enhanced an exploration of creation, birth, death, rebirth and initiation across a threshold, and their manifestations in Sandplay. The image, “Hands of Creation,” painted by Beau Dick, an aboriginal artist from British Columbia, embodied the spirit of the Congress and inspired the book that was born from it, In the Hands of Creation: Sandplay Images of Birth and Rebirth, edited by Nehama Baum and Brenda Weinberg. In Beau Dick’s image, hands are the wings of Raven, the Creator of Man. Through our hands, we, as human beings, connect to the world, touching, sensing, shaping, unearthing, creating, and communicating. From his mouth, Raven spews forth abalone, the seeds of creation, the pearls of wisdom.


1998 The Child in Archetypal Process: Development and Recovery Through Sandplay Therapy

In September 1998, CAST sponsored its third national conference, The Child in Archetypal Process: Development and Recovery Through Sandplay Therapy. Presenters explored how the child motif differs from the actual child, and how imaginative play within the free and protected space of Sandplay Therapy reconnects both children and adults to the child within. Rina Porat (Israel) presented the keynote address, Erich Neumann and the Theory of the Evolution of Human Consciousness Illustrated by Sandplay Images, and a post-conference workshop, From Chaos to Creation.

Other presentations included:
The Wounded Child by Nehama Baum (Canada), Pisces and the Ego-Self Axis by Christina Becker (Canada), Gold in the Sandplay of Children by Bea Donald (Canada), Contemplation of the Process of a Four-Year-Old Child by Armande Duval (Canada), The Wolf Archetype by Mariellen Griffith (US), The Faery Child by Nena Hardie (Canada), A Child Cries Out for Love by Brendan Harding, (Canada/ Ireland), Sewing on the Shadow by Linda Hunter (US), The Woman Who Hated Sandplay by Betty Jackson (US), The Boy Who Would Be King by Joan Nemeth (Canada), The Horse Archetype by Sylvia Simonyi-Elmer (Canada), and Introduction to the Child Archetype and Experiential by Brenda Weinberg (Canada).


1996 Symbol and Process in Sandplay Therapy

CAST sponsored its second conference, Symbol and Process in Sandplay Therapy, in October 1996. ISST-certified presenters included Linda Bath (US) The Labyrinth, Nehama Baum (Canada) Weddings, Yvonne Federer (Canada) Water in the Sand, Christine Remus-Everling (Germany) Elective Mutism in a Young Girl and Brenda Weinberg (Canada) The Green Snake. A special celebratory dinner was followed by an evening of sacred dance and ritual led by Sylvia Senensky, a Jungian analyst practising in Toronto and Guelph.


1994 mini-lectures and consultation with Dr. Hayao Kawai (Japan)

1994 Toronto mini-lectures and consultation with Dr. Hayao Kawai (Japan).

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