Parsons Counseling Training Institute

This advanced clinical training transforms the therapeutic landscape by equipping mental health professionals with the specialized skills to process sandtrays using JP Lilly’s Jungian Analytical Play Therapy (JAPT). Participants will move beyond surface-level play to explore symbolism and depth through a framework grounded in Carl Jung’s concepts of the collective unconscious, archetypes, and individuation.

Through this program, clinicians will master JP Lilly’s signature 5-Step Processing Approach, learning to anchor the client's reality, analyze thematic patterns, and link symbolic content to the client’s "wound" or psychological complex. The training emphasizes the therapist’s role as a witness, creating a "temenos" or sacred space where unconscious material can safely emerge and be integrated into conscious understanding.

Clinicians will develop expertise in:

• Mapping the Psyche: Identifying and balancing the Ego, Persona, Shadow, and Anima/Animus within the sandtray.
• Archetypal Interpretation: Recognizing universal symbols (The Hero, The Sage, The Trickster) and understanding their function in the client's movement toward wholeness.
• Shadow Integration Techniques: Facilitating the "transformation process" where clients learn to acknowledge, embrace, and integrate rejected aspects of themselves.
• Spatial and Symbolic Analysis: Utilizing quadrants, shapes, colors, and numbers to track psychic energy and signs of individuation.
• Facilitating Transformation: Inviting clients to create "What-If" worlds to actively move psychic energy toward healing and self-authority.
  
  

This training represents a paradigm shift in depth work, focusing on wholeness and self-realization by allowing the "sand to tell the story" through a non-directive, strength-based stance.

Learning Objectives:

• Describe the theoretical framework of Jungian analytical play therapy in sandtray, focusing on the use of the collective unconscious and the creation of a safe therapeutic space for symbolic expression. 

• Implement JP Lilly’s 5-step processing approach (Meaning, Thematic Analysis, Tie to Complex, Dynamic Questions, and Story/Metaphor) in play therapy to facilitate clinical discovery and transformation. 

• Analyze the clinical significance of symbols, colors, and spatial placements (quadrant analysis) alongside the components of the psyche (Ego, Persona, Shadow, and Anima/Animus) within the sandtray play therapy process. 

• Integrate cultural and social diversity (CSD) considerations into sandtray play therapy to ensure that symbolic archetypes and themes are interpreted through the lens of the child’s unique cultural background and lived experiences. 
  
  Starts: June 6th, 2026, 3.5 CE hours for NBCC and APT. This workshop meets APT’s definition of Live Webinar.  Work toward becoming a Registered Play Therapist (RPT) by attending this conference. Go to www.a4pt.org for more information.   Provider Information:Parsons Counseling Training Institute has been approved by NBCC as an Approved Continuing Education Provider, ACEP No. 7101. Programs that do not qualify for NBCC credit are clearly identified. Parsons Counseling Training Institute is solely responsible for all aspects of the programs.Parsons Counseling, LLC has been approved by APT as an Approved Continuing Education Provider, APT No. 17-496. Programs that do not qualify for APT credit are clearly identified. Parsons Counseling, LLC is solely responsible for all aspects of the programs. If you have any questions regarding continuing education, the program, grievance issues, or learning objectives, please contact the Training Institute Coordinator at 859-985-7862 or via email at [email protected].

Cancellations with 14 or more days' notice will receive a full refund minus a $25 administrative fee. Cancellations with less than 14 days' notice will not be refunded. A 50% credit towards a future trainings may be applied at discretion of the training coordinator. Bundled or discounted registrations are non-refundable.