FAQ's

• Have you ever wanted to be anything other than a therapist?

From the time I was about 4 years old, I wanted to be a singer.  After many years of voice and piano lessons, singing in choirs, concerts, musicals and yes, even at Carnegie Hall with Placido Domingo and the Sarah Lawrence College Choir - I decided that I would become an opera singer. Since my favorite teacher, whom our family had named "The Green Goddess" for obvious reasons, kept playfully hitting at my knuckles when I played piano, this was a no-brainer.  I auditioned for and was accepted into the Manhattan School of Music.  But I realized that I hated the idea of waitressing (I can't juggle lots of plates or take orders) and that I would have many years of that before I made the big time in the Big Apple.  So I gave up that dream in college, although I continued to take voice lessons for many years afterward.  Listening to most every kind of music, as well as singing, brings me great joy.

• What do you do in your spare time?

Yoga is my passion.  I have been practicing for about 6 years now;  and realize that along with the breath, my most favorite postures have started as ones I initially disliked. Interesting, huh? I also am a jewelry designer and love learning about precious stones and beadweaving.

• What have been the greatest influences on your professional work?

Studying a Family Systems approach at Syracuse University was quite an eye-opener, and informed much of my professional perspective initially.  I remember - not so fondly, but with a smile - how I would be in a small room with a family, and suddenly the phone on the wall would ring.  That meant that my professor, Dr. Bernie Braen, would be on the other end of the line in the next room with my fellow students looking out at the one-way mirror. He would make helpful suggestions about what to say or which technique to employ. It got so that when the phone rang, the families would all stop and look expectantly at the phone for help to arrive. It was all quite amusing and horribly humbling.
 
Learning and practicing clinical hypnosis was another vital thread to my professional development. I studied with Dr. Joan Murray-Jobsis and Dr. Reid Wilson, both remarkable teachers.  One of my mentors in Sandplay, Dr. Alexander Shaia, taught me about the finer aspects of comprehending sandtrays and the inner journey.  And I owe a debt to the singer-songwriter John McCutcheon. After a concert in Chapel Hill, I asked him how I could learn to be a storyteller.  He is quite impressive and very kind.  He basically told me to listen, trust my instincts, and practice telling lots of stories in front of people.  He was right.  But I still can't tell a joke to save my life.

• What books are you reading now?

I'm re-reading The Alchemist. I've finished The Gift Moves and loved the ideas and beauty of it. My son just gave me Siddhartha to read;  I haven't looked at it since college days.  I am rationing reading stories from Maria Tatar's The Annotated Classic Fairy Tales. I want to savor them. My new book of poetry is The Fractured World, by Scott Owens.  Yesterday, the library emailed to say that my copy of Boys Adrift is ready to be picked up...

• What advice do you have for a therapist who wants to become a Certified Sandplay™ Therapist (CST)?

Start by doing your own work - called your "process" - in the sand.  Otherwise, how can you guide others? It's vital to put yourself in front of an empty sandtray, brain empty, palms sweating, heart pumping fast...and touch the sand and begin the journey to the heart. Never alone, always with a witness, a good therapist to stand beside you.

• What kinds of people do you work with and train?

Therapists who want to revitalize their own practices;  therapists who want to be certified Sandplay Therapists or Practitioners; therapists who are burning out from all the suffering they absorb from clients and from just being in the world...

• How often do you see people in training?

It's a mutual decision. Sometimes monthly, if people live too far to commute weekly. Sometimes weekly, or twice a month.  The psyche will hold the work;  meaning, that people take different paths and there is no one best way to set that up.  Flexibility is key.

• How long are the training sessions?

We set up times that meet both our scheduling needs.  Sometimes just a 45 minute session; sometimes an hour and a half.  Occasionally, people would like to have two hours to do both dream work, journaling and time to create a sandtray.  It's all good.

• Currently, what symbol holds most interest for you and what about that symbol draws you? Do you have it in your collection? Did you make it/were you presented with it/how did you find it?

Right now, my favorite symbol is fire in relation to the heart.  Georgia Mann created the symbol for me, as part of a series.  It's gorgeous.  It represents this "turn of the wheel" in my life's journey. I haven't yet put it in the sandplay room.  I'm not ready to share it yet.

• You've presented recently at the 2010 STA National Conference in Boulder.  Can you tell us about your workshop and experience with the Sandplay audience?

Georgia Mann and I have presented the second in a series of myths and stories which inform our Sandplay Journeys.  The first was in Savannah two years ago.  We told the story of Psyche and Eros, and then helped the participants create Artist Trading Cards with scraps of fabric, found objects and glue.  This recent workshop focused on the story of the Russian "every girl" named Vasilisa the Brave.  Again, we alternated telling the story to our very obliging audience, and then asked them to create a doll which represented their inner self, that place of inner wisdom.  What they created was fantastic...each lovely and meaningful.  It was the sharing of experiences about trusting our inner voice that was especially poignant for me.  These workshops represent the best of what the artist Georgia and I bring to our teaching and practice:  fun, creativity, storytelling and the delight of mutual respect.
 
 
 
 
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