Kintsugi in the sand

Our Services

Child Services

Dr. Jen has extensive experience working with young children who are demonstrating concerning behaviors such as frequent tantrums, aggression, anger, anxiety, impulsivity, mood dysregulation- and other challenges. 

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Adolescent Services

Sandplay Therapy is an excellent therapeutic option for teenagers who are kinesthetic, artsy, and/or who do not like the idea of traditional talk therapy.

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Adult Services

Dr. Jen also specializes in working with parents of children ages two to ten. Parents not only learn play-therapy- based parenting strategies, but also improve their relationships with their children.

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Mental Health and the Unconscious Mind

Neuroscientists estimate that the conscious mind makes up only 5% of a person’s brain activity; the rest—95%– is unconscious or below the surface.  Carl Jung, known as the father of analytical psychology, said, “Until you make the unconscious conscious, it will direct your life, and you will call it fate.”  Even when we believe our conscious mind is in the driver’s seat, virtually everything we think, feel and believe (and the behaviors that follow these emotions and beliefs) originated beyond the veil of conscious awareness.

If so much of who we are- as individuals and as people- exists below the threshold of awareness, how can we, as conscious beings, effect change in our lives? Have you ever had a problem that you were trying to solve, and then after you “slept on it” you awakened the next morning with a detailed and complete understanding of how you could solve the problem? Your conscious mind is not at odds with all that is unconscious; these internal dimensions work together in many respects.

In fact, enhanced self-knowledge—which is a hallmark of positive mental health– must include both conscious and unconscious, personal and collective. It’s all you.

The Experience of Sandplay Therapy

If you have ever gone to a traditional “talk” therapist, then you likely experienced at least once (if not many times) that feeling of not being able to find the words that would adequately describe your internal landscape—much of it unconscious. 

The sensory experience of touching, moving, and working with sand combined with the availability of symbols, archetypes, and other powerful imagery creates an environment that facilitates the process of bringing the unconscious into conscious awareness which leads to improved mental health.

With sandplay therapy, words are not needed, but much is expressed and communicated. Even those clients who feel awkward at first soon become so immersed in their sand work, all self-consciousness disappears. Rather than pushing away or denying that much of who we are exists beneath the surface of consciousness, we dive in—ready to explore, face shadows, and find out and embrace the whole of who we are.

Claude Monet, the famous impressionist painter, once said, “To see, we must forget the name of the things we are looking at.” While the conscious mind will present endless distractions and defenses that can end up sabotaging personal growth, the subconscious mind has enough perspective to be brave. This is true for adults as well as children and adolescents.