Creative Therapy Courses South West
At The Nautilus Rooms, Totnes
The Nautilus Rooms, Totnes is home to one of the country’s leading providers of Sandplay and Creative Arts Therapies. Our courses provide a comprehensive route to training in Integrative Sandplay Therapy, Integrative Therapeutic Art, Creativity and Mindfulness. Mindfulness.
Contact Ruth Baker: ruthbaker1@gmail.com
Sandplay Therapy
“In sandplay, we withhold judgement. We accept the uniqueness of individuals and their ways of coping and dealing with their wounds, their problems.” Bradway & McCoard
Sandplay Therapy is currently enjoying a surge of interest from trainees to highly experienced practitioners working with children, adolescents, young people and adults of all ages. It is used in a range of settings including private practice, mental health services, social services, schools, residential settings etc. It is highly versatile and accessible to individuals, couples, families and groups.
It is a creative way of working where symbols (small figures/ miniatures) are used in conjunction with a tray of sand. It is a deeply inspiring and transformative therapy where these symbols are used to help clients tell their story, express their feelings and emotions and inner world. Essentially a story is expressed in the sand which is processed verbally and non-verbally. The therapist provides a safe nurturing and empathic space for the client to step into their inner world and expression. The therapist provides a non-judgemental, holding space for this process. Completed Sandtrays can be verbally and non-verbally processed. The processing of the tray continues in the psyche long after the session has ended. Not all needs to be understood in the here and now.
The non-verbal aspect of sandtray makes it an excellent therapy for working with children, with people with autism and those with traumatic memories and difficult subject matter. Traumatic events can be processed in the sand without the need for telling the story verbally. It is a wonderful way of putting your life story together and making sense of it.
Sandplay Training
The training is offered at three levels
- Foundation
- Diploma
- Advanced Diploma
The training groups are small which allows for plenty of group discussion, theory and experiential work.
Foundation in Integrative Sandplay
This two-day course is an ideal introduction for people with no experience of sandplay and will also build on any experience you may have gained from your basic training. It gives a greater depth and understanding of this way of working and its power. This course is an ideal starting point for anyone who is interested in delving into the mysteries of sandplay therapy, its Jungian origins and transpersonal potential.
It is a highly experiential course designed to give you a real taste of what sandplay therapy is all about. Taught by Ruth Baker an experienced sandplay therapist, teacher, consultant and supervisor.
This form of therapy is highly valued as a stand-alone therapy, it is also an excellent tool in the toolbox for counsellors, psychotherapists, psychologists and those working more widely in the helping professions and education.
Let me know if you are interested in an online course as I am in the process of developing this option. You will need access to a sandtray and symbols. I can give advice as to how you may be able to put this together.
Feedback for this course is terrific:
'The best CPD I have ever done'
'An opportunity to fully explore and gain a deeper understanding of sandplay therapy'
'Understanding the clients process in making a tray and how to facilitate through body and symbol enquiry insights and the healing potential'
'Ruth’s' wisdom and knowledge has a depth which is so rich'
‘The pace of the course is perfect and well balanced’.
‘An opportunity to fully explore and gain a deeper understanding of sandplay therapy’.
‘Understanding the clients process in making a sandtray’
Dates:
2024
Foundation In Integrative Sandplay Therapy (2 day course)
9th and 10th December 2023
10th and 11th February 2024
20th and 21st April 2024
8th and 9th June 2024
14th and 15th September 2024
9th 10th November 2024
2023
25th and 26th February 2023
22nd and 23rd April 2023
24th and 25th June 2023
23rd and 24th September 2023
Cost
From 1st April 2022
£225 this includes a deposit of £75.
The deposit holds the place for you and is non-refundable.
The full payment is due 6 weeks before the course start date.
If the course does not run the deposit can be transferred to another date or be refunded.
Please complete your application form and make payment by BACS.
Diploma in Integrative Sandplay Therapy
This course is organised as four 3-day weekends.
The aim of the course is to bring depth and understanding to your sandplay work from a Jungian and Transpersonal perspective. The course integrates theory and experiential work which thoroughly embeds the work. It is a dive into a deeply immersive experience of sandplay therapy. The work integrates well into other theoretical perspectives.
Diploma in Integrative Sandplay Therapy
2024-2025
18, 19, 20 October 2024
22, 23, 24 November 2024
10,11,12 January 2025
28 February 1 &2 March 2025
Cost
TBC Please contact Ruth if you are interested in joining the course.
Foundation in Therapeutic Art
An introduction to the world of therapeutic art and symbolism. When we express our inner world through paint or pastels, we can somehow make a different sense of ourselves in the here and now.
Dates
16 and 17 March 2024
2 and 3 November 2024
Cost
£225 this includes a deposit of £75.
The deposit holds the place for you and is non-refundable.
The full payment is due 6 weeks before the course start date.
If the course does not run the deposit can be transferred to another date or be refunded.
Please complete your application form and make payment by BACS.
Creative weekends
These weekends will include a mix of sand and art
Themes tbc
11th and 12th May 2024
29th and 30th June 2024
Am I eligible for this course?
These courses are aimed at counsellors, psychotherapists, psychologists, coach’s’, and those working more widely in the helping professions and education. They are suitable for people working with all age’s groups i.e., children through to adults, couples and groups.
The full Diploma is awarded to people who have completed 50 supervised client Sandtrays and received a minimum of 8 hours of sandplay supervision by a recommended supervisor and have a basic qualification in counselling. The course facilitator may recommend some additional personal therapy prior to the awarding of the Diploma.
Course Location
The courses are run from The Nautilus Rooms in Totnes, Devon UK which houses a fabulous collection of sandplay symbols built specifically to give students a full experience of the power of sandplay.
Many people travel long distances for these courses and enjoy staying in Totnes or the surrounding area. Totnes is small market town with a quirky reputation for being ‘alternative’ and artistic. We benefit from a fabulous market on Fridays and Saturdays and a variety of charity shops. Both are great sources for hunting new symbols. One of the joys of the course is sharing symbols bought during lunchtime forays. There is plethora of places to purchase lunch.
Questions
Course size
These courses tend to be small 6-9 people which allows plenty of time for individual processing and experiential work. If there are insufficient numbers the course will not run.
Covid
At the Nautilus Rooms we benefit from large rooms which can be ventilated and plenty of room to spread out. We follow current government guidance. We ask you sanitise your hands prior to using the symbols and sand. If you have specific concerns please contact Ruth.
Online Course
I am getting requests for online courses – to undertake an online course you would need to have access to a sand tray and some symbols. This does not need to be extensive – a cat litter tray or large baking tray and a range of symbols (miniatures) would be enough. If you are interested, please register an interest with me.
Deposits
If the course does not run the deposit can be transferred to another date or be refunded.
Can’t make the date
Interested in a course but cannot make the date – do let me know there may be others in the same position as you.
Bespoke Courses
If your organisation or group of colleagues would like a course to run locally to you please contact me to discuss.
About Ruth
Ruth has been working in the helping professions for the over 25 years. She has extensive experience of working with individuals, couples and groups from a range of different backgrounds including the criminal justice system, mental health services, drug and alcohol services, healthcare provisions including hospices and private practice. She has a love of nature – walking – swimming – gardening and growing and being in wild spaces. She is a student of the Diamond Approach where the primary interest is to know what is true about yourself. She has extensive training in Integrative Sandplay Therapy and Therapeutic Art. She is a counsellor, psychotherapist, supervisor, consultant and teacher. Ruth is a teacher and supervisor within the Association of Integrative Sandplay Therapists.
Ruth’s depth of knowledge and experience is valued and commented on by students as is her ability to hold the space for deep learning to take place.
Feedback on Ruth’s teaching:
‘Thank you, Ruth, for your gentle teaching, holding and facilitation. As I get older, I find myself a bit fussy about who I feel I can learn deeply from and you are definitely one of those people who wisdom and knowledge has a depth which is so rich I find I can settle in (relax) and absorb with confidence.’
‘I found the practical frameworks very useful’
‘…such thoughtful training. Ruth created an environment in which I felt safe and secure at all times’.
More information can be found at:
or contact Ruth directly
Email: ruthbaker1@gmail.com
