Using Sand Trays in Clinical Supervision

By Erika Rodriguez, LPC, NCC, RPT

Using a tray with sand and figures to encourage and develop expression and analysis can be a useful technique to build confidence in counselors. Clinical supervisors increasingly use sand trays as a hands-on approach to help counselors-in-training, provisionally licensed counselors or doctoral students process cases, practice interventions and develop professional identity. 

Whether in individual or triadic supervision, counselors may be asked to create a scene in the sand tray that represents a challenging case. In triadic supervision, peers and supervisors can observe these trays and learn from diverse approaches, interpretations, insight and feedback. 

With the sand tray technique, supervisees can process their experiences within a space that allows for professional reflection and growth. Supervisors can guide counselors to externalize their thinking by using specific prompts such as, “Build a scene that shows your client’s main issue” or “Show what it means to be a counselor-educator-in-training.”

While large-scale quantitative studies are still emerging, existing research is promising. Counseling programs using structured sand tray techniques in supervision protocols report enhanced reflection, better case conceptualization and positive feedback from supervisees. One supervision model found students valued using sand trays for processing their fieldwork experiences and translating insights into practice.

The Connection with Self-Efficacy

Psychologist Albert Bandura’s theory on self-efficacy — the belief in your capability to succeed — is crucial to a counselor’s professional development. In addition, Bandura’s four sources that strengthen self-efficacy can be applied in the use of the sand tray technique in counseling supervision.

Mastery Experiences: Gaining confidence through action, early-career counselors can practice different responses during supervision. Each successful practice strengthens their perceived belief in their capability to use a particular intervention or practiced response with confidence. The use of a sand tray in supervision allows counselors to actively move through an experience as opposed to only talking about it. The intentional use of the sand tray to practice performance accomplishments provides counselors with evidence of their growth.

Vicarious Experiences: Seeing is believing, especially learning by observing others succeed at a task. In triadic supervision, counselors watch their peers construct their sand trays while receiving feedback from a supervisor. Observing how other counselors approach similar challenges can foster the belief that overcoming a challenge is attainable and provide a sense of what is possible as a counselor.

Social Persuasion: Receiving encouragement and feedback from people you respect can instill confidence. The supervisory alliance and connection displayed around the sand tray are a strength-focused reflection and guided interpretation of what was done well. These encouraging indicators can shape a counselor’s belief in their capabilities. When supervisors point out effective strategies or applaud insight or growth, self-efficacy is reinforced, as well as the belief in trying those approaches again.

Physiological and Emotional State: Your body provides signals of anxiety, calm and excitement that inform your sense of self-efficacy. Working in the sand with figures provides a unique way of externalizing emotions and reducing internal arousal. By containing difficult emotional material in the tray both visually and tangibly, you can process those emotions in a way that shifts emotional cues. This externalization helps supervisees manage the emotional demands of counseling work, which directly impacts their self-efficacy.

The wonder of sand tray in supervision is that it is both concrete and creative. It can provide a tangible way to explore clinical work while tapping into all four sources that build self-efficacy as a counselor. In a field where self-doubt can creep in easily, self-confidence is worth its weight in, well, sand.

Note: Opinions expressed and statements made in this blog do not necessarily represent the policies or opinions of ACA and its editors.