Sandplay is one of the expressive modalities we offer to adults, teens, and kids. This gentle, hands-on approach helps people explore their inner world without needing to find the right words first.
Sandplay therapy uses a tray of sand and a collection of small, symbolic figures, to help create scenes that reflect your inner world. There's no artistic skill needed for this modality, and no preparation required.
Through the act of building, choosing, and arranging, thoughts and feelings that feel overwhelming or hard to name begin to take shape in a way that's easier to hold and explore. Your therapist is there to witness and support the process, not direct or interpret it. The meaning unfolds naturally, at your pace, in a way that feels grounded and safe.
What sandplay tends to make possible:
At The Artful Life, sandplay therapy is available for both adults and children.
For children, it works alongside Play Therapy as a natural extension of imaginative expression. Kids think in images, stories, and symbols long before they think in explanations. The sand tray gives them a contained world to build, rearrange, and make sense of their experiences in a way that feels completely natural. It works alongside Play Therapy as part of a broader child-centered approach, and parents are kept informed and involved throughout.
For adults, young adults and teens, sandplay offers a way into material that other approaches sometimes can't reach. The sand tray bypasses the analytical mind and gives form to what's harder to articulate — unresolved grief, fragmented memories, emotional patterns that are felt but not yet named. It tends to surprise people with how much emerges when the pressure to explain is taken away.
Sessions are available in person at both our Salem and Beverly counseling centers.
Founded in 2016 by Natalie and Madelene, The Artful Life is the North Shore's only Expressive Arts Therapy group practice of its kind. What started as a single studio has expanded into two locations in Beverly and Salem, MA, with a full team of masters-level licensed therapists serving clients of all ages.
Sandplay therapy sits at the heart of what we believe about healing: that it doesn't always look like talking, and that creative, symbolic expression can reach places that words alone cannot.
Our work is guided by four core beliefs:
While sandplay is a natural fit for children who communicate through play and imagination, it is equally powerful for adults. Many adult clients find it one of the most effective ways to access and process experiences that have been difficult to reach through conversation alone.
Your therapist will invite you to use the sand tray and figures however feels right to you. There are no instructions, no right answers, and no pressure to explain what you're creating or why. Your therapist holds the space and observes with clinical care, allowing the process to unfold naturally.
Yes. Sandplay is just one of the many, expressive arts therapy modalities we use at The Artful Life. Your therapist will help determine how and when to incorporate it into you or your child's broader work together.
This modality tends to be valuable for anyone working through trauma, grief, anxiety, and experiences that are hard to verbalize.
It’s available to adults, teens and kids of all ages, and can be incorporated as part of individual therapy sessions or offered as the primary therapeutic approach.
Yes. We accept insurance from a range of providers including Aetna, WellSense, Carelon, Point32 Health, Blue Cross Blue Shield, and United Healthcare/Optum. See our full, up-to-date coverage list here.
You don't have to know what you're carrying to begin putting it down.