Professional training
Sandplay Training & Consultation Groups
Live and online sandplay training with Ruth Castellano — for therapists, counsellors, and anyone drawn to working symbolically with the inner world.
Please note
The work
Learning sandplay from the inside out.
Sandplay is not easily learned from a textbook. It is a method that reveals itself through experience — through handling the sand, placing figures, sitting in the silence of a completed tray. Ruth’s training is built on that premise. Whether you are a clinician building toward certification or someone simply curious about the symbolic life, the learning happens in the room, not just on the page.
Ruth has been teaching sandplay for over a decade, in national and international settings. She trained in Switzerland with the practitioners who shaped the modern tradition — including Martin Kalff, Ruth Amman, and Judy Zappacosta — and brings that lineage directly into her teaching. All training offered through Sandplay for Healing meets the standards of the Sandplay Therapists of America (STA) and the International Society for Sandplay Therapy (ISST).
Your guide
Ruth Castellano
MA CST LPC
Ruth Castellano is a Licensed Professional Counselor and Certified Sandplay Therapist with more than 20 years of experience in mental health — in agency, group practice, and private practice settings. Her clinical work has focused on trauma in adults and children, significant self-injurious behaviour, family systems, and women’s developmental process.
She has an extensive background as a teacher and presenter, having taught and presented in national and international settings. She began her formal study of sandplay in 2013, attending the STA Assembly in Albuquerque and the intensive Caring for the Soul programme in Switzerland — including time at Dora Kalff’s home and the Jung Institute Zurich in Küsnacht. Her teachers included Martin Kalff, Ruth Amman, and Judy Zappacosta.
Ruth founded the Northeast Sandplay Association in 2015, has been published in the Journal of Sandplay Therapy, and currently serves as Treasurer on the STA Board of Trustees. She is recognised as a Certified Sandplay Therapist (CST) by both the STA and the ISST.
MA Counseling Psychology
Certified Sandplay Therapist (CST)
Licensed Professional Counselor — New Jersey
STA Board of Trustees
ISST Member
Founder, Northeast Sandplay Association
Published, Journal of Sandplay Therapy
Ready to begin?
Reach out to ask a question or to schedule a first conversation.