This book is a reference for mental health professionals who utilize sandplay therapy with their child and/or adult clients. The Brief consists of case studies that are drawn from composite situations occurring in actual practice. Although some of the ethical issues raised and addressed are specific to sandplay therapy, others are generalizable to other modalities of mental health practice. Each chapter draws on ethical principles of clinical practice and research. The Brief includes relevant portions of professional ethics codes governing mental health professionals from an array of English-speaking countries—Australia, Canada, the U.K., the U.S., and New Zealand—to maximize the relevance of the text to sandplay therapists globally, whether they are licensed psychologists, marriage and family therapists, counselors, or social workers.

“The concerns presented and elucidated in this book inform sandplay therapists, guiding us in our commitment to competence, professionalism and our responsibility to ‘do no harm,’ as well as the global imperative to be more inclusive, making sandplay training and sandplay therapy more available in our traumatized world.” (Linda Cunningham, Journal of Sandplay Therapy, Vol. 29 (1), 2020)

Sana Loue, J.D., Ph.D., M.P.H., M.S.S.A. is a professor at Case Western Reserve University. She holds a primary appointment in the Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics in the School of Medicine and secondary appointments in the Departments of Bioethics, Global Health, and Psychiatry, as well as in the Mandel School of Applied Social Services, the university’s school of social worker. Her empirical research focuses on HIV risk and prevention in minority communities, family violence, and mental illness, while her more theoretical research includes forensic epidemiology and research ethics. As a licensed social worker, she offers counseling services through a local AIDS organization to minority young adults with issues ranging from partner violence, childhood sexual abuse and trauma, gender and sexual orientation questioning, self-injurious behaviors, and severe mental illness.