Counselors’ perceptions of storytelling, fairytales, and sandplay in working with traumatically abused children

According to the Department of Health and Human Services (2008), child abuse rates continue to rise. This increase in child abuse results in a further need for counselors to understand effective therapeutic techniques for working with these children (Henderson & Thompson, 2017). Specifically, counselors may need to have greater awareness about effective approaches that aid in trauma recovery, particularly addressing attachment, communication, and dissociative symptomology (Miller & Boe, 1990; Hours, 2014; Dillingham, 2016). However, unfortunately there is a lack of information about the expressive techniques of storytelling, fairytales, and sandplay (Cassar, 2000; Dillingham, 2016; Plante, 2006). Thus, this qualitative study explored counselors’ perceptions of storytelling, fairytales, and sandplay techniques in working with children who have suffered trauma.