The Oaklander Model Goes to Nairobi

Some Just for Now participants might have been in attendance when, among those gathered to meet Violet, was Florence Mueni, who calls herself “Mueni,” from Kenya. We have a great video clip of her holding up her well-used copy of Windows and saying it was the first book she used when starting her career working with children, and thanking Violet for being present and for having provided this valuable resource.

Florence then became connected to VSOF. She participated in the Oaklander online training; attended many JFNs; presented her now-famous, fun “hippo breathing” technique; and presented at the conference. Along the way, we also met wonderful Kenyan professionals, including Hamida Ahmed, who presented her experience working in schools during the pandemic at a JFN along with school-based professionals from the US, Italy and Sri Lanka. Each presenter’s conclusion informed us about their students’ experiences—and that we have more in common than we have differences.

As Chairperson of the Association of Play Therapy Kenya, Mueni invited me, as an Oaklander Model trainer, to present in person  to 41 play therapists, psychologists, school counselors and teachers in Nairobi. I happily accepted this fortunate opportunity.

The VSOF Board of Directors  voted to purchase all 40 copies of Violet’s Windows to Our Children. Then, Molly Rawle, MSW, publisher at Gestalt Journal Press, generously agreed to provide  them to us at cost. After receiving this incredible news, all I had to do was fit the books into our luggage so I could deliver the precious gifts.   

I feel especially lucky to have had the chance to go on safari to admire the many animals at the Masai Mara and the Serengeti, and particularly to have hit the perfect time to witness the wildebeest crossing—an awesome event that is justifiably one of the 7 wonders of the world.

I then met the wonderful group in Nairobi for a 5-day Oaklander Training. First, we covered the reasons Violet found that children come to therapy: to build a better sense of self and to connect to their contact functions. During the training we explored many of the media she used to help them do so: drawings, clay, sand tray, puppets, collage. I had brought a picture of a violet-framed window, and towards the close of our time, all the participants together made a collage of the many views each of us saw through the windows after the training experience.

I enjoyed every minute and am so grateful for the experience.

Humanistic Sandtray Therapy: Theoretical Underpinnings and Practical Applications →

Ryan D. Foster 
Department of Counseling, Tarleton State University 
Fort Worth, Texas, USA  

For almost 100 years, psychotherapists from around the world have integrated sand therapies into their work with children, adolescents, and adults. Margaret Lowenfeld’s (2007) original world technique had at its foundation a psychodynamically oriented conceptualization of the child psyche. Subsequently, other psychodynamic approaches to sand therapies promulgated in the therapeutic community via Dora Kalff (1980) and sandplay. In 1978, with the publication of Windows to Our Children, Violet Oaklander briefly described her use of sandtray therapy from a Gestalt point of view, and along the way several practitioners developed cross-theoretical approaches to sandtray (Homeyer, n.d.) – in other words, psychotherapists interested in integrating sandtray therapy into their existing theoretical paradigms can choose from a wide range of models. 

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How the Oaklander Model sparked a GlobalCommunity of Therapists in a Pandemic, and enrichedTraining and Treatment →

Social isolation caused by COVID threatened psychotherapist-client and instructor-learner contact especially in the child therapy field. In response, the author devised free online Oaklander Model interactive play therapy tools (Sandtray, Puppets, Dollhouse, Projective Cards, Mindfuldraw) which replace their hands-on originals with tabs of images clients choose, place, move, enlarge or shrink, and make act and speak to orchestrate scenes. The author also conducted teleconference training and supervision in their use. Both the digital interventions and instruction continue to attract therapists from some 30 countries, who collaborate to support children from afar. The technological recasting of play techniques and teaching proved to retain and even expand their powers along with their reach. Such expansion confirmed the universal, timeless efficacy of Oaklander’s interventions and approach, and their applicability to virtual platforms. It also increased client access to therapy and therapist access to clinical education, regardless of location and finances. Finally, it revealed advantages of remote play therapy and training: recording sessions or stages of client creations, including from separate devices; shot sharing of clients’ home, household members, pets and meaningful objects for assessment and exploration; environmental sustainability of foregoing transportation, office rental, physical art materials and storage; and construction of an international therapeutic community sharing their knowledge. Periodic polling, current website analytics and a recent formal survey show these techniques and gains have outlasted and outgrown lockdown despite distance, financial hardship and, sometimes, war. Digital therapy, learning and collaboration endure and expand both online and live as the foundation of this network’s dual achievement: a global community of healers and a global extension of healing.

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The Many Faces of ADHD

My mentor, Violet Oaklander, who died September 21, 2021, and whom I’ll always miss, wrote a groundbreaking article, “The Many Faces of Anger.”1 This article honors her memory.

Violet saw anger as the least-tolerated and most-misunderstood emotion. She noted that children get so many messages telling them their anger is unacceptable that they find ways to conceal it. They might retroflect anger—turn it inward as stomachaches or headaches. They might anesthetize themselves—space out to lose touch with their rage. Or they might become hyperactive to avoid feeling anything.

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When “Just for Now” Meets the Future: A Case Study Using the Oaklander Model to Transition from the Pandemic

When the first article of this series was written in March 2020 we were entering what we expected to be a brief, if global, crisis due to COVID-19 (Oaklander Model in a Time of Crisis). Its title, “Just for Now,” intended to frame therapy for a short time. But that article and a Zoom call to a few colleagues blossomed into a virtual venue where child and adolescent therapists worldwide participated at first weekly, and now monthly, in Zoom calls that have been part training webinars, part community-building, and mostly an opportunity to greet and learn from Violet Oaklander. Since then, we have held 15 Zoom meetings with an average of 80 attendees from 25 countries. Along with the meetings grew unexpected opportunities for international collaboration. Currently the JFN (Just for Now) articles have been translated into 6 languages, and we await similar translations of our guidebook (Oaklander Model Guidebook for Therapists).

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Here is What We Know So Far

Virtual Psychotherapy Session on US 2020 Presidential Election Stress

The days leading up to and following the US election have provoked anxiety for many people. As of the morning of November 6, three days following Election Day, the president-elect of the United States has not yet been officially declared. Many Americans have been following the election closely, with the mapped results making as much sense as this depiction…

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Just for Now: Virtual Use of the Oaklander Model in a Time of Crisis

The article presents a case example to define, explain, and illustrate use of the Oaklander Model in a telephone or online session and by deploying technology to see a child’s projective work. It begins with concepts basic to the model, includes brief descriptions of children’s varied coping strategies and therapeutic responses to them, and offers specific pointers for telephone or online sessions. Then, the case study of 10-year-old “Mary” shows how current technologies and classic Oaklander techniques—the practical and the projective—might be applied under extraordinary circumstances. I thank Mary and her family for graciously permitting me to reproduce her session notes, words, drawings and likeness to illustrate the use of the Oaklander Model in a time of crisis. Finally, the article suggests further session activities.

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