For the things a child can't say yet.
Sandplay therapy for children and teenagers aged 6–16, and for adults in mid-life, at our clinic in JLT, Dubai. Rooted in Jungian analytical psychology. Symbolic, non-verbal, and often the fastest way to reach what words can’t. Available in English and Russian.
- Jungian analytical psychology
- Kids 6–16, teens & adults
- In-person at JLT
- English & Russian
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What sandplay therapy actually is
Sandplay is a non-verbal therapeutic method rooted in Jungian analytical psychology. A tray of sand, a shelf of small figures — people, animals, buildings, natural objects, symbols — and time. The client (child, teenager, or adult) builds a scene, and over sessions those scenes become a language for what has not yet been possible to say in words. The therapist watches, holds the space, and, when the moment is right, helps the pattern become visible.
“You can do everything your hands want.”
— Ekaterina Morgan's opening line to every new sandplay client.
Who sandplay therapy helps
Sandplay works with more than one age and more than one kind of difficulty. The shapes we most often see:
Children 6–12 — anxiety, sleep, big emotions
Night wakings. A child hysterical past what feels like their own limits. Low tolerance for frustration that spills into aggression. Shyness that has narrowed the world. These are cases where the child cannot yet talk about what is happening — and sandplay lets them show it instead.
Teenagers 12–16 — self-harm, withdrawal, aggression
Girls who have started to cut. Boys whose distress arrives as aggression rather than words. A teenager who has stopped attending school, or whose grades have dropped without a visible reason. In this age, sandplay is often paired with light-touch talking — same room, same tray, same principle.
Adults in mid-life — the search for new meaning
Men and women, typically 35–50, often carrying co-dependent relationships, a sense of running on old scripts, a feeling that something needs to change but the shape of that change hasn't arrived yet. Sandplay reaches material that talk therapy circles around. The Jungian language for this is individuation — the process of becoming who you actually are.
Russian-speaking clients — culturally and linguistically at home
Our sandplay practice is offered in both Russian and English. Many of our adult and family clients moved to Dubai after 2022 and are working through the layered experience of dislocation, identity, and rebuilding — often with children who are living the same displacement in their own way. Sessions in Russian, when that is your mother tongue, let the work go deeper faster.
What a session looks like
For a child
The child enters a room with a sand tray and a shelf of figures. The therapist tells them: you can do everything your hands want. There are no rules about what the scene should look like. The child builds. The therapist stays close, present, and quiet, holding the frame of what our clinic describes as "free and protect" — you have freedom, and you are safe. Over sessions, the scenes carry themselves forward, and the child gets to see and re-shape what has been asking for their attention.
For a teenager
The frame stays the same — the tray, the figures, the invitation to build — but the tone shifts. With teens, we work as companions rather than experts, and there is more talking around the scene. Confidentiality is explicit and non-negotiable: what happens in the room stays in the room, and before any session ends we ask what, if anything, the teenager wants us to share with their parents.
For an adult
For adults, sandplay usually sits inside a longer analytical process — talking therapy with sandplay as one of the deeper interventions when the words start looping. The session begins with what has been happening; when the moment is right, the tray comes into it. Adults are often surprised by what shows up. That surprise is often the shift.
For parents
Parents are part of the work. We meet you separately at intake, and again in periodic parent-only sessions. A signature question from our practice: "What lesson do you think your child wants to teach you?" The answer is often where the family part of the therapy actually begins.
Signs it's working
The practical things
- Sessions are 50 minutes. Weekly is the standard cadence. Sometimes twice a week is recommended.
- Ages 6–16 for children and adolescents; adults 25+ (with a particular fit for the 35–50 mid-life period).
- In-person at Office 1205, JBC4, Cluster N, JLT, Dubai — two minutes from JLT metro. We encourage to do sandplay therapy in person — the modality requires the physical tray, figures, and room.
- Languages: English and Russian.
- Insurance: several major UAE plans cover psychological therapy. We provide insurance reimbursement forms. WhatsApp us for more details.
- Cancellation policy: 24 hours, no charge. WhatsApp replies are immediate during working hours.
Avtar (Joey) Sura
Daniela Nikolova
Dr Olga (Ola) Pykhtina
Dr Olga (Ola) Pykhtina
Ekaterina Morgan
Ekaterina Morgan
Elena Taleski
Elena Taleski
Lily Peterson
Mir Mahrukh
Angelica Clarete
Most-asked questions
Is sandplay therapy just for children?
No. Sandplay therapy is also a serious intervention for adults, particularly those in mid-life going through a period of re-orientation. The tray reaches material that talking therapy circles around; many adults find it faster than expected.
How is sandplay different from play therapy?
Play therapy is the broader family of methods that use play as the medium for children’s therapy. Sandplay is a specific, Jungian-rooted modality inside that family — the tray, the figures, and the symbolic language they build together. Play therapists may use sandplay as one of several tools; sandplay therapists work in the tray as the primary language.
How long does it take to see change?
It depends. We recommend a minimum of 6-12 sessions. Deeper work — the kind that reshapes patterns rather than easing them — typically takes longer. We discuss the trajectory openly every few weeks so you always know where we are.
Do parents watch the sessions?
No. The child’s session is the child’s — parents are not in the room. Parents are part of the work in a different way: intake sessions, periodic parent-only sessions, and practical translation of what we’re seeing into support at home. We do not share what a child specifically builds in the tray, but we share themes and patterns you can act on.
Do you work in Russian?
Yes. Our sandplay therapy practice is offered in both Russian and English. Many of our clients moved to Dubai after 2022 and prefer to do this depth of work in their mother tongue.