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Creating Stories in the Sand: Healing Perinatal Trauma with Lacey Castilleja Fisher

In this episode, Justine and Sarah interview Lacey Castilleja Fisher, a licensed professional counselor and registered play therapist. Lacey specializes in working with parents and parents-to-be who have experienced sexual trauma, as well as individuals dealing with a range of mental health issues. Lacey shares two quotes that resonate with her work: one by Natasha Trethewey about the importance of telling a story to heal from trauma, and another by Resmaa Menakem about the discomfort of healing. The conversation explores the power of storytelling, the use of sandtray therapy and expressive arts in therapy, and the personal experiences that led Lacey to her work. In this conversation, Lacey discusses how she creates safety in the sandtray experience. She emphasizes the importance of selecting diverse materials and figures, and speaking to the activating potential of the miniatures. Lacey also explains how she incorporates EMDR into sandtray therapy and adapts the practice for the perinatal population. She shares insights on finding and collecting miniatures, as well as the importance of open curiosity and not assuming the meaning behind a client's tray. The conversation highlights the power of storytelling and the versatility of expressive art therapy.

Keywords: therapy, trauma, storytelling, sandtray therapy, expressive arts, perinatal trauma, birth trauma, EMDR, perinatal mental health, storytelling, expressive art therapy

Takeaways

  • Telling a story is an important part of healing from trauma. It allows individuals to process and integrate their experiences. But telling a story does not have to be verbal.
  • Sandtray therapy and expressive arts can be powerful tools in therapy, providing a nonverbal and creative way for clients to explore and express their emotions and experiences.
  • The journey of parenthood can bring up feelings of uncertainty and self-doubt, especially for individuals with their own trauma history.
  • EMDR can be incorporated into sandtray therapy.
  • Adapting sandtray therapy for the perinatal population involves gaining expertise in perinatal mental health and being thoughtful about the miniatures that represent the different feelings and experiences during the perinatal period.
  • Open curiosity and not assuming the meaning behind a client's tray are important aspects of facilitating the therapy.
  • Storytelling in sand tray therapy goes beyond verbal expression and includes the selection and creation of scenes in the tray.

Sound Bites

  • "No words are off limits. No stories are off limits."
  • "The expressive arts and sandtray therapy allow different parts that are closed off to open up."

Chapters

00:00 Introduction and Guest Introduction

01:24 The Power of Storytelling and Quotes

06:21Using Sandtray Therapy and Expressive Arts

10:00 Introduction to Sandtray Therapy

12:09 Working with Non-Verbal Parts and Sensations

17:01 The Process of Building and Creating in Therapy

21:47 Personal Experience and Trauma-Informed Work

27:28 Creating Safety in the Sandtray Experience

30:05 Incorporating EMDR into Sandtray Therapy

33:28 Adapting Sandtray Therapy for the Perinatal Population

36:28 Finding and Collecting Miniatures

39:36 Facilitating Open Curiosity

42:46 The Power of Storytelling in Sandtray Therapy

On the Resilient Birth podcast, Justine and Sarah explore the impact of trauma across the perinatal period, from trying-to-conceive to pregnancy, from childbirth to postpartum and parenting. Through an inspirational quote that drives our weekly conversations about trauma and healing, Justine and Sarah explore topics such as birth trauma, parenting as a survivor, and finding healing with vulnerability and compassion that support birthing people and birth professionals.

Each week, listeners leave with takeaways to utilize in their lives and/or clients. Justine and Sarah hold the stories they share with honor and respect with the hope to impart knowledge, increase understanding, and bear witness to this challenging topic.

Sarah is a licensed mental health counselor, educator, and mom of three. She walks with a story of trauma from before and as a result of her perinatal experience.

Justine supports survivors of trauma through perinatal coaching and childbirth education. As well as being a mother of three, she holds a Ph.D. on representations of consent and sexual violence.

Learn more about Sarah and Justine's course called Trauma Informed Fundamentals here: https://resilient-birth.mykajabi.com/traumainformedfundamentals

Lacey Castilleja Fisher, LPC-S, RPT-S, PMH-C, is a Licensed Professional Counselor-Supervisor, Registered Play Therapist-Supervisor and a Certified Mental Health Professional with a mental health private practice in southwest Austin. Lacey has worked in a variety of settings including in a Children’s Advocacy Center to provide counseling to children that experienced sexual abuse and their families, and she decided to take the experience she had there and apply it to private practice. She built her practice around supporting children and adults that had experienced sexual abuse/assault and found a passion working with parents and parents to be when their sexual trauma was activated in the perinatal period. This led to Lacey learning as much as she could about perinatal trauma, pregnancy and infant loss, NICU trauma and fertility struggles. Lacey finds that the parents she works with respond well to EMDR, IFS and sandtray therapy at her counseling practice. Lacey has served as the Clinical Director for the Pregnancy and Postpartum Health Alliance of Texas and now serves on their advisory board.

Lacey has shared this article with us about sand tray therapy (https://wjstp-ojs-txstate.tdl.org/wjstp/article/view/25), as well as an upcoming workshop she is hosting called "Storytelling in the Sand: Using Sandtray Therapy to Cope with Perinatal Trauma and Loss: http://www.openheartcounselingatx.com/store/p2/storytellinginthesand.html.