Keynote Speakers
Takuji Natori
President of the International Society for Sandplay Therapy
Takuji Natori, Prof. M.A. (ISST, JISST, JAST) is a Professor of Clinical Psychology at Kyoto Bunkyo University and a Certified Clinical Psychologist. He practices psychotherapy and sandplay therapy, and provides clinical supervision in Kyoto, Japan. He is also a training member of a suicide prevention hotline, “Kyoto Inochi no Denwa” and a trustee of the Foundation of the Japanese Certification Board for Clinical Psychologists.
He has an M.A. in Pedagogy (1990) and credits for a Doctoral course in Pedagogy (1993), Kyoto University. His psychotherapy training includes counselling, sandplay and play therapy, with Hayao Kawai, Yasuhiro Yamanaka, Yasunobu Okada, Kazuhiko Higuchi, et al. (1988-). He studied at the C.G. Jung Institute Zurich (2002-2004). He started collaboration with James Hillman in 2000 and his practice is based on archetypal psychology.
Recently, he has been offering seminars on psychotherapy and imagination such as Exploring contexts in sandplay and dream images (Workshop in the 36th congress of JAST, 2023), Sensing Archetypal Imagination through Drawings for Divination (Seminar in Summer Semester, C.G. Jung Institute ZĂĽrich, 2023), and Contexts in a series of sandplay and dream images and Archetypal Psychology (Workshop in the 37th congress of JAST, 2024)
Theresa Foks-Appelman
Theresa Foks-Appelman from the Netherlands is a creative arts therapist, with a BSc. Diplom University of Applied Sciences Utrecht, beeldend vaktherapeut (reg). she is a founding member of the Dutch Society for Sandplay Therapy (NVST), and an ISST Teaching Member since 2011. She is a private practice for children and adolescent since 1996, until her recent retirement.
She authored a book that was translated into English(Draw Me a Picture, 2004), Chinese and Hebrew, about the symbolic meaning of children’s drawings and play from the perspective of analytical psychology. Her second book explores the therapeutic meaning of play Ga maar Spelen (2022). Since 2007, she is a Senior Lecturer at the Bachelor and Master Education Institute in Mental Health Care (RINO Utrecht) in Observation in Playtherapy and an Introduction in Sandplay Therapy. Theresa also volunteers as a guide at the Van Gogh Village Museum in Nuenen.
Marina Ionescu
Marina Ionescu, MA, CST, is a psychologist since 2002 and psychotherapist since 2006 in Ericksonian Hypnosis. She is also a certified sandplay therapist (CST) and certified transactional analyst (CTA-P). Since 2019, she is a Teaching Member of the International Society for Sandplay Therapy (ISST) and since 2022, a Provisional Trainer and Supervisor in Transactional Analysis-Psychotherapy (PTSTA-P). She is the president of the Romanian Institute of Sandplay Therapy and an active member of the Romanian Psychologist (CTA-P) College, and holds memberships of the Romanian Association of Ericksonian Hypnosis (ARHTE), the European Association for Transactional Analysis (EATA), International Association for Transactional Analysis (ITAA) and the Romanian Association for Transactional Analysis (ARAT). Since 2014 she organizes trainings and group supervisions with ISST Teaching members to introduce Sandplay to new colleagues in Romania. Her article The Human Skeleton and the development of identity in a child’s sandplay process was published in the Sandplay Journal (2018) and she wrote a chapter about emotions and their impact on modern people’s nutrition in 2013 for European Institute Publishing House. She regularly presents at international conferences: at the 22nd ISST Congress, Venice, Italy, 2013: Masks in Romanian Traditional Rituals of Healing and Transformation, along with two other Romanian colleagues, at the 25th ISST Congress, Berlin, Germany, 2019: The healing aspects of dreams through sandplay process for teenagers, at the CAST WEB Conference, 2022: Sharing Our Core Stories to Strengthen Resilience as Sandplay Therapists, along with Dr. Rosalind Heiko (USA), at ITACA- XIV Seminario di Lavarone, Italy, 2022: Working with transgenerational aspects in child psychotherapy and in 2023 at the 26th ISST Congress Jerusalem, Israel: An experiential workshop on transcendent function and finding the bridge to personal myth along with Rosalind Heiko and Elaine Bath (USA). Her private practice in Bucharest, Romania focuses on children, teenagers, families and adults and parenting programs about children development stages.
Lucia Azevedo
Lucia Azevedo graduated in 1980 as a psychologist at the Sao Paulo State University in Brazil, after which she began a private practice as a psychotherapist, seeing children, adolescents and adults. In 1987 she became a Jungian analyst and a member of the Brazilian Society for Analytical Psychology (SBrPA), affiliated to the International Association for Analytical Psychology (IAAP). She was part of the Board of Directors, editor of The Jungian, the SBrPA Jungian journal, as well as a teacher and supervisor in the training program. At present, she teaches Sandplay and Adolescent Psychology in the SBrPA training program. In 1983 she started her sandplay process, and from then on never stopped being involved with Sandplay in Brazil. She coordinated the Sandplay study group in SBrPA from 2000 to 2010 and was active in the larger group who brought many ISST teachers to Sao Paulo to help with their training. She became a certified sandplay therapist with the Brazilian Institute for Sandplay Therapy (IBTSandplay) in 2015 and a teaching member in 2020. She was President of IBTSandplay from 2020 to 2024 and is the present Teaching Director. She studied and wrote about the history of the Brazilian family, Brazilian indigenous myths, Sandplay and the importance of symbols in Jungian analysis, the transference field in Sandplay Therapy, dreams and Sandplay, and the cultural aspects of Sandplay Therapy in Brazil.
Han Lörzing
Han Lörzing is a professional Dutch landscape architect. He is an alumnus of Wageningen University and made a career in landscape and park design, urban planning and regional development. Lörzing worked as a park designer at the City of Amsterdam and the Province of South Holland. He was project manager for government planning agencies, taught landscape architecture at Eindhoven University and was co-founder of NieuweGracht, a planning and design consultancy. Lörzing wrote several books on landscape and environmental art, such as De angst voor het nieuwe landschap (In Fear of the new Landscape, 1982), Een Kunstreis door Flevoland (An Art Tour of Flevoland, 1991) on landscape-specific artworks in the Province of Flevoland), Van Bosplan tot Floriade (From Bos Park to Floriade, 1992) on postwar Dutch park architecture) and Een land waarover is nagedacht (A well though-out Country, 2021) on the successes and failures of the Dutch planning system. In English, Lörzing wrote The Nature of Landscape (2001), introducing “Lörzing’s diamond” of which the four corners correspond with four different views on landscape; • he recently co-authored a comprehensive book titled Dutch Landscape, the Guide for Study: Professional and Personal Use, which aims at an international public with a more than fleeting interest in the origins and appearance of the landscapes of this country. Lörzing’s speech will be based on his wide experience in shaping urban spaces, park areas and rural redevelopment schemes, supported by his profound knowledge of the dynamic nature and the unexpected variety of the Dutch landscape. For Sandplay practitioners, it may be interesting to learn that practically every inch of terrain had been created and redeveloped over the centuries, from the early settlers to modern-day planners, like a giant sandbox that is constantly changing and will never be finished.
Lorraine Razzi Freedle
Lorraine Razzi Freedle, PhD is a resident of East Hawai’i Island, a licensed clinical psychologist and social worker in Hawai’i and New Mexico, and a passionate sandplay therapist and teacher (STA/ISST). She lectures internationally, both in-person and online. Deeply rooted in values of generosity, lifelong growth, and community, Dr. Freedle offers her clients and trainees compassionate attunement, supporting them in overcoming life’s challenges and reconnecting with their source of inspiration. Dr. Freedle’s book, When a Goddess Erupts: Pele in the Psyche of Women stems from decades of psychotherapy practice where Pele has appeared in the work of her clients. Lorraine has also been profoundly moved by her personal encounters with Pele and the resilience shown by her community during the 2018 Kilauea eruption-the most destructive in Hawai’i’ in over 200 years. With Doctoral training in neuropsychology and a board certification in paediatric neuropsychology, Dr. Freedle’s research interests centre on the areas of trauma, neuropsychology, and sandplay therapy. She has published numerous articles, including award-winning research on sandplay therapy as an evidence-based intervention, sandplay therapy with individuals with brain injury, and sandplay therapy with youth with co-occurring trauma and substance abuse. Dr. Freedle is the owner/operator of Black Sand Neuropsychological Services, Inc., her private practice in Hilo, Hawai’i.
Carlo Ruffino
Carlo Ruffino graduated in Medicine and Surgery from Torino University in 1975. Specializing in Pneumology and Allergology, he worked for twenty years in the Italian National Health Service. He oversaw the Department of Psychosomatic Medicine that provided patients with access to individual psychotherapy sessions, and to group therapy in relaxation training and psychodrama. He had three years training in Jungian Psychodrama, a therapeutic approach that he used in his clinical practice. In 1998 he resigned from the NHS and started working as a psychotherapist in private practice. Obtaining a Diploma as Analytical Psychologist at the C. G. Jung Institute-Zurich in 2009, where he currently serves as a Training Analyst and Supervisor, and teaches Analytical Psychology and Sandplay Therapy. He is member of the IAAP. He obtained his ISST membership in 2010, and later qualified as Teaching Member and final case reader. He served as AISPT representative at the ISST Board for many years and as ISST Vice President for Europe, Africa and Middle East. He published many articles on Psychodrama, Psychosomatics and Sandplay Therapy. He teaches and supervises Sandplay Therapy in many different countries (United Kingdom, Switzerland, France, Turkey, Romania, Russia, China, France). He also analyses and supervises IAAP trainees in different countries. He works in private practice as a Jungian analyst and Sandplay therapist with adolescents and adults in Torino Italy, where he lives.
Braam Beetge
Braam Beetge, MA (Couns Psych) is a registered Counselling Psychologist, with the Health Professions Council of South Africa (HPCSA). He also did an additional Clinical Psychology internship at the then Weskoppies Psychiatric Hospital, University of Pretoria. He is a Certified SASTS (South African Sandplay Therapy Society) and ISST Sandplay Therapist and Teaching Member (TM). He is a founding member of SASTS and is currently serving as the President of SASTS. He is also a Board member of ISST. Having been in private practice for 35 years, Braam currently practices in Paarl near Cape Town, South Africa, focusing on Jungian Psychotherapy, Jungian Sandplay Therapy ISST and EMDR He works with children, 8 years and older, adolescents and adults. He continues to teach and consult nationally and internationally. In 2023, he completed an intensive one-year certification program in the basics of Jungian Analysis with the South African Association of Jungian Analysts (SAAJA) and has contributed articles to Sandplay journals and a chapter, My Soul’s call Toward Sandplay Therapy in the book, Into the Heart of Sandplay.
Audrey Punnett
Audrey Punnett, PhD, a licensed psychologist holds diplomas in both Adult Analytical Psychology and Child and Adolescent Analytical Psychology from the C.G. Jung Institute, Zurich. She is a member of the Association for Graduates in Analytical Psychology (AGAP) and served on the Executive Committee from 2010-2015 as secretary and vice-president; she is also a member of the C.G. Jung Institute of San Francisco. Her doctorate is from the California School of Professional Psychology and her undergraduate and Master’s degrees are from the University of Utah. She is a Registered Play Therapist-Supervisor, and Clinical-Teaching Member of Sandplay Therapists of America serving as president from 2012-2013. She is a member of the International Society of Sandplay Therapists serving on the Board since 2017 then serving as Vice-President of the Americas since 2019. Currently, Dr Punnett is in private practice. From 1985 to 2025 she was on the clinical faculty of UCSF-Fresno as Associate Professor. She has mentored research students and conducted research in asthma, publishing the Punnett Adjustment to Camp Scale, as well as sandplay, publishing Changes in verbalizations during sandplay: An empirical study (2020). Dr. Punnett is the International Editor for the Journal of Sandplay and currently Editor-in-Chief for the Jung Journal: Culture & Psyche. She lectures nationally and internationally on Jungian psychology and sandplay therapy. She has authored over 30 peer-reviewed publications and contributed book chapters. Her books include The Orphan: A Journey to Wholeness (2014), and edited books, Jungian Child Analysis (2018) and Jungian Child Analysis: Cultural Perspectives (2022).
Adelina Wei Kwan Wong
Adelina has a great interest to learn of her existence as a human being. She began her career in Physical Therapy to explore the kinetic mechanism of healing by serving as a Physical Therapist of the American Physical Therapy Association (APTA) in hospitals in Hong Kong. Adelina was never content with her knowledge only on physical being, she continued to explore how family dynamics influenced one’s psychological being through further studies in Family Therapy. Adelina has been a Marriage and Family Therapist since 1986, and an Approved Supervisor of the American Association of Marriage and Family Therapy (AAMFT) in the 90’s. Due to the crisis in her family, Adelina experienced a major depression during these years. She found the light in the dark period through the Jesuit Spiritual Exercise which led her to complete her training as an Ignatian Spiritual Director. Adelina continued to explore into human psyche through Sandplay Therapy and Jungian Analysis. She became a Sandplay Therapy teacher of ISST in 2015, and a Jungian Analyst of the International Association of Analytical Psychology (IAAP) in 2016. All her clinical work enriched her inquisitive search of the wholistic human existence: body, mind, psyche, and spirit. Adelina had published several academic papers in different journals, including a book chapter Ancient Chinese Hieroglyphs: Archetype of Transformation in Jungian Psychology and Its Clinical Implication in Jungian Psychology in the East & West: Cross Cultural Perspectives from Japan, edited by Konoyu Nakamura, Rouledge, (2021), and her book, The Kintsugi Art of Psychic Restoration: Jungian Imagery Approach of Healing on Four Asian Women, Red Publication (2025). Besides her private practice, Adelina has given presentations at various conferences, and teaches in Sandplay Therapy and Jungian Psychology in Hong Kong, Taipei, Malaysia, and Indonesia.
Judy Zappacosta
Judy Zappacosta, LMFT, is a Certified Sandplay Teacher of Sandplay Therapists of America (STA) and the International Society for Sandplay Therapy (ISST). She served on the boards of both organizations and is a past president and an emeritus member of STA. Judy currently serves as Associate Editor for the Journal of Sandplay Therapy. She has maintained a private practice for many years focusing on Jungian psychotherapy, sandplay, dreams, and the integration of psyche and soma. She continues to teach and consult nationally and internationally. In 2014, Judy edited Pearls— Defining Moments in Our Lives, and through the years has been published in various journals and books. Currently, she is working on a manuscript titled, An Awakened Body: A Path to Consciousness in Sandplay Therapy. Working directly with both Dora Kalff and Jungian Analyst Marion Woodman offered an opportunity to explore transformative work in the psyche as it appears both in sandplay therapy and body/soulwork. Judy completed the BodySoul Rhythms® Leadership Training Program with the Marion Woodman Foundation. She was also a co-founder of Caring for the Soul conferences, which offered the Sandplay in Switzerland programs as well as pilgrimage trips to Black Madonna sites in Spain.
Jellemieke Hees-Stauthamer
Jellemieke Hees-Stauthamer, Ph.D. is a clinical psychologist and psychotherapist trained in the USA. She is chair and founding member of the Netherlands Sandplay Society and served on the ISST Board as VP Europe. Currently she works in independent practice in Arnhem offering Sandplay and specialized trauma treatment as a certified psycho-trauma specialist. She also trains and supervises health psychologists and psychotherapists in different mental health institutes in the Netherlands. In the past she has worked as an expert witness for the courts for child abuse and homicide cases and supported international police teams dealing with terrorism and child pornography.
John Paulet
John Paulet is a member of the NVST (The Dutch Society for Sandplay Therapy), Independent Router Member of the ISST, a systemic psychotherapist and an aspiring Jungian analyst. John Paulet has long worked in the non-profit sector using playful and user-friendly communication tools to improve the quality of the information he wanted to convey. After a career in cinema and television as film director at the Belgian Television, he continued his studies in Psychology and Art History with the idea of broadening his experience of the image in a psycho-social framework. John has maintained a private practice in Belgium for about twenty years in a playful and creative “workshop” using, according to the needs and necessities of each patient, Systemic Therapy, Play and Creativity Therapy, Sandplay Therapy or Jungian analysis through dreams. He works with families, couples, children, teenagers and adults. He teaches Ethno-psychiatry courses in a Higher Education School and offers experimental and educational retreats in which Sandplay Therapy plays an important role for groups that want to deepen their individuation process.