Juliette Ttofa

PhD Student

Biography

Juliette Ttofa is a writer, psychologist and therapist. Juliette’s life’s work has been to explore the concept of human resilience – including the mechanisms underpinning the ability to heal from trauma, the capacity for healthy psychological growth and the potential for radical life-affirming transformation. Juliette’s work is heavily influenced by her love of nature, storytelling and imagination, as well as her interests in the human psyche, philosophy, spirituality, mythology and anthropology.

In addition to writing several books of fiction and non-fiction, Juliette is a doctoral researcher in the area of transpersonal psychology. Her unique approach as a transpersonal psychologist aims to merge western psychology and ancient indigenous wisdom in order to cultivate a deeper, richer understanding of what brings about positive change. Juliette has supported hundreds of vulnerable children and young people in a career in educational psychology spanning over twenty years, including a specialist senior role in mental health.  She currently works as a Jungian sandplay therapist, helping children and young people who have experienced a high level of adversity and trauma in their lives. 

Her specialist knowledge and expertise are highly regarded by her local community, and she has given talks at many schools and academic institutions over the years, as well as keynote speeches at local conferences.

PhD research

Her doctoral study explores the perspectives of therapists providing sandplay therapy to children with childhood trauma. An interpretive phenomenological study of therapists’ perspectives of the therapeutic and transpersonal aspects of sandplay therapy will be conducted using interviews with sandplay therapists working with children with a history of adverse childhood experiences (ACEs). The main objective is to explore the perspectives of sandplay therapists on the lived experiences and diverse meanings and values attached to sandplay therapy for children affected by trauma.

Sandplay therapy is a cross-cultural, psychodynamic, nondirective, multisensory psychotherapy method founded by Dora Kalff and utilised worldwide.  Sandplay therapy is used with children and young people with a range of mental health needs and applied in school contexts by visiting therapists. In this psychotherapeutic modality, individuals create three-dimensional stories, scenes or abstract designs in a tray of a specific size filled with sand, using a selection of miniature figures (symbols).  This picture is known as a ‘sandtray’. Sandplay therapy is rooted in the analytical psychology of Carl Jung, who emphasised the therapeutic role of archetypal symbols and imagery derived from the ‘collective’ unconscious. 

Publications

Ttofa, J. (2017). Nurturing Emotional Resilience in Vulnerable Children and Young People: A Practical Guide. Routledge.