Sandy Ginsberg, M.S., M.F.T.

Believing that each person seeks to be whole and healthy, Sandy is interested in the growth of self-awareness and the promotion of personal responsibility. As awareness increases, there is often a gain in the congruence between internal feeling and outward expression. Ultimately, when these aspects are less at odds, there is an increased esteem for the self.

Often working with creative arts therapy techniques and dreamwork, she offers opportunities for self-growth. With these and other methods, symbolized “unfinished business” can be identified, options recognized, and solutions found.

Sandy Ginsberg has a private psychotherapy practice in Encino. She is licensed by the State of California as a Marriage and Family Therapist (License #MFC32670). She is also licensed by the State of California as a Provider of Continuing Education for MFTs, LCSWs, and their Interns and Trainees (License #PCE3999). She received her Master of Science degree in Educational Psychology - Counseling, from California State University, Northridge, and was Honored with Distinction. A copy of her thesis/project, “JOURNEYING TOGETHER, A WOMEN'S ART THERAPY GROWTH GROUP” is available at C.S.U.N.’s Oviatt Library. It documents the creative process a group of women experienced, as they deepened their sense of self, their sense of spirituality, and their inter-relatedness by working with a variety of media while meeting in a group format. The project culminated in an art show at the C.S.U.N. Art Gallery. Sandy’s undergraduate degree was in Art, which provides the foundation for the use of arts therapy techniques that are sometimes employed for therapy.

After the Northridge Earthquake in 1994, Sandy was hired with a FEMA Grant to provide Crisis Counseling to elementary school students, their families and school staff at L.A.U.S.D. After th grant ran out, one of the schools hired her from their own discretionary funds to continue to counsel their students regarding a variety of their concerns.

Sandy has taught fellow psychotherapists about “Integrating Dreamwork Into [Their] Psychotherapy Practice,” providing Continuing Education Units through C.S.U.N. Other presentations include “Exploring the ‘I AM …’ with Gestalt Dreamwork” in Santa Cruz (ASD Conference, 1999), “Dreamwork Workshop” at “Exploring the Therapist Within” (the SFV-CAMFT Retreat in 2002), “After Dreaming, Explore That Aspect Which Has Eluded You” in Berkeley (ASD Conference, 2003). In 2003, she also presented “Getting the Dream Down and Following Where It Leads” on the Long-Term Journaling Panel at the Annual Conference of the Association for the Study of Dreams. More recently, she has shared more about dreaming with“Visioning the Dream” for Friends of the Family Clinic (September, 2007), “Manifesting the Dream” at a Unitarian Universalist Annual Retreat (deBenneville Pines, October, 2007), “A Hands-On Introduction to Dreamwork” (4/1/2008, at the Annual Conference of Phillips Graduate Institute in Encino, California), “Creative Expression of Dream Symbols” (4/12/2008, at the Southern California Regional Conference of the International Association for the Study of Dreams - IASD, Marymount College in Rancho Palos Verdes, California), and “Revealing ‘The Third Perspective’ of the Dream” in Montreal, Canada (7/11/2008, IASD Conference, 2008).

Presenters at the 2008 Southern California IASD Regional Conference (L to R):
Barbara Bishop, M.A.; Rita Hildebrandt; Rev. Geoff Nelson, D.Min.; Joan Concannon, M.A.; Lionel Corbett, M.D.;
Sandy Ginsberg, M.S.; Walter Berry., M.A.; Sarah Jane Hall, M.A.; David Jenkins, Ph.D.; Lauren Schneider, M.A.

Her articles, “Honoring the Dream” (Spring, 2000) and “Even Nightmares Bring Gifts” (Spring, 2005) appear in DreamTime Magazine, a publication of the International Association for the Study of Dreams.