Maria Ellen Chiaia, PhD, MFT, is a child and adult Jungian psychoanalyst in private practice in Berkeley and Marin County, California. She is an analyst member of the C.G. Jung Institute of San Francisco and a Clinical Teaching Member of the International Society for Sandplay Therapy (ISST) and Sandplay Therapists of America (STA). Co-author of 'Sandplay in Three Voices: Images, Relationships, the Numinous.' She is a co-coordinator and trainer in the North Bay Jung Group at Interfaith Counseling Center. Published response in Journal of Analytical Psychology on art, dreams, and active imagination from a post-Jungian perspective. Lectures and teaches internationally on the relationship between Jungian theory, the living symbol, and sandplay.
Training & certifications
- CST-T (ISST Teaching Member)
- Jungian Adult & Child Analyst
Specialties
Depth orientation
Specializes in the living symbol within sandplay therapy, understanding the sandtray as a temenos where the unconscious can manifest through three-dimensional image-making. Works with art, dreams, and active imagination from a post-Jungian perspective, exploring transference dynamics through the image. Views sandplay as a form of symbolic expression that engages the numinous dimension of psyche.