“I am honored to write this endorsement for Peg Hurley Dawson who has been an exceptional guide and mentor in my journey as a certified sex therapist. Peg supervised my individual sex therapy hours. As a licensed psychologist, I have had over 10 long term mentors and supervisors. Over the course of our professional relationship, Peg has consistently demonstrated profound expertise, compassion, and dedication to the field of Psychology.
From the outset Peg had a remarkable ability to provide insightful and constructive feedback, helping me to refine my skills and approach, specifically moving towards the body/mind connection in addition to the traditional didactic practices. Her depth of knowledge and experience is truly unparalleled, and she has a unique talent for translating complex therapeutic concepts into practical, actionable advice.
What sets Peg apart is her genuine passion for mentoring and tools including the integration of Sand Therapy and Polyvagal Theory. Polyvagal is now an integral part of my practice. She fosters an environment of continuous learning and growth, encouraging me to push my boundaries and explore new methodologies, such as sand therapy. This innovative approach has greatly enriched my practice, enabling me to offer more holistic and effective care to my clients.
Moreover, Peg exemplifies the qualities of a true mentor. She is not only a source of professional guidance but also provides invaluable emotional support, always available to listen and offer wisdom. The positive impact Peg has had on my professional development and personal growth is immeasurable.
I wholeheartedly recommend Peg Dawson Hurley to anyone seeking an outstanding flexible-thinking mentor. Her commitment to healing, coupled with her knowledge of unique therapeutic modalities and understanding make her a great fit for therapists to expand their skill set."

“I met Peg at the trauma conference in Boston in 2022, and we connected instantly. She has been a wonderful mentor, friend, and healer. Last week, I was dealing with an endometriosis flare-up and had severe lower back pain for about four days. Peg called me one morning while she was in London, and after hearing the pain in my voice, she offered to help. During our telephone call, she had me focus on a family legacy burden which I think goes back at least 6 generations, as I was born and raised Ecuador.

Knowing the historic pattern of women in my family who were from Ecuador and South America who spent their lives taking care of others. Their main responsibility was being the primary caretakes. This legacy seemed to manifest as lower back pain, GI issues, and problems with the uterus, all tied to a blockage in the root chakra—the energy center linked to safety and grounding.

Women in my family have never truly felt safe or happy, as they were too busy caring for others to prioritize their own needs. After addressing and releasing this legacy, I felt a deep sense of relief, and just like that, my pain was gone. Energy work doesn’t always have a logical explanation—it happens on a different level. I don’t have words to describe how the pain disappeared, but I know Peg’s support made it possible. Thank you, Peg, for sharing your wisdom and kindness. I am deeply grateful.”

“After years of unsuccessful attempts at trying talk therapy and traditional Cognitive based therapies, I am so glad to have found Peg and to have found sandplay. It has changed my outlook completely, and I have been able to attach words to feelings in an articulate way for the first time in my life. Discussing trauma, processing trauma, and genuinely trusting anyone with my emotions was always overwhelming to the point that I thought I was incapable of it. Having a creative, low pressure setting with someone as open and non-judgmental as Peg has helped me to open and let go, and I will forever be grateful for having found a true champion for me in my journey.”

“Peg was incredibly easy to approach and made sure I felt safe, respected, comfortable, and accepted as soon as I met her. She explained her very unique process to healing and integrating trauma thoroughly and checked in to make sure I was ok throughout the process. I wasn’t sure sand therapy was going to work because I had buried my feelings for over a decade and had tried yoga, cognitive behavioral therapy, and EMDR.
All helped but something extra clicked in the days after a third session working with Peg. A new level of self-compassion and integration. Self-blame melted away. I could move on, and I had, for the first time, a dream of my traumatic experience going a different way where I had more control. My body was able to release a deep holding of fear and anger.
I will be forever grateful to Peg for her reassuring, unconventional, daring work. She continues to educate herself and others on the most impactful, modern treatments available all while maintaining a hugely supportive heart and fantastic sense of humor."

“My therapist of 15 years helped my find Peg because though highly functional, I was terribly unhappy with how addictive behavior interfered with my life. Working with Peg helped me understand the connectivity between ADHD, PTSD and OCSB. I was skeptical of how arranging dolls and toys in a sand tray would help me. It's been 8 months since my last session and thinking about some of the favorite worlds I created with Peg creates a warm feeling in the back of my head, which I know is tied to how she helped me actually heal both heal both body and mind.”

“After years of unsuccessful attempts at trying talk therapy and traditional Cognitive based therapies, I am so glad to have found Peg and to have found Kalffian Sandplay. It has changed my outlook completely, and I have been able to attach words to feelings in an articulate way for the first time in my life. Discussing trauma, processing trauma, and genuinely trusting anyone with my emotions was always overwhelming to the point that I thought I was incapable of it. Having a creative, low pressure setting with someone as open and non-judgmental as Peg has helped me to open up and let go, and I will forever be grateful for having found a true champion in Peg for assisting me in my journey. 

"As a Chinese American, I found Dr. Peg’s sand therapy allowed me to talk through my emotions and my problems in an entirely different way and I learned about the autonomic nervous system and how it is approximately 20 percent brain and 80 percent physiological. I now understand the state my body will result into feelings and a variety of various emotions, and that my body’s physiologically matters. Now, I have a better understanding of why I feel certain ways with specific events occur or situations occur. Dr. Peg helped me to learn how to adjust myself in dealing with these issues while finding a new way to address them and working through all the difficult emotions I didn’t know how to deal with before therapy with her. I think I am now able to speak with people in a more connecting and confident way, I now have a better understanding of the world that my ancestors came from, and I have a much clearer understanding of how my family’s history of traumatic events in China may be stored in my body. Dr. Peg is still helping me to understand all of this, and now I understand my trauma is processed differently than other individual’s and my body is capable of healing. I have grown as an individual because of Dr. Peg’s sometimes very direct way of communicating with me."

When I needed a mentor, I contacted many in my area hoping someone could help a struggling young adult. Peg was the only one to respond. She invited me to her office and offered guidance and hope. Therapy is somewhat taboo in my culture but there was something about Peg that felt right. I’ve always been a visual learner and conventional sit-down therapy never worked for me. Her sand play therapy helped me finally see what I was struggling with and learn how to grow. It was a truly amazing experience! 

Peg has creatively and succinctly weaved and integrated various therapeutic modalities and theories together in a unique way that resonates as truth. She has found the common thread mapping and linking the nervous system with adaptive and protective mechanisms. It is a sacred, beautiful, and gentle process that I have experienced first-hand, by completing several discovery trays, and over 100 life changing sand trays with Peg's attuned, kind, and loving presence, as a witness and facilitator, which has profoundly changed the trajectory of my life.

The healing work I completed with Peg over the last nine years inspired me to go back to school to be a therapist, and switch careers after 29 years. The effect this work has had on my own clients as a newly practicing therapist is profound. One of my clients reported waking up crying each morning for 50 years, and after completing 4 sandtrays over 4 months, the client no longer wakes up crying. Clients ask me what modality I am using, and Peg's current book gives me and other therapists the road map and the explanation for the unique healing modality that Peg developed. Her modality is new and cutting edge and needs to be shared with the world.

Our world is currently broken, and Peg's healing modality combining psychology, science, philosophy, you name it, will heal one individual at a time, which will positively influence the collective. I want to be certified and trained in this modality, and with a textbook and a certification process, this will happen. My clients that I am currently working with in my new job as a therapist have asked me about the deep healing modality that I am using with them, because they have seen significant progress with PTSD, depression, anxiety, OCD, and many other DSM-TR disorders. I tell them it is a creative combination of multiple modalities, and they ask what other therapists are practicing this modality, because they want to refer their family and friends. When Peg publishes her book, I can share this with other clinicians, and it will explain the deep healing work that is possible. I want to take Peg's certification and would recommend this clinical book to my colleagues. The private practice that I work for recently asked me to conduct a sandtray training for the office, and Peg's current book would have been an excellent resource for these clinicians to professionally explain the modality that I have been implementing based on my individual sessions with Peg, and the directive she has given me as a newly trained therapist.

This book should be required readings at colleges for psychology and social work students and would be an engaging PESI course and certification. Everyone needs to know about this! Her modality applies to trauma, anxiety, depression, dissociative disorders, you name it. This book is for therapists in training, and expert therapists who want to integrate various therapeutic modalities, including IFS, Somatic Experiencing, EMDR, Hypnosis, and CBT, through a strengths based, trauma informed, polyvagal lens

When I first started doing sand, it was very difficult for me to understand how it worked and what was going on. I was told to just trust the process but for somebody who had a childhood like mine, Those were very difficult words to hear. But I did trust the process and the amount of healing in such a short amount of time has been miraculous. You don't understand that you're just merely surviving your life until you let go of the trauma and you heal And you really start living. Because of Sand, I am a better Mom, a better friend and a better partner. Healing through sand, even though there were tough points, was an overall gentle process. The feeling afterwords is amazing!

Peg is a natural healer. She sensed that something was wrong with me and gently invited me to participate in a Discovery Tray at her office. At that time, I was struggling to write my response to the Catholic Church as part of the marriage annulment process. It was very hard for me to revisit painful memories from more than twenty years ago. Every time I tried to write, I became overwhelmed with emotion and found myself crying. I simply could not get the words out or organize my thoughts. The memories felt too heavy, and I felt stuck.
The Discovery Tray became a very powerful and healing experience for me. At the beginning of the process, I felt as if the miniatures were choosing to participate in my process. The structure and guidance of the Discovery Tray created a safe space where I could face my emotions and slowly make sense of my experiences. It helped me slow down, reflect, and feel supported throughout the process.
As I continued working with the Discovery Tray, I noticed an important shift within myself. I became more able to organize my thoughts, express my feelings, and separate from the intensity of my emotions. What once felt overwhelming started to feel more manageable. After completing the Discovery Tray process, I was finally able to write about my experiences without crying, and I found that to be incredibly healing.
In my personal experience, the Discovery Tray is a meaningful tool for emotional processing, self-reflection, and healing, especially when facing painful memories from the past. It allowed me to process and feel what words alone sometimes cannot express.

Dr. Peg Dawson, I just wanted to take a moment to express how incredibly meaningful these past five sessions have been for me. The sand work, especially during this last session, truly resonated on a deeper level than I expected. Being guided to choose the figurines without overthinking, just trusting what my mind and body were drawn to felt surprisingly powerful. As I placed each piece in the sand, it was like parts of my inner world were quietly revealing themselves. What stood out most was the process of gently removing each piece, layer by layer, and noticing how my emotions shifted along the way. I could actually feel the heaviness lifting, the pain softening, and a sense of calm and clarity taking its place. It’s hard to fully put into words, but the experience felt transformative. I was able to release something I didn’t even realize I was holding onto. I’m truly grateful for your guidance through this process. It’s been incredibly eye opening and healing.