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Guide VIII-022

Clay field therapy (Deuser)

Heinz Deuser1972Germany
A 41 · L 28 · M 3119 interventions in the Trinity explorer
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[source: …] where a claim comes from[uncertain] not confirmed in a primary source[synthesis] the writer's reconstruction

1. Introduction

Version followed: Heinz Deuser's original German method, Arbeit am Tonfeld® (founded 1972), as set out in Deuser 2018 (Arbeit am Tonfeld: Der haptische Weg zu uns selbst) and his introduction Zur Phänomenologie der Haptik. The trauma-informed English adaptation by Cornelia Elbrecht, called "Clay Field Therapy" or sensorimotor art therapy (Elbrecht 2012; 2021), is used where Deuser's available texts are silent, and every such point is marked [Elbrecht]. Elbrecht adds concepts from Peter Levine's Somatic Experiencing (pendulation, completing defensive responses). These are not part of Deuser's own texts as available here. [source: Deuser 2018 Leseprobe; Deuser, Phänomenologie excerpt; JKP; ICPPD]

Status of sources. Confirmed from publisher and journal pages: the names and order of Deuser's ten action and life situations (table of contents of Deuser 2018); Elbrecht 2012 puts "The Nine Situations" in chapter 6 (Part III, Working with Adults), and Elbrecht 2021 has a middle part of nine haptic developmental building blocks for children. Elbrecht gives about 20 lb of clay, and says the field's size goes back to an old window frame Deuser used. Elbrecht's institute runs a certificate programme, and the ® appears in Deuser's own book titles. Still [uncertain]: the criteria for Deuser's situations, the contents of Elbrecht's nine situations, exact box dimensions, session length, which auxiliary objects are used, any psychometric data for Tonfeld rating schemes, and the legal scope of the trademark. [source: Deuser 2018 Leseprobe; UBC Press; Envisage 2022 (Montgomery; Shannon); Deuser, Phänomenologie excerpt]

What it is. The client sits at a flat wooden box filled evenly with about 10 kg of smooth clay, usually with eyes closed, and lets the hands do whatever they want with it. A trained companion (Begleiter) sits beside the box. No theme or task is set, and making an object is not the goal. Deuser describes the method as non-symptom-oriented: it aims at clarity about one's own limits, conditions and possibilities, at catching up on missed development, and at evening out behavioural difficulties. It is used with children and adolescents (developmental delay, behavioural difficulties) and with adults (psychosocial or bodily complaints). [source: Deuser 2018 Leseprobe; Werbeblatt; Osterwald et al. 2014; ICPPD]

How change happens. Deuser treats touch (Haptik) as our "relationship sense" (Beziehungssinn). In grasping, the thing grasped and the person grasping both appear, so working the clay is at the same moment an experience of the world and of oneself (Bipolarität). The clay records every movement and mirrors the person's way of acting back to them. As a haptic dialogue with the field develops, a form (Gestalt) emerges and changes, and bodily equilibrium (Gleichgewicht, Ausgleich) is restored. Deuser grounds this in a motor–sensory feedback loop (efference/reafference), Anokhin's afferent synthesis, Aktualgenese (the movement from a preliminary form to a final form) and Viktor von Weizsäcker's Gestaltkreis. Elbrecht frames the same idea in neurobiological terms: the movement–touch–feedback loop lets the client build missing sensorimotor experience "bottom-up" and repair developmental and attachment deficits without first recounting the story. [source: Deuser 2018 Leseprobe; Deuser, Phänomenologie excerpt; BAAT InSight 2023; North Atlantic Books]

Professional frame.

  • Germany, Austria, France, Belgium, Switzerland. Training runs 3–4 years in weekend seminars, with supervision in the early years and regular further training. In 2014 there were about six training institutes and roughly 400 practitioners. Since 1988 Deuser has set up teaching institutes in several cities. He leads the Institut für Haptische Gestaltbildung in Hinterzarten and was a professor at the Fachhochschule für Kunsttherapie in Nürtingen from 1989 to 2005. "Arbeit am Tonfeld®" is a registered name. [source: Osterwald et al. 2014; Werbeblatt; HfWU flyer]
  • English-speaking countries. Elbrecht founded and directs the Institute for Sensorimotor Art Therapy (Apollo Bay, Australia), which offers a certificate programme. An online training course built around her 2021 book was planned as certified professional development for mental health professionals from 2023. Elbrecht herself is registered as AThR, and BAAT runs CPD days on haptic perception with her. A reviewer of the 2021 book advises training before offering the method, warning that it takes more than "enthusiasm and clay in a box". [source: ICPPD; BAAT InSight 2023; BAAT CPD; Envisage 2022 (Montgomery; Shannon)] [uncertain: which body accredits the institute's courses is not stated in the sources]
  • Statutory regulation. No source names a jurisdiction where the method itself is a regulated profession. Practise it inside your existing licence: in the UK as an HCPC-registered art therapist, in Germany with a recognised psychotherapy or art-therapy qualification. [synthesis] Deuser's own book titles carry the ® ("Arbeit am Tonfeld®"), so treat the German name as a registered mark. [source: Deuser, Phänomenologie excerpt] [uncertain: the register entry (owner, scope, whether "Clay Field Therapy" is also protected) is not verified, so whether people without the training may use either name is unverified]
  • Without training. Do not offer or advertise it as Arbeit am Tonfeld or Clay Field Therapy without completing a recognised training. The companion's skill in reading hand movements (haptic diagnostics) is what the training teaches, and the authors describe the method as able to stir up early, preverbal material. [synthesis]

2. Framework

Setting [source: Deuser 2018 Leseprobe; Osterwald et al. 2014; ICPPD]

  • The box. Deuser gives the box as 38 × 42 × 3 cm, filled with about 10 kg of clay, which is roughly the most a person can still lift by gripping. [source: Deuser 2018 Leseprobe] Osterwald et al. give about 45 × 50 cm. [source: Osterwald et al. 2014] Elbrecht's figures are 10–15 kg [source: ICPPD] and "approximately 20 pounds" (about 9 kg). She describes the field as a flat wooden box whose size goes back to an old window frame Deuser used, a size she says all clay fields still keep. [source: Envisage 2022 (Montgomery)] Chapter 1 of Elbrecht 2021 gives the measurements, but it is not drawn on here. [source: Envisage 2022 (Shannon)] [uncertain: the dimensions differ between sources. Use Deuser's 38 × 42 cm as the version followed]
  • Water. A bowl of water stands to one side, and Elbrecht adds a sponge.
  • Seating. The client sits in front of the field, raised slightly if needed, or stands when the theme is their own stance.
  • Companion. The companion sits to the right or left of the box.
  • Eyes. Adults usually work with eyes closed. Children and adolescents work with eyes open.

Within one session [source: Deuser 2018 Leseprobe]

  1. Brief instruction (Einweisung).
  2. Perceiving the field. The client lets the hands do what they want.
  3. Haptic dialogue. A form emerges between client and field and develops through further movements.
  4. Ending. The session ends when the hands come to rest and a balance (Ausgleich) has been reached.
  5. Closing conversation (Schlussgespräch). This is a "creative reconstruction" of what happened in the action and how it developed.

Deuser presents each session as a process reconstruction that can be traced step by step afterwards. Elbrecht describes two broad parts within the work. In the first, reactive, biography-driven part, touch can trigger anger, disgust, shame or helplessness. In the second, the hands discover what the client needs and move out of old patterns. Cognitive integration comes only at the end, from a place of resolution. [source: Deuser 2018 Leseprobe; ICPPD]

Across sessions (developmental models)

  • Deuser 2018: ten action and life situations (Handlungs- und Lebenssituationen). Chapter 5 of the book numbers them 1 to 10. In paraphrase: (1) in the work room, arriving together in a new space; (2) facing the clay field, arriving with oneself; (3) crossing over onto the field; (4) making haptic contact into the field; (5) vital moves towards independence; (6) balance and mobility within the relational field of the parents; (7) setting out from the parents' relational field; (8) building one's own base for living; (9) asserting oneself; (10) crossings over to oneself. Subsections place specific themes in particular situations, for example auxiliary objects when unfolding into the field is blocked, and the use of water, in situation 4; "away-and-there" actions that secure object constancy in situation 5; and the differences between children's and adults' work in situation 9. [source: Deuser 2018 Leseprobe, table of contents] [uncertain: the criteria for recognising each situation and how strictly they follow one another are in the book's text, which is not verified here. Use the list as orientation, not as a stage checklist]
  • Deuser, Phänomenologie: a relational sequence. The client steps out of oneself (Heraustreten), engages with the other (Sich-Einlassen), understands from the other's side (Verstehen vom Anderen her), and finds their own answer (Antwort). The themes along the way are trust, reliability, orientation, fantasy, positioning oneself, finding one's own ground, relationship and first objects. [source: Deuser, Phänomenologie excerpt]
  • Elbrecht 2012: "Gestalt Formation" stages and the "Nine Situations". The publisher describes the book as covering the core stages of Gestalt Formation and the Nine Situations model. In its table of contents, the setting, process and trauma healing come in Part II (chapters 3–5), "The Nine Situations" is chapter 6 in Part III (Working with Adults), "Your Story" is chapter 7, and Part IV (chapters 8–9) covers children. [source: UBC Press; JKP] Elbrecht 2021: the middle part, "Haptic Development Building Blocks", sets out nine progressive haptic developmental experiences of childhood, with indicators of a child's needs. [source: Envisage 2022 (Shannon)] [uncertain: the names and contents of the nine situations, and of the nine building blocks, are not verified here, nor how they relate to Deuser's ten situations]
  • Elbrecht: children's developmental stages seen in clay. Infancy shows unintentional, "hungry" movements. At 1–2 years the child takes material out and puts it back. At 2–4 years it pushes and pulls. From about 4 years it shapes landscapes, and marks become roads and rivers. [source: ICPPD]

Session count and format

  • Sessions are individual, in a dyad with the companion. Training also uses groups of 8–10 for self-experience. [source: HfWU flyer]
  • There is no fixed number of sessions. In one published child case (age 10, ADHD diagnosis), a first "safe place" appeared after about 10 hours, and work lasted about 50 hours in total. [source: Osterwald et al. 2014]
  • Hölz-Lindau's ADHD study describes initial meetings, numbered Tonfeld sessions and a parent debriefing. [source: Hölz-Lindau 2020 excerpt] [uncertain: no source gives a session length, including the 2022 Elbrecht interview and book review. Agree a length in advance that leaves time for the closing conversation and washing up (synthesis)]

Moving on

  • Within a session, the criterion is the hands coming to rest and a felt balance. [source: Deuser 2018 Leseprobe]
  • Across sessions, move on when the same movement theme has resolved and a new one appears in the hands. Examples: a child who could only pull material out can now bring it back, or a protected space has formed and the hands begin to explore outward. Do not move on because of elapsed time. [synthesis based on Deuser's and Elbrecht's developmental sequences]
  • Elbrecht's rule: establish a felt sense of safety and a resource before trauma material is approached. [source: BAAT InSight 2023]

3. Guiding principles

  • Touch is the relationship sense. Read every touch as information about how this person relates to the world and to themselves. [source: Deuser 2018 Leseprobe; Osterwald et al. 2014]
  • Bipolarity. Each action on the clay is also self-perception, so attend to both what the hands do to the field and what the field gives back. [source: Deuser 2018 Leseprobe]
  • Haptics come first; sight is a support. Invite closed eyes to take the strain off and put touch first. Allow open eyes whenever sight is needed as a hold, and always with children. [source: Deuser 2018 Leseprobe]
  • No task, no theme, no product. Set no theme and do not ask for an object. Anything made is a by-product. Elbrecht notes the client takes home "only intense body memories". [source: Deuser, Phänomenologie excerpt; Falin 2022 citing Elbrecht 2019]
  • Follow the hands. The hands' first actions set the direction, and the companion follows rather than leads. [source: Deuser, Phänomenologie excerpt; ICPPD]
  • The field mirrors. Every mark stays, so let the client meet their trace rather than explaining it. Elbrecht adds that anything new can only be made by breaking the smooth surface. [source: Deuser, Phänomenologie excerpt; BAAT InSight 2023]
  • The companion as "mitsorgender Voraus" and "Daseinspartner". You are a caring presence one step ahead and a partner in being. Hold safety and orientation so the client can let go. [source: Deuser 2018 Leseprobe] Elbrecht likens the companion to the guide of a deep-sea diver who holds the lifeline and can bring the diver up. [source: ICPPD]
  • Take up what the hands start (Aufgreifen). Respond to the movement already under way so the client feels perceived. Do not add new ideas. [source: Deuser, Phänomenologie excerpt]
  • Repeatedly confirm hold and safety (Halt, Sicherheit, Vergewisserung). In crisis moments, the right form of address (Ansprache) matters more than interpretation. [source: Deuser, Phänomenologie excerpt]
  • Inhibition shows need. Treat hesitation, avoidance or a stalled movement as a sign of an unmet need, not as resistance. [source: Deuser, Phänomenologie excerpt]
  • Balance (Gleichgewicht, Ausgleich). The aim of each session is a felt regulation, not an insight. End when that is reached. [source: Deuser 2018 Leseprobe]
  • The basic senses. Deuser names three: the skin sense (Hautsinn), balance (Gleichgewicht), and depth sensibility or proprioception (Tiefensensibilität), including the sense of pressure. Notice which one the client is working through, for example surface stroking, finding a stable position, or pushing deep. [source: Deuser, Phänomenologie excerpt; Hölz-Lindau 2020 excerpt]
  • Haptic diagnostics serves process, not labelling. Read movement for needs and developmental level, and record observations, not conclusions. [source: Deuser 2018 Leseprobe; framing synthesis]
  • Reconstruct afterwards; don't interpret during. Meaning is built in the closing conversation from the action sequence, not imposed while the hands are working. [source: Deuser 2018 Leseprobe]
  • [Elbrecht] Bottom-up, safety before story. Do not work with the trauma narrative. Build a felt resource first, and let the client set the pace. [source: BAAT InSight 2023]
  • [Elbrecht] Pendulation. Move between activation and safety rather than staying in activation. [source: ICPPD]
  • [Elbrecht] Choice and refusal are part of the work. Saying no to contact is a valid, often healing, action. [source: ICPPD]
  • [Elbrecht] The therapist holds the cognitive function. Track time, safety and orientation so the client does not have to. [source: ICPPD]

4. Intervention inventory

The sources describe the method as one setting with a small set of companion moves, not a list of exercises. The items below are every move named in those sources. Further moves may be taught in training or set out in parts of the books not verified here: Deuser's full text, chapter 6 of Elbrecht 2012 ("The Nine Situations") and the nine building blocks of Elbrecht 2021. [uncertain] All example language is illustrative.

4.1 Preparing the field and the room

  • Purpose. Create the containing, reliable frame on which the method depends. The edges of the box give containment and structure. [source: ICPPD]
  • Steps.
    1. Spread about 10 kg of smooth, non-gritty clay evenly across the whole box (about 38 × 42 × 3 cm per Deuser), with the surface smooth and untouched. [source: Deuser 2018 Leseprobe; ICPPD; Falin 2022]
    2. Place the box on a table, with a bowl of water (Elbrecht: warm water and a sponge) to one side. [source: Deuser 2018 Leseprobe; ICPPD]
    3. Seat the client square to the field, raised slightly if needed, and sit yourself to the left or right. [source: Deuser 2018 Leseprobe]
    4. Have a bucket within reach; Elbrecht describes clay being thrown into one. [source: ICPPD]
    5. Keep any auxiliary objects out of sight until they are needed (see 4.7). [source: Deuser 2018 Leseprobe]
    6. Reset the field to a smooth surface before every session. Store clay wet and covered. [synthesis]
  • Materials and physical safety [synthesis].
    • Use a non-toxic, low-grog clay.
    • Keep the clay moist and clean up wet. Never sweep or sand dry clay, because dry clay dust contains crystalline silica.
    • Protect the floor, since water and clay are slippery.
    • Provide hand washing, a towel, and an apron or old clothes.
    • Ask about skin conditions and cuts on the hands.
    • Sieve recycled clay for foreign objects.
    • Allow time to wash up at the end, especially for children.
  • Watch for. A client who cannot begin before the field is "perfect", or who smooths it compulsively. This is already process material (see 4.4).

4.2 Brief instruction (Einweisung)

  • Purpose. Open the haptic dialogue without giving a task. [source: Deuser 2018 Leseprobe; Deuser, Phänomenologie excerpt]
  • Steps.
    1. Keep the instruction short.
    2. Name the frame: there is a field of clay, there is water if wanted, and the client may let the hands do whatever they want.
    3. Say that there is nothing to make and nothing to get right.
    4. Offer closing the eyes (see 4.3).
    5. Agree a way to stop, such as a word or simply opening the eyes and sitting back. [stop sign: synthesis; rest: source]
    6. Then fall silent and observe.
  • Example language (illustrative). "Here is the clay field. There's nothing you need to make. Put your hands on it and let them do what they want. If you like, close your eyes. Water is here if your hands want it. You can stop or sit back whenever you like." Elbrecht summarises the core instruction as "follow your hands". [source: ICPPD]
  • Watch for. Requests for a task ("what should I make?"). Answer by returning attention to the hands rather than giving a theme. Deuser treats this question in its own subsection, whose title says that the haptic sense brings us back to ourselves. [source: Deuser 2018 Leseprobe, table of contents, HS 3.7] [wording of the response: synthesis]

4.3 Eyes closed / eyes open

  • Purpose. Closing the eyes puts touch first and takes strain off the client. Open eyes give a hold through sight. [source: Deuser 2018 Leseprobe]
  • Steps.
    1. Invite adults to close their eyes, as an offer and not a requirement.
    2. If closing the eyes is not possible or becomes frightening, let the client work with eyes open. Deuser explicitly names sight as a support (Halt).
    3. Children and adolescents work with eyes open. Deuser's reason is that their urge towards themselves is more immediate and the field is experienced as a real stage. [source: Deuser 2018 Leseprobe; ICPPD]
  • Example language (illustrative). "You can close your eyes if that's comfortable. If it isn't, keep them open — that's just as good."
  • Watch for. Eyelids flickering, breath held, startle at sounds. These suggest closed eyes are not yet safe, so suggest opening them. Be cautious with clients who have trauma histories and those prone to dissociation. [synthesis]

4.4 Haptic diagnostics: observing the hands

  • Purpose. This is the companion's continuous "needs and development analysis" (Bedürfnis- und Entwicklungsanalyse). It is read from how the hands make contact and move. [source: Deuser 2018 Leseprobe]
  • Steps.
    1. Track the first contact. Is it hesitant, testing or forceful? Which body parts touch the clay: fingertips, palms, fists, forearms, elbows? Osterwald et al. list pressing, stabbing, scratching, grasping, kneading, forming and digging, and note that hands, elbows and fingers are used without tools. [source: Osterwald et al. 2014]
    2. Track the basic senses in use: surface and skin contact (Hautsinn), finding a stable position or balance (Gleichgewicht), and depth and pressure (Tiefensensibilität). [source: Deuser, Phänomenologie excerpt]
    3. Note inhibition (Hemmung) as an indicator of need. [source: Deuser, Phänomenologie excerpt]
    4. [Elbrecht] Read touch responses for attachment-like patterns (secure, ambivalent, fearful). Also look for "acting in" (freezing, afraid to touch) versus "acting out" (frantic doing without registering sensory feedback). [source: ICPPD; BAAT InSight 2023]
    5. In children, compare movements with the developmental sequence: unintentional movements, then taking out and putting back, then pushing and pulling, then landscapes. [source: ICPPD]
    6. Note forms that appear, such as walls, caves, bridges, houses, trees, chessboard-like roads, or guardians at the corners. [source: Osterwald et al. 2014]
    7. Write session notes as movement sequences, not interpretations. [synthesis]
  • Validity limits. Osterwald et al. (2014) state that no scientific evaluation of the method existed. Hölz-Lindau (2020) used a Tonfeld rating scheme (Auswertungsraster) in an ADHD study. [source: Osterwald et al. 2014; Hölz-Lindau 2020 excerpt] Elbrecht 2021 offers developmental "indicators", and a reviewer notes that no formal rating tool is described. [source: Envisage 2022 (Shannon)] [uncertain: no reliability or validity data for any Tonfeld rating scheme is given in the sources] Movement patterns may point to developmental delay (Osterwald et al.). They are not diagnostic evidence of abuse, of an attachment category or of any disorder, so never report them as such. [source: Osterwald et al. 2014; caution: synthesis]
  • Watch for. Your own urge to label. Haptic diagnostics guides the next companion move, not a formulation for third parties.

4.5 Verbal accompaniment and address (Ansprache, Aufgreifen)

  • Purpose. Help the client feel seen in the action, strengthen what the hands have started, and give hold and safety. [source: Deuser, Phänomenologie excerpt]
  • Steps.
    1. Stay mostly silent.
    2. Mark moments when a movement finds rhythm or contact with minimal sounds. Elbrecht uses "hmm mmm" and "yes" to support rhythmic motor impulses. [source: ICPPD]
    3. Take up (aufgreifen) what the hands are already doing. Describe the action plainly, without metaphor or interpretation.
    4. At moments of crisis (stalling, collapse, a biographical break showing in the movement), give reassurance of hold (Halt, Vergewisserung).
    5. Encourage a movement the hands seem to be reaching for, for example "stab into the clay with firm fingers" as in the Osterwald et al. case. [source: Osterwald et al. 2014]
  • Example language (illustrative).
    • "Your hands are going deeper."
    • "Yes — and again."
    • "The field is holding you there."
    • "You can press harder; it can take it."
    • "I'm right here."
  • Watch for. Two signs of a good response: the movement continues or becomes fuller after you speak, and breath deepens. Two signs that you are leading too much: the hands stop and wait for you, or the client starts "performing" for you. If so, say less. [synthesis]

4.6 Offering water

  • Purpose. Water intensifies the haptic contact. It makes the clay slippery and soft, which allows sliding and smearing. [Elbrecht] Warm water can also calm and offer an alternative to the clay. [source: Deuser 2018 Leseprobe; ICPPD]
  • Steps.
    1. Offer water only when needed, not routinely. [source: Deuser 2018 Leseprobe]
    2. Move the bowl within reach, or name that it is there.
    3. Let the client decide how much to use and where.
    4. [Elbrecht] If the clay becomes overwhelming, the client can rest the hands in warm water or use the sponge. [source: ICPPD]
  • Example language (illustrative). "There's water here if your hands want it." / "You can put your hands in the warm water for a moment."
  • Watch for. Clay turning into slurry and the field losing its hold. Wetness and stickiness can evoke abuse memories (see 5). These are signs to slow down or stop the water. [source: ICPPD; synthesis]

4.7 Auxiliary objects (Hilfsobjekte)

  • Purpose. Help a client for whom the field feels inaccessible to make contact. Deuser places this support where the client's unfolding into the field is blocked, within the fourth situation (making haptic contact into the field). [source: Deuser 2018 Leseprobe, including table of contents, HS 4.2]
  • Steps.
    1. Offer an object only when the client cannot reach the field, or when access clearly needs support.
    2. Hand it over and let the client find their own use for it.
    3. Take it away again when direct contact becomes possible. [step 3: synthesis]
  • Example language (illustrative). "Would something to hold help you get in touch with the clay?"
  • Watch for. The object becoming a way to avoid the clay for good rather than a bridge to it. [synthesis] [uncertain: Deuser 2018 has a subsection on support through auxiliary objects when unfolding into the field is blocked (situation 4), but the available pages do not name the objects; Elbrecht 2021 covers "objects" in the set-up chapter (Envisage 2022, Shannon), and its content is not verified here. Do not improvise symbolic objects in the founder's name]

4.8 Supporting the field for a child ("in the arms of the companion")

  • Purpose. Give a young child bodily containment while the child works. Deuser describes the child as then working "in the arms of the companion". [source: Deuser 2018 Leseprobe]
  • Steps.
    1. Sit facing the child across the box, or at its front edge.
    2. Steady the box from the front with both hands, so the field stays still under the child's force.
    3. Keep your hands on the box, not on the child. No body contact is needed. [step 3: synthesis]
    4. Let go again when the child no longer needs the support.
  • Example language (illustrative). "I'll hold the box steady so you can push as hard as you like."
  • Watch for. Positive signs: the child pushes or digs with more force or confidence once the box is held. If your closeness makes the child wary, move back to the side. [synthesis]

4.9 Standing at the field

  • Purpose. When the theme is the client's own stance or standing (Stand), working on their feet brings the whole body into the action. [source: Deuser 2018 Leseprobe]
  • Steps.
    1. Raise the box to a suitable height.
    2. Invite the client to stand at it.
    3. Make sure the floor is dry and there is space behind the client in case they step back. [step 3: synthesis]
  • Example language (illustrative). "Would you like to try this standing up?"
  • Watch for. Better grounding (weight through the feet, pushing from the body), or loss of balance. Keep eyes open when standing if the client's balance is uncertain. [synthesis]

4.10 Using the edges of the box [Elbrecht]

  • Purpose. Give structure and something to push against. This suits clients who are chaotic, dissociated or need containment. [source: ICPPD]
  • Steps.
    1. Draw attention to the frame of the box.
    2. Invite the client to press the hands, or the clay, against the edges.
    3. Let the client feel the resistance and hold the press for a while.
  • Example language (illustrative). "Find the edge of the box with your hands. Push against it — feel that it stays."
  • Watch for. Signs it is working: slower, steadier breathing, posture organising, more deliberate movements afterwards.

4.11 Completing interrupted defensive actions [Elbrecht]

  • Purpose. Elbrecht draws on Somatic Experiencing here. When a defensive impulse (pushing away, throwing off) appears in the hands, the client is supported to carry it through in the clay, because incomplete defensive responses are seen as feeding post-traumatic stress. [source: ICPPD]
  • Steps.
    1. Notice an emerging impulse, such as a shove, a flinging movement, or hands shooting back.
    2. Slow it down and invite it to continue, for example pushing clay away to the far edge, or throwing clay into the bucket. [source: ICPPD]
    3. Let the movement finish completely.
    4. Stay with the after-sensations: strength, breath, warmth.
    5. Pendulate to a resource if activation rises (see 4.13).
  • Example language (illustrative).
    • "Your hands want to push that away — let them, slowly, all the way."
    • "You can throw it in the bucket."
    • "Notice what happens in your arms now."
  • Watch for. Positive signs: the client completes the movement with energy, then settles; a breath, trembling that subsides, or a sense of relief. If agitation escalates without settling, stop and ground (see 5).

4.12 Covering the client's hands with clay [Elbrecht]

  • Purpose. Meet an unmet need to be held or contained, through the material. [source: ICPPD]
  • Steps.
    1. Offer the idea first.
    2. Proceed only with explicit verbal consent, and agree a stop signal. [synthesis]
    3. Layer clay gently over the resting hands, or let the client bury their own hands.
    4. Leave them held for as long as the client wants.
    5. Remove the clay at the client's request. [steps 3–5 partly synthesis; the source names the move but not its procedure]
  • Touch caution [synthesis].
    • If you place the clay yourself, this is touch by proxy and may involve brief contact with the client's hands.
    • Ask every time. Never assume yesterday's consent.
    • Let the client do it themselves if your touch is unwanted.
    • Do not do it with clients whose abuse involved being restrained or trapped unless they ask.
    • Never touch any other body area.
  • Example language (illustrative). "Would you like your hands to be covered by the clay for a while? You can do it, or I can, and you can stop it any time."
  • Watch for. Positive signs: softening, slower breathing, a sense of warmth or rest. Stop at once if the hands begin to brace or if the client freezes.

4.13 Pendulation and finding a resource ("counter-vortex") [Elbrecht]

  • Purpose. Prevent being swept into traumatic activation by alternating with a felt resource. Elbrecht, after Levine, calls such a resource a "counter vortex". [source: BAAT InSight 2023; ICPPD]
  • Steps.
    1. Identify an action or sensation that feels good or steady, such as a smooth patch, a firm grip, warm water, or pressing the edge.
    2. When activation rises, guide attention to the resource.
    3. Let the client return to the difficult area only in small doses.
    4. Repeat, swinging between the two.
  • Example language (illustrative). "Go back for a moment to that smooth place your hands found earlier." / "And when you're ready, just touch the edge of the other part again."
  • Watch for. A widening tolerance window, signalled by fewer startles and longer contact with the difficult area. Elbrecht notes that once a good sensory experience has been "tasted", clients seek more of it (her raspberry metaphor). [source: BAAT InSight 2023]

4.14 Check-in "lifeline" [Elbrecht]

  • Purpose. Keep contact with a client who is deep in the experience, especially with eyes closed. [source: ICPPD]
  • Steps.
    1. At intervals, and whenever the movement or breath changes sharply, check in briefly.
    2. Keep the question one that can be answered with a nod or a word.
    3. Be ready to "bring the client up": eyes open, feet on floor, orientation to the room.
  • Example language. "Are you OK?" (Elbrecht, verbatim) [source: ICPPD]. Illustrative alternatives: "Can you hear me?" / "Let's come back up for a moment."
  • Watch for. Delayed or absent response to your voice, which signals dissociation (see 5).

4.15 Allowing refusal and sitting back [Elbrecht]

  • Purpose. Saying "no" to contact with the field, or withdrawing from it, is itself a protective action the client may never have been able to take. [source: ICPPD]
  • Steps.
    1. Explicitly permit not touching.
    2. When the client withdraws, do not coax them back. Acknowledge the choice.
    3. Notice what happens in the body after the "no".
  • Example language (illustrative). "You don't have to touch it. You can say no to it and sit back — what's that like?"
  • Watch for. Two positive signs: relief or strength after the refusal, and later spontaneous re-approach. If the client stays avoidant for several sessions, see 5.

4.16 Breaks and down-regulating activities [Elbrecht]

  • Purpose. Lower arousal when the clay work becomes too much. [source: ICPPD]
  • Steps.
    1. Pause the field work.
    2. Offer a contained, low-arousal activity. Elbrecht names origami as an example.
    3. Return to the field only if the client wishes.
  • Example language (illustrative). "Let's leave the clay for a bit and fold some paper together."
  • Watch for. Signs of recovered regulation: breathing, posture, eye contact.

4.17 Ending the action: hands come to rest

  • Purpose. Close the session when equilibrium (Ausgleich) has been reached. [source: Deuser 2018 Leseprobe]
  • Steps.
    1. Watch for the movement slowing and the hands resting, often on the clay or the edge.
    2. Give time without speaking.
    3. If time is running out before this happens, announce the end early. Invite a final movement that brings the hands to rest, such as warm water, a smooth stroke, or resting on the edge. [step 3: synthesis]
    4. Invite the client to open their eyes and look at the field. [synthesis; Deuser's available text does not specify]
  • Example language (illustrative). "Your hands seem to have arrived. Stay there as long as you like." / "We have about five minutes — let your hands find a place to rest."
  • Watch for. Signs of a regulated end: steady breath, soft hands, the client looking at the field with interest. An abrupt end amid agitation needs grounding before the client leaves (see 5).

4.18 Closing conversation (Schlussgespräch) as process reconstruction

  • Purpose. Make the action sequence conscious and coherent. Deuser calls this a "creative reconstruction" (schöpferische Rekonstruktion) of how the action was experienced and how it developed. [source: Deuser 2018 Leseprobe] [Elbrecht] Cognitive integration comes at the end, from the resolved state. [source: ICPPD]
  • Steps.
    1. Invite the client to look at or touch the field again.
    2. Ask them to recall the sequence: how they started, what changed, what the hands needed, and how it ended.
    3. Mirror the turning points you observed, as descriptions.
    4. Link the sequence to life themes only if the client does so first, or tentatively.
    5. Do not keep or fire the work. Smooth the field afterwards. [step 5: synthesis based on the field being reset for each session; Elbrecht says clients take only body memories home]
  • Example language (illustrative).
    • "How did you begin?"
    • "At first your fingers only touched the surface, then you pushed down with both palms — what was that like?"
    • "What did your hands need just before they came to rest?"
  • Watch for. Positive signs: the client recognises themselves in the trace, and speaks from bodily experience rather than abstract explanation. Avoid turning the conversation into an interpretation of symbols. [synthesis]

4.19 Parent and carer work (children)

  • Purpose. Bring what emerges into the family, and keep carers allied. [source: Osterwald et al. 2014; Hölz-Lindau 2020 excerpt]
  • Steps.
    1. Hold initial meetings before the first Tonfeld session. Hölz-Lindau's case describes two. [source: Hölz-Lindau 2020 excerpt]
    2. Hold periodic or closing parent debriefs.
    3. Pass on suggestions where relevant. In the Osterwald et al. case, the companion encouraged the mother to talk with her son about his early life problems. [source: Osterwald et al. 2014]
    4. Share process themes, not detailed interpretations of the child's clay. [synthesis]
  • Example language (illustrative). "In the sessions he's been building walls and safe spaces. At home it might help to give him predictable quiet places, and to talk with him about the early hospital time when he brings it up."
  • Watch for. Carers using the sessions to obtain "evidence" (see 5).

5. Handling problems

Where a source is named, the guidance comes from it. Everything else is my own [synthesis].

  • Client will not touch the clay (freezing, "acting in").
    • Treat it as an inhibition that shows a need (Deuser), not as resistance. [source: Deuser, Phänomenologie excerpt]
    • Wait. Elbrecht stresses that children may need time to realise that touching is safe. [source: BAAT InSight 2023]
    • Then offer, in steps: eyes open; one fingertip; touching the edge of the box only; water; an auxiliary object (4.7).
    • Permit refusal explicitly (4.15).
    • Never take the client's hands and place them on the clay. [synthesis]
  • Frantic, driven activity without sensing ("acting out"). This is Elbrecht's second trauma pattern. [source: BAAT InSight 2023] Responses [synthesis based on Elbrecht's concepts]:
    • Slow the tempo with your voice.
    • Invite the client to feel one movement at a time.
    • Offer the edges for pushing against (4.10).
    • Hold the box (4.8).
    • Shorten sessions.
  • Overwhelm, flooding or dissociation (staring, delayed responses, numb hands, sudden collapse of movement). Responses [source: ICPPD; specific grounding steps: synthesis]:
    1. Check in with Elbrecht's lifeline (4.14).
    2. Have the client open their eyes.
    3. Ask them to feel their feet on the floor and name things in the room.
    4. Take the hands out of the clay into warm water, or press the edges.
    5. Pendulate to a resource (4.13), or take a break (4.16).
    6. End only once the client is oriented.
    • Next session: shorter work, eyes open, more structure.
    • For known dissociative clients, start eyes-open from session one.
  • Disgust, shame or abuse memories evoked by wet, sticky clay. Elbrecht notes stickiness can evoke sexual-abuse memories, and that choice and refusal are essential. [source: ICPPD] Responses [synthesis]:
    • Reduce water, and keep the clay firmer.
    • Allow tools-free distancing actions, such as pushing the clay away or throwing it into the bucket (4.11).
    • Offer warm water to clean the hands at any moment.
    • Never interpret the reaction as evidence of abuse.
  • Sensory aversion (many autistic children; tactile defensiveness). Elbrecht reports that many autistic children dislike the wet, sticky texture, and suggests starting with cognitive art exercises first. [source: ICPPD] Then [synthesis]:
    • Approach gradually, with eyes open.
    • Use drier clay and short contact.
    • Allow brief hand-washing breaks.
  • Client asks what to make, or wants a product to take home. Return attention to the hands. No theme is set (4.2). [source: Deuser, Phänomenologie excerpt] Explain that the work is about the experience, not the object. Elbrecht notes only body memories go home. [source: Falin 2022 citing Elbrecht]
  • Talking instead of touching; intellectualising.
    • Acknowledge it briefly.
    • Invite the client back to what the hands notice.
    • Save meaning for the closing conversation (4.18). [synthesis]
  • Destruction and aggression (smashing, stabbing, throwing).
    • Treat these as legitimate actions. Osterwald et al. describe working with resistance and limits in a child labelled aggressive, and Elbrecht supports completing pushing and throwing. [source: Osterwald et al. 2014; ICPPD]
    • Set safety limits: clay stays in the box or bucket and is not thrown at people, walls or windows.
    • Hold the box (4.8).
    • After the outburst, slow down to feel strength and settling. [limits: synthesis]
  • Stuck in repetition across sessions (same smoothing, same wall).
    • Look at the repetition as the current developmental theme.
    • Track small variations.
    • Take up (aufgreifen) the smallest new movement.
    • Check whether you are holding the frame too tightly or too loosely.
    • Take it to a Tonfeld supervisor. Training includes supervision and video analysis. [source: Osterwald et al. 2014; HfWU flyer; rest: synthesis]
  • Non-attendance or dropping out (non-adherence). There is no homework to adhere to, so the issue is attendance [synthesis]:
    • Explore whether sessions end too activated (see the ending point below).
    • Explore whether carers expect quick symptom change. Deuser frames the method as non-symptom-oriented. [source: Werbeblatt]
    • Agree a review point.
  • Ruptures (client feels pushed, watched or misunderstood; therapist spoke too much or interpreted) [synthesis]:
    • Name your contribution plainly.
    • Return to a minimal-verbal stance.
    • Ask what kind of presence helps: closer, further, silent, or with voice.
    • Reposition your chair if needed.
  • Session ends unresolved (hands still agitated at time).
    • Announce the end earlier.
    • Use resting moves (4.17).
    • Give extra time for grounding.
    • Never send a client away dissociated. [synthesis]
  • Child discloses abuse, or the work suggests it. Follow your safeguarding and mandatory-reporting procedures for a disclosure or for concerns based on what the child says or how they present. A clay form or movement pattern is not evidence of abuse and must not be presented as such in reports, to parents or in court. [synthesis; Osterwald et al. report no scientific evaluation] Further points [synthesis]:
    • Obtain parental consent and the child's assent before starting.
    • Tell the child plainly what you would have to pass on.
  • Parents or referrers want an "interpretation" or a diagnosis from the clay.
    • Explain that haptic diagnostics guides the therapy process (needs and development), and is not a validated diagnostic test.
    • Report observable process and developmental themes. [synthesis; source for the analysis concept: Deuser 2018 Leseprobe]
  • Suicidality, psychosis or severe dissociation emerging.
    • Pause the method.
    • Run a standard risk assessment and safety planning within your service.
    • Resume only when the client is stable, with eyes open and more structure. [synthesis]
  • Touch and proximity. The method works through the client's touch of clay. The companion's body contact is not part of it in the sources [synthesis]:
    • Limit companion contact to holding the box (4.8) and, with explicit consent each time, covering hands with clay (4.12).
    • Respect cultural norms about proximity and closeness.
    • Offer the client a choice of where you sit.
    • Never use sexual or genital touch, or any touch beyond the hands.
  • Physical problems: skin irritation, cuts, clay allergy, slippery floor, dust from dried clay. See 4.1. [synthesis]
  • Practising beyond competence. Reading hand movements and timing the companion's moves is learned over 3–4 years of training with supervision. [source: Osterwald et al. 2014] Without that training [synthesis]:
    • Use clay only as a general art-therapy medium.
    • Do not label your practice as Arbeit am Tonfeld or Clay Field Therapy.

Sources

Sources

Further pages

Books cited

  • Deuser, H. (2018). Arbeit am Tonfeld: Der haptische Weg zu uns selbst. Gießen: Psychosozial-Verlag.
  • Deuser, H. (n.d.). Zur Phänomenologie der Haptik: Im Greifen sich begreifen. Einführung in die Arbeit am Tonfeld. [uncertain: year and publisher not shown in the excerpt]
  • Hölz-Lindau, B. (2020). Arbeit am Tonfeld bei ADHS. Gießen: Psychosozial-Verlag.
  • Elbrecht, C. (2012). Trauma Healing at the Clay Field: A Sensorimotor Art Therapy Approach (foreword H. Deuser). London: Jessica Kingsley.
  • Elbrecht, C. (2021). Healing Trauma in Children with Clay Field Therapy. Berkeley: North Atlantic Books.
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