About

Meet Dr. Sonia Lucana

Sonia Lucana, Ph.D., LCSW, RPT-S, SP, is a Licensed Clinical Social Worker, Registered Play Therapist Supervisor, and Sandplay Practitioner. Sonia is experienced in Jungian Sandplay Therapy in addition to Gestalt and Filial therapy. Since 2004, she has worked as a psychiatric social worker who specializes in the foster youth system advocacy in serving victims of sexual abuse and severe neglect from multicultural backgrounds. She has presented at national conferences and mental health agencies on various topics, including play therapy, creative arts, Sandplay therapy, and trauma. Her writings include Pachamama: Mother of the Universe, Symbol of the Great Womb (2015),   Ochun: A face of the great mother, A symbol of hope (2016) and: Images of the Great Mother, Cultural and Clinical Perspectives in Sandplay Therapy in the Journal of Sandplay Therapy (2016) and doctoral dissertation, The Sacred Medicine Holder: Indigenous Healing Traditions and Modern Mental Health (2019), and Sacred Medicine: Indigenous Healing and Mental Health by Sonia Lucana and John Elfers ( Qualitative Report Journal, 2020).

Dr. Lucana is a Psychiatric social worker and has been serving children, families, and primary caretakers referred by child protective services, which has allowed her to learn in-depth about emotional, intergenerational, and environmental trauma. In 2001, she graduated from San Francisco State University with a Bachelor in Social Work and 2003 Master’s degrees in Social Work with an emphasis on family, individual and group clinical practice, as well as a minor in Ethnic studies. Her personal, professional, and educational experiences studying Carl Jung’s theory during her early college years fostered her interest in Jungian Sandplay theory and principles.

The motivation to continue serving monolingual Spanish-speaking/bilingual/bicultural patients increased even more while witnessing the social structures impacting a patient’s mental health recovery.

Dr. Lucana felt that by supporting individuals in their unique way to heal was fundamental in their healing and empowerment journey of children and their families. Sonia’s services provide her with significant training to serve and positively contribute to the needs of multicultural communities while integrating a higher awareness of the importance of an Integrative Approach.

As a professional, she has witnessed how systemic barriers impact children’s and families’ mental health. Children deserve the space to heal at their own pace and tolerance level. Thus, Sonia’s personal and educational experiences have helped her efficiently provide psychosocial assessments to children and youth while simultaneously taking into account their level of education, acculturation, spirituality, religion, and other significant areas of a family’s life. Therefore, Sonia’s diverse and multi-faced experiences in Sandplay and play therapy allow children and their families to bring an understanding of who they are.

Sonia passionately aspires to continue this lifelong effort to encourage professionals about the integration of psycho-spirituality into clinical practice and to help increase awareness about this powerful and healing modality of Sandplay and play therapy.

As a bilingual and bicultural clinician, Sonia has made significant contributions to many families in her current role. As a prevention worker, she is actively educating and promoting children’s emotional well-being and psychological growth using an integrative approach in her clinical practice.

As a clinician, researcher, mother, and immigrant, Sonia strongly believes that it is her professional, personal, and educational experiences, as well as her passion, determination, and admiration of her Nasca (Peru) community that drives her to continue her profession and responsibility.