Working with Dreams

Another through-line in my practice is working with dreams — something that has interested me since my early grad school days. Since then, I've explored dreams personally, in therapeutic settings, and in peer-based groups. It's a medium I'm comfortable integrating into psychotherapy for those drawn to their dream life.

I've also done considerable training in this area, and recently completed a yearlong training in embodied experiential dreamwork with Dr. Leslie Ellis, PhD. This way of working weaves Focusing — a bodily way of listening — into the dreamwork process.

Some of the ways this might show up in our work include dialoguing with a dream image, carrying a dream forward, or bringing some resolve to more fearful or nightmare-type dreams. The approach aligns with my person-centered foundation in that it's non-interpretive: we don't go digging for secret answers, but rather aim to stay open to what the dream experience is — and to notice the parts that feel generative, or charged with meaning.

I welcome this work into our process, and find it often helps us reach layers of experience that our cognitive minds don't always know how to capture.