Dream Consultation
with Dr. Meredith Sabini
Just as you may go for an annual physical, you can also turn to dreams for a measure of your well-being. As a built-in feedback system, dreams can provide fresh perspectives on your career, emotional life, and relationships. Even a brief, seemingly ordinary dream may contain insights into current challenges you face.
In a Dream Consultation we will look at the story that’s trying to emerge and ponder what issues might be calling for attention. Using the dream narrative as a guide, I identify its main themes, your role, and resources available. Together we’ll translate the often puzzling dream imagery into metaphors so that these can be linked to your present situation.
A Dream Consultation is often beneficial when, for example, you are starting a creative project or new job, dealing with an illness, a relationship is in conflict, or when a spiritual or emotional change is taking place. Dreams sometimes surprise us with objective information not only about ourselves but about others as well.
I suggest an initial meeting of 1-1½ hours to explore recent and/or recurring dreams. In a follow-up meeting a week or so later, we will look at how subsequent dreams support or modify our hunches. This process enables the dreaming mind, as an inner companion that knows you well, to give its perspective. Consultation can be done as a complement to ongoing psychotherapy or analysis.
To arrange a Dream Consultation, call Dr. Sabini at (510) 849-8511.
Dream Consultation for Psychotherapists
with Dr. Meredith Sabini
Do you have a client troubled by recurring dreams or bursting with too many? Do you occasionally have dreams about a client? A Dream Consultation can offer creative ways of engaging with such dreams so they can fulfill their task of clarifying and enriching the therapeutic process, whether short-term, long-term, individual or couple. The diagnostic and prognostic information that can be gleaned from client’s first dreams can serve to guide the treatment toward fruitful work.
Dr. Meredith identifies a dream’s main theme, its dynamic tension, the dreamer’s stance, and resources available. Dreams come to life not via theoretical interpreting but direct apprehension of their metaphoric language, so you can link this to clients’ history and present situation. To read examples of her pragmatic approach, see the “Articles” section.
To arrange a session, call Dr. Sabini at (510) 849-8511.
Meredith Sabini, PhD, is a licensed psychologist in the field since 1972 and founder/director of The Dream Institute.
Referrals
The Dream Institute is not a mental health clinic but we do make referrals for psychotherapy or analysis.
Training in Leading Dream Groups
Offered for qualified professionals. If interested, please contact our office with a letter of inquiry.
Culture Dreaming for Organizations
There are times in the life of any organization when it needs to ask, “How are we doing?” The dreams of your board, staff, and/or membership are an untapped, renewable resource. Since Culture Dreaming is an entirely neutral process, with no hidden philosophical or psychological agenda, it can be utilized equally well no matter what the nature or scope of your organization’s mission and work.
Dreams open out into areas not commonly or easily reached in ordinary discussions, simply because the dreaming mind has a bandwidth considerably wider than that of the waking mind. The Culture Dreaming process tends to bypass personal defenses and can increase tolerance of diversity and complexity while also decreasing fear of the unknown.
Culture Dreaming is suitable for organizations of any size that already have an established identity, solidified structure, and stated purpose. It can also be especially useful during formative stages as a new organization is coming into being or when an existing one is re-envisioning itself. The Culture Dreaming session can be for any combination of board members, staff, membership, and/or constituency; as a single event or as a series. Your director or steering committee can opt to conduct a Culture Dreaming session or series with its focus on internal concerns or with an outward focus on your organization’s work in the world. The session length will depend upon how many people attend and your goals. Outcomes you might expect from each approach include:
An inward focus:
revitalizing a board or staff that is depleted
identifying unrecognized areas of difficulty
renewing a sense of commitment and focus
establishing a dreaming practice to nourish and sustain the organization on a regular basis
An outward focus:
evaluating how well your goals are being met
brainstorming new modes or areas of outreach
identifying unrecognized problems within your constituency or client base
enhancing connections between staff and members.
For more reading on Culture Dreaming, please see the “Articles” page.
Library Research and Dissertation Advising
Our library contains over 300 books on dreams as well as hundreds of articles on a wide range of dream-related topics. Anyone interested in perusing the library holdings is welcome to make an appointment to spend time on site. We also advise doctoral dissertation work. Specific areas in which abundant material is on hand for viewing:
—Dreams related to organic & psychogenic illness
—Dreams therapists & clients have about the process
—Cross-cultural dream practices, current & historic
—Collective dreams about the times we live in
—The diagnostic value of initial dreams in therapy & analysis