Dreams:  The Magician Prospero in Shakespeare’s The Tempest states: “We are such stuff as dreams are made on...” and it seems to me that dreams form a significant part of the therapeutic space and process.

Whatever therapeutic approach you work with, clients will often arrive in that space holding their deepest dreams close to their heart and searching for ways to bring those dreams to fruition and fulfilment their lives.  And that goes for both counselling and coaching.

And some will have recurring dreams; strange & seemingly incomprehensible dreams; or alarming and scary dreams.

You can work very creatively with dreams, and the Online Certificate in Humanistic Counselling includes exercises working with that creative process.

Giving a voice to the different characters, objects and symbols in our dreams can be inspiring, breath-taking, intimidating, informative and eye-opening.  It can be powerful work, revealing new insights and understanding.  It is certainly challenging.

Working in depth for yourself with your own dreams will support you in working with clients exploring their dreams.

Dragons:  But of course, if we are talking about dreams, we have to acknowledge that some dreams are nightmares.  And some dreams are beset by demons and dragons from the past.

But they are just as much a part of daily life that will come through the door of the therapy room.

Giving a voice to elements in those dramas, letting the demons and dragons shout and rage and spew out deep emotions can be supremely challenging and scary stuff.  When we have our own demons and dragons to deal with, then it can be even more challenging to work with the demons and dragons of a client.

But the demons can get in the way of those long-held dreams.  And the dragons can turn up to spoil the new, unfolding life.

Therapeutic work is as much about working with those elements, confronting the demons, taking on the dragons, banishing the nightmares etc as it is about bringing long-held dreams into reality.

Our lives may well be made on dreams, but they’re not all sweet dreams are they?

Hold on Tight!