Social Dreaming Matrix
Jungian Public Lectures
Saturday 8th November 2008
Led by Laurie Slade
‘Social dreaming’ is a way of working with dreams, developed by Gordon Lawrence and others at the Tavistock Institute in the 1980’s. Since then, its applications have been explored extensively, in various organisational and conference settings.
We meet in what is called a matrix. This is to distinguish the gathering from other kinds of group. Participants in the matrix have a specific task: to share dreams and associate to them, making connections where possible. There’s no right interpretation or response. We accept that the associations we make are our own. As Gordon Lawrence says, ‘Once a dream is offered, there can be as many associations as there are people in the room’. At times we may sense a common theme or pattern emerging, what Lawrence calls ‘a social meaning’, but we don’t aim for that in the matrix. We don’t have to agree on the meaning of the dreams, either for the dreamer, or for the rest of us.
Sharing and responding to our dreams in this way enables us to articulate underlying concerns and to pool our creative resources. After the matrix, a period of reflection then enables us to begin making more specific or purposeful connections, between our experience in the matrix and external issues concerning us.
Laurie Slade – Background
I am a UKCP qualified psychoanalytic psychotherapist, a member of the Guild of Psychotherapists, the Confederation for Analytical Psychology, and the International Neuro-Psychoanalysis Society. I have hosted social dreaming sessions for the past 7 years, in various settings, both in the UK and abroad.
Participant comments
- ‘Excellent’ ‘Very enjoyable in a warm and trusting environment’ ‘Full of energy’ (Guild of Psychotherapists Summer Conference, Oxford 2002)
- ‘Excellent’ ‘Enriching’ ‘Has confirmed to me that social dreaming needs a bigger place in my life’ (Social Dreaming Weekend, Bristol 2004)
- ‘A feeling of community in a wider sense’ ‘I’m touched by how open and honest people have been’ (Queer Analysis Conference, London 2004)
- ‘This process feels a wonderful way to dialogue - a valid way of doing a small group’ ‘I don’t think the same way I did at the start’ (6th International Neuro-Psychoanalysis Congress, Rio de Janeiro 2005)
- ‘A stimulating and fascinating creative discovery’ ‘A space brimming with endless thoughts and images’ (Creative Consciousness workshop, Rose Bruford Drama College, 2006
Further reading
- Gordon Lawrence W (ed) (1998) - Social Dreaming @ Work – London: Karnac Books.
- Gordon Lawrence W (ed) (2003) – Experiences in Social Dreaming – London: Karnac Books.
- Gordon Lawrence W (2005) – Introduction to Social Dreaming – London: Karnac Books.
- Social Dreaming Website - www.socialdreaming.org
WMIP Jungian Public Lecture Programme
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