Architect

Karen Melady

I’m an educator, dreamworker, community artist in the partnership Worth Their Salt with artist Linda Wiebe, and a member of the International Association for the Study of Dreams (IASD).
I live in Goderich on the beautiful, dream-inspiring shores of Lake Huron.

Beginnings

In 1987 I started recording and working with my dreams, initially using the methods set out in Ira Progoff’s book At a Journal Workshop. Through a series of dreams I found my way to my first IASD conference in Chicago in 2009 and ever since have enjoyed the rich learning that membership in this global community offers. Anyone can join, and people in Ontario can participate in regional activities by connecting to Toronto IASD.

Practice, Study and Training

I love leading group and individual dreamwork. I have participated in various dreamwork methods through IASD conferences, meetings, and online training (mentored by Jeremy Taylor), and with my online peer group. I am a Dream Work Facilitator certified through the Marin Institute for Projective Dream Work.

My continuing independent studies focus on different types of dream processing through study of my own dreams and others’. I have gained great knowledge from publications by dream workers, psychologists, psychoanalysts, and psychiatrists including Jeremy Taylor, Gayle Delaney, Scott Sparrow, Tallulah Lyons & Wendy Pannier, Kelly Bulkeley, Patricia Bulkley, Stephen Porges, Chris Sowton, Kirsten Backstrom, Bessel van der Kolk, Donald Kalsched, Allan Abbass, and the IASD. My training and work as a teacher, and the integration of diverse materials into dreamwork help me be available to a wide variety of people’s experiences and acquisition styles. I love learning from authors of psychology, trauma-informed care, neuroplasticity, spirituality, literature, economics, and business. 

My studies and experiences in voice, movement, theatre, performance, writing, ritual, and group dynamics have given me access to many diverse modes of perception and expression. These expand my abilities and resources in articulating the layers of meaning in dreams.

All that said, the most profound understanding of dreams and our ongoing development comes from the practice of dreamwork with others.