AT Tech Intervention: Dream Journal Blogs

Image from:  http://bit.ly/b3N2n3

Dream journaling is a wonderful way to document the scenarios, experiences, and personal reflections one has after a night of dreaming.  Traditionally dream journals are handmade or altered books, written in a notebook, or kept on a word processing program.

Our art therapy tech suggestion?  Blogging!

Blogging is a free and user friendly service that provides a platform for journaling online.  Using a blog as a dream journal allows you to have an anonymous and private journal online.  There are also lots of widgets, templates and designs online that allow bloggers to customize and create a personalized and unique blog.

Perks of blogging vs. hand written journals:

• It's safe.  No worries about who might find your journal - you can set the blog to private, password protect it and write on it anonymously.  If you want other's input or interpretations of dreams you can make it a public forum where people can offer suggestions or feedback.
• It's easy & accessible.  Computer access is free at many internet cafes, libraries, schools, etc. making it accessible for clients from all economic backgrounds.  It's also a great alternative for folks that may have disabilities that make writing by hand time consuming or difficult.  
• It's Organized.  You can label each dream with a title and there are fun functions like "Labels" which allow you to identify main themes of each dream so that they are easily organized and categorized making them easy to find.  The function recognizes which themes are used the most, so may start to recognize patterns that you hadn't noticed before.
• It's Quick & Multi-Faceted.  You can also include images, video, or other forms of documentation quickly and easily making it easy to include songs, art work, photos of people or places as references for elements of the dream.
• It's community building.  You can browse other people's blogs about dreams for ideas on interpretation, symbolism, methods for recording, etc. or you can leave comments and start conversations with other people who are having similar experiences.

The bottom line is:  if you're client is interested in a fast and easy way to record their dreams, a blog may be the best tool for them!  Always remember to listen to what meets your client's needs.