Dreamwork Certificate Program
Upcoming Program Starts in September 2025
Dreamwork Certificate Program
Dreamwork has a rich and diverse history that spans across cultures and time. Throughout history, dreams have been revered, interpreted, and utilized for various purposes. In this beautiful certificate program, you will acquire knowledge of different dream traditions – such as Aesculapian, embodiment, Jungian, shamanistic and eastern traditions. Further you will learn dreamwork theory, skills and tools that you can apply in your professional life as well as for personal use. The program combines theory with practice and aims at enriching your personal journey with dreams and development and your professional work with clients as well as.
The aim of this certificate program is to become a Dreamwork Practitioner. At the end of this program, you will be able to apply dreamwork insights from traditions around the globe, work with your own dreams more deeply, and facilitate dreamwork sessions with others.
This program is a good fit for a therapist, counselor, or coach who wants to add dreamwork to their professional toolkit. Also, if you are interested in your own dreams and you want to deepen your connection to the dream world, this program aligns with your aspirations.
Upon completion, you will be equipped with knowledge of important dreamwork traditions. The profound insights from these traditions, the depth-psychological perspective and applying best practices to your circumstances, is what makes this program unique.
The dreamworker
Besides, learning to work with dreams, this program also pays attention to the dreamworkers themselves. You are the conduit for connecting waking and dreaming reality. To be fluent in your dreamwork with others requires relational skills, knowing how to handle interpersonal dynamics, as well as mediating between this world and the other world. Your personal/spiritual development is key in this process.
Dreamwork requires skills for being with the dream, engaging with it, and developing a meaningful relationship to it. This certificate program focuses on the skills and offers tools to help you become effective in dreamwork.
Guided by the wisdom of Machiel Klerk, you will cultivate the skills and tools necessary to connect with the world of dreams.
Psychotherapist and Dreamworker Machiel Klerk’s book ‘Dream Guidance’ was published by HayHouse in 2022, and ever since he’s been a regular international speaker about dreams.
Machiel also founded the Jung Society of Utah and the Jung Platform, based on a nighttime dream.
Program Overview
Day 1
Date:
To be announced
Topic:
Introduction to Dreamwork
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On the first day, our primary aim is to establish connections within the group and foster a sense of camaraderie. We’ll begin with exploring the concept of dreams. What is a dream? It is not merely fleeting images, but immersive worlds where one’s awareness is engaged—an experiential journey. Dreams are not ephemeral; they coexist with our waking reality, offering an alternate realm of existence that’s accessible within our own world.
Day 2
Date:
To be announced
Topic:
Dreamwork tradition, Jungian approach
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The special focus of this class is on the Jungian approach. Key concepts of Jungian dreamwork are discussed. Among the topics of this class: symbolic reading of dreams, exploration of the amplification technique, subjective and objective level in dreams, and personal and collective themes.
Day 3
Date:
To be announced
Topic:
Dreamwork traditions, the aesculapian tradition
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Dreamwork has flourished across diverse cultures and continents. We’ll explore various traditions in this course. In this class, we’ll have a look at ancient dreamwork traditions, including the esteemed Aesculapian tradition. This class focuses on the ancient practice of dream incubation and the art of dream healing.
Day 4
Date:
To be announced
Topic:
Dream Embodiment
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Embodied imagination, is an experiential method of engaging with dreams and imagination. In this technique the body is also used as a way to feel into the states of consciousness in the dream. This technique is conceptualized by Robert Bosnak. It integrates the body, mind, and imagination. Rooted in Jungian psychology and influenced by somatic practices, embodied imagination is a technique that is about the embodiment of dream images or figures. Engagement with the states of consciousness in the dream is how the dreamer connects with the imaginal realm.
Day 5
Date:
To be announced
Topic:
Dreamwork and the shamanistic perspective
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On this day we will journey into the Other Worlds. We will explore the basic shamanic worldview, especially through African traditions. We will notice the role of ancestors and spirit guides in these traditions, and the importance of having a living relationship with them. As well as the deeply life affirming worldview that underlies the shamanic perspective. We will explore the importance of rituals and you will learn how to prescribe a ritual. And we will learn how to engage with the dream figures through Jung’s most important contribution to psychology, Active Imagination.
Day 6
Date:
To be announced
Topic:
Facilitating dreamwork
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The dreamworker is the focus of this class. What does it mean to be a dreamworker? What is required in terms of thinking, attitude and skills to do dreamwork with others?
Dream practitioners require a range of skills for effective dreamwork. These include active listening, fostering a supportive environment for dream exploration. Also proficiency in dreamwork tools, and psychological/interpersonal skills are needed. By honing these skills, dream practitioners facilitate dreamwork, guiding individuals on journeys of living a life in touch with soul.
Day 7
Date:
To be announced
Topic:
Lucid dreaming & Eastern traditions
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In the seventh class of this course, we’re exploring lucid dreaming; being aware while in the dream state. Lucid dreaming offers space for exploration, co-creation, play with, healing in the dream. Lucid awareness allows for profound exploration of the dreamworld and its close relationship to the waking world.
Day 8
Date:
To be announced
Topic:
Unus Mundus
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The concept of Unus Mundus (one world) suggests the existence of a unified underlying reality that transcends the duality of the physical and spiritual realms. This idea of Unus Mundus underscores the notion that everything is interconnected and part of a larger underlying reality. This class explores the implications of this concept, and how it translates to our ways of being in the waking and dreaming world.
Day 9
Date:
To be announced
Topic:
The dreamers’ goodbye
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On this last day, it’s time to say goodbye, reflecting on the course’s end and new beginnings ahead. We will be envisioning our future paths (manifestation exercise), befriending our dreams as companions on our path. Also we will take time to celebrate our achievements in a certificate ceremony.
In Between Classes
Date:
To be announced
Topic:
What to work on between classes
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- Engage in your own dreamwork to deepen the practice.
- Pair with a classmate for weekly practice sessions (flexible for a bit more or less).
- Required and suggested readings and videos will be provided. (Dedicate at least a few hours per month to these materials, or dive deeper if you wish).
- Dreamwork assignments during classes
- Toward the end, report on two people you worked with on their dreams
This certificate program is ideal if
You are interested in dreams, and want to expand your dreamwork skills.
You wish to apply dreamwork skills in your current practice.
You have a desire to become a dreamwork practitioner, and see clients.
You wish to expand your range of dreamwork skills, tools and techniques (for your own dreams as well as those of others).
How you will benefit
Enhance your connection to the world of dreams.
Establish deep and meaningful relationships with other like-minded dream enthusiasts.
Gain deeper understanding of your dreams.
Be inspired in your personal and spiritual development.
Foster your creative and problem solving capacities.
Expand your capacity to be present and aware (lucid)
By the end of this course, you will be able to:
Establish a deep and meaningful connection to the world of dreams.
Apply several tools and techniques from diverse dreamwork traditions.
Function as a conduit for connection to the world of dreams.
Reflect on your dreamwork practitioner skills and take responsibility for your own personal and professional development.
Application Process
- Send an application letter and a copy of your CV to [email protected] using the subject line: Certificate application Dreamwork Practitioner.
- In your application letter, please provide a self-evaluation of your current dreamwork skills.
- Should you have other questions relating to the program or the application process, please connect with us at [email protected].
Pricing
One-Time Payment
Early Bird
Three Installments
Early Bird
Machiel Klerk
Founder, CEO & Dream Builder
Machiel is a licensed mental health therapist, international speaker, dreamworker and social entrepreneur.
He has been a therapist since 2006, and currently has a private practice in Salt Lake City. Machiel has traveled extensively to South Africa, Europe and North America to give lectures and workshops about dreams. He has written many articles on dreams, released a CD about dreaming titled Rumi and the World of Dream and also developed a course on Dream Incubation for Jung Platform.
Machiel is fascinated by healing traditions and has studied many of them. Because South Africa is his country of birth, he is especially drawn to African healing traditions. He was initiated into this tradition in 2016 when he became a healing diviner.
Machiel founded the Jung Society of Utah as well as the Jung Platform as a result of a night-time dream. He now spends most of his time building on his dream of the Jung Platform. He has received several awards from his local community for these contributions.