Los Angeles-based journalist, screenwriter, and educator Sharon D. Johnson, PhD, seeks Black women aged 18 and up to participate in the first-of-its-kind endorsed, crowdfunded research project, “Sisters of Sakhu: Does Dream Work Affect Black Women’s Mental Well-Being?”
Participants will meet weekly, from March 5 through April 23, 2016 in the Leimert Park area of Los Angeles. The deadline to register is Friday, February 26. Registration and additional information can be found at: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/sisters-of-sakhu-dream-work-research-project-tickets-19658957471
Guided and facilitated by Dr. Johnson, research participants will name one personal issue that they would like to resolve. Over eight weeks they will keep dream journals and work together through the dream material (identifying and deconstructing the symbols, themes, and emotional tone of each dream to come to a deeper understanding of what is happening in the dreamers’ unconscious, and how it informs her waking life).
At the final group session, each woman will determine if her dream work has affected her psychological experience of the personal issue named at the first meeting. Dr. Johnson will collect and assess this data and write an open-published article on the process and results of the research. Participants’ identities will be kept confidential.
“Black women as researchers, working with other Black women, are underrepresented in the field of psychology, and the field of depth psychology in particular,” Said Dr. Johnson.
Some reasons for the underrepresentation include cases of institutional bias in the sciences and the exclusion of depth psychology as a funded category among most grant and fellowship opportunities for independent scholars.
“It’s important for Black women to be producers of knowledge, and not just other people’s subjects. Investigating whether or not dream work has an effect on Black women’s psychological well-being is timely, worthwhile research. I’m grateful to have met the fund goal, and am excited to call participants to this work.” Johnson concluded.
Sisters of Sakhu is endorsed by White House Honoree Alchemy, Inc., the Akron, Ohio non-profit and 2012 recipient of the White House National Arts and Humanities Youth Program Award.
“As a skilled dream educator and experiential dream worker, [Dr. Johnson’s] applied research addresses critical needs by assisting Black women to reach new levels of understanding that can empower them to take charge of their mental well-being and, consequently, to transform their lives and communities,” Said Alchemy’s founder and executive director, Dr. Kwame Scruggs.
All endorsements can be read here on the Sisters of Sakhu project page at https://experiment.com/projects/sisters-of-sakhu-does-dream-work-affect-black-women-s-mental-well-being?
Registration and information about Sisters of Sakhu research can be found on Eventbrite at https://www.eventbrite.com/e/sisters-of-sakhu-dream-work-research-project-tickets-19658957471. Additional questions can be directed to Dr. Johnson at [email protected].
