Shanee Stepakoff, PhD

PROFESSIONAL DREAM INTERPRETER


Background And Qualifications
I have been a member of the International Association for Study of Dreams (IASD) since 1989.  IASD is a multidisciplinary organization of scholars, researchers and practitioners who have a serious interest in learning about and working with dreams. For nearly three decades, I have attended IASD’s annual 5-day conferences. These conferences serve as an opportunity for the exchange of theories and research about dreams, as well as to practice a variety of methods for interpreting and working with dreams.

In June 2011, at the international conference of the IASD at Rolduc Abbey in The Netherlands, I won first prize in a dream telepathy contest, from among approx. 400 participants. The contest takes place on a night when a print with a highly specific visual image (which is unknown to and unseen by contest participants) is designated as the target image, and in the morning participants’ written dream reports are evaluated by a panel of judges to determine visual and thematic similarity to the target. The judges described the dream I had had on the night of the contest as a “direct hit” (i.e., a precise representation of the target image). In addition, I won “Honorable Mention” in IASD’s dream telepathy contest in 2024.

I have given a dozen presentations about dreams at the annual international conferences of the IASD, beginning in 1998 and most recently in 2024. I have also given presentations on dreams for a number of other organizations. Eventually, I hope to adapt these presentations for publication as articles in scholarly journals. Here is a partial list of my presentations on dreams:

  • Dream Features That Hint at the Possibility of Reincarnation: Examples from a 40-Year Dream Practice. 41st Annual Conference of the International Association for Study of Dreams, Kerkrade, Netherlands. June 2024.
  • Homonyms and Homophones in Dreams: Beyond the Freudian Framework. 39th Annual Conference of the International Association for Study of Dreams, Tucson, Arizona. July 2022.
  • Correspondences Between Dream Narratives and Societal Events: A Transpersonal Interpretive Framework. 38th Annual Conference of the International Association for Study of Dreams (via Zoom). June 2021.
  • Dreams of Desire: What Can a Long-Term Dream Journal Teach Us About the Complexities of Sexual Orientation? 36th Annual Conference of the International Association for Study of Dreams, Kerkrade, The Netherlands. June 2019.
  • Fifty Shades of God: Dreams of the Divine in a Woman from Young Adulthood to Late Middle Age. 35th Annual Conference of the International Association for Study of Dreams, Scottsdale, Arizona. June 2018.
  • The Soundtrack of the Soul: Using Song Lyrics in Dream Interpretation. 35th Annual Conference of the International Association for Study of Dreams, Scottsdale, Arizona. June 2018.
  • Milton Was Wiser Than Freud: Twelve Types of Dreams in Paradise Lost. 35th International Conference on Psychology and the Arts, Dubrovnik, Croatia. June 2018.
  • The Trajectory from Trauma to Transformation: Evidence from a Long-Term Dream Series in a Survivor of a Violent Kidnapping. 34th Annual Conference of the International Association for Study of Dreams, Anaheim, CA. June 2017.
  • Creative Methods for Working with Clients’ Dreams. Half-day training workshop for counseling staff of the Center for Victims of Torture (CVT), Amman, Jordan. 2010.
  • Medical Dreamwork: Ancient Foundations, Modern Applications. 15th Annual Conference of the Association for the Study of Dreams, Laie, Hawaii. July 1998. (presented jointly with Katherine O’Connell)
  • Poetry Therapy Methods for Working With Dreams. 15th Annual Meeting of the Association for the Study of Dreams, Laie, Hawaii. July 1998.
  • Stepakoff., S. The Power of Metaphor in Poetry and Dreams. 12th Annual Meeting of the International Association for the Study of Dreams, New York. June 1995.
  • Stepakoff, S. Poemwork: A Synthesis of Dreamwork and Poetry Therapy. 11th Annual Conference of the International Association for Study of Dreams, Leiden, Netherlands. July 1994.

I am a consistent reader, as well as an occasional reviewer, for Dreaming, the first professional journal devoted specifically to dreaming. The journal publishes scholarly articles from a wide variety of disciplines and viewpoints. Anthropological, historical, philosophical, psychological, arts-based, and literary perspectives are well represented.

In the Spring of 2018, I taught a course on The Psychology of Dreams at the University of Maine. In the past, I taught a course in “Imaginal Psychology” at Lesley University, in which dreams were a substantial focus. In 2009 and 2010, I designed and led two workshops for the counseling staff of the Center for Victims of Torture (CVT) in Amman, Jordan, on ‘Working with Dreams and Nightmares.’ During 2004 and 2005, I designed and led four trainings in West Africa, on ‘Coping with Nightmares.’ (These trainings were conducted for NGOs in Guinea and Liberia, the Mending Hearts program in Sierra Leone, and for staff at the UN-backed war crimes tribunal in Sierra Leone.) As a clinical psychologist licensed in Massachusetts since 2000 and currently also licensed in New York, Connecticut, Rhode Island, and Maine, many of my clients in private practice as well as in agencies where I was employed brought in dreams that we worked on together to support their personal growth. During extensive travels through Asia, Latin America, Africa, Europe and the United States, I have interpreted the dreams of individuals from a variety of cultures and across a broad age span that includes children, adolescents, and young, middle-aged, and older adults.

As a scholar, I have immersed myself in the academic literature on dreams. I have also pursued formal opportunities to learn about dreams. For example, I completed a graduate course on Dreams with Clara E. Hill, PhD, one of the most highly respected dream researchers in the world. I participated in a weeklong program at the International School of Analytical Psychology (Switzerland). I have completed two intensive study programs (as well as a variety of shorter workshops and seminars) at the C. G. Jung Foundation of New York. I have participated in two intensive workshops on ‘Embodied Dreamwork’, which were conducted by the renowned Jungian analyst Robert Bosnak. I am an elected professional member of the NTL Institute, and completed several NTL programs in which dreams were a focus (e.g., John and Joyce Weir’s “self-differentiation” workshops).

My qualifications as a professional dream interpreter also include my experience of journaling my own dreams on a consistent basis since 1984. I have systematically documented and interpreted over 4,000 of my own dreams, and have entered these dream reports and my interpretations of them onto a computer. By devoting enormous amounts of time and energy to understanding my dreams throughout the entire course of my adult life, I have become “fluent” in the language of dreams. I consider it my life’s work to share this knowledge and these skills for the benefit of others. For this reason, since 2016 I have made my entire dream series available to leading dream scholars. It is also for this reason that in 2018, I established my Professional Dream Interpretation practice and website.

In addition, the study of dreams was a component of my undergraduate, graduate and postgraduate education. I am currently a PhD candidate in English (Literature) at the University of Rhode Island. I hold a MFA (Master of Fine Arts) in creative writing from The New School and a BA in English, summa cum laude, from the University of Maine at Farmington. As a poet/writer, I understand the power of metaphors and symbols, an understanding that is crucial in dream interpretation. I earned my PhD in clinical psychology from St. John’s University in Queens, New York, in 2000, and a Master’s in clinical/community psychology from the University of Maryland in 1993. Additional undergraduate degrees include a Bachelor of Science in urban studies, cum laude, from Worcester State College; and a Bachelor of Arts from Clark University, magna cum laude, Phi Beta Kappa, with Highest Honors in Psychology.

I have completed a postdoctoral fellowship in comparative psychoanalysis at the Massachusetts Institute of Psychoanalysis, and in child development at the University of Colorado School of Medicine. I also completed a yearlong postgraduate program at the Boston Trauma Center, and a postdoctoral fellowship in ethnic/political conflict at the University of Pennsylvania. For further information on my academic/professional background, as well as a list of honors, awards, and publications, please refer to my general website, www.robeofmanycolors.com.