Welcome to the website of Dr Jennifer D. Parker.

Dreams are one of the most recurring forms of human consciousness. Dream-Life is very sensitive to new challenges in our waking life such as increased stress, losing a loved one, or physical illness. Positive experiences also affect our dreams such as pregnancy, or new relationships. This means that the dreams we remember can be relied upon to illuminate the things we are concerned about, and if we learn to understand our dreams they can be used as a vehicle for self-development.

This website offers a unique view of dreams based on Jennifer's research findings. She is co-author of the book ‘Get a Grip on Dreaming’; the founder of The Dream Research Group at UWE; an invited speaker at public events. Jennifer is currently researches women’s nightmares in the UK.

Jennifer works from the perspective that dreams serve an emotional and problem solving function. She believes that dreams, in essence, allow us to adapt to new experiences, especially when these are important to waking life.

Brain imaging is firmly backing the idea that dreaming serves an emotional processing function. As a researcher, Jennifer has developed a way of researching dreams that allows her to describe the various types of dreams that a person has, and then understand them in the context of the dreamer's waking life. She works with participants to help them make sense of these experiences, rather than telling them what she thinks they mean. Her approach differs from that taken by most psychologists who group large numbers of dream reports together, and then describe average findings and instead unpicks the recurring emotional patterns that are present when dream-life is observed over time.

Jennifer is a Senior Lecturer at the University of the West of England. She has researched dreams for 15 years. She has recently completed a PhD focusing on men's and women’s dreams in the UK. Her approach to dream research has implications for understanding of dreams worldwide.

Her other area of expertise is in the treatment of addictive behaviours. She has worked and taught in this field for over 20 years. She is mostly interested in the impact of having someone in the family with problem alcohol use and how that affect the family unit. Most recently, she has been working to find ways to work with dreams to help both the problem alcohol user and family members.

Dream related consultancy include:

• Training people how to lead a dream group
• How to increase dream recall & journal dreams
• How to interpret your own dreams
• Nightmare treatment & sleep hygiene
• Individual analysis of dream series (dreams that occur over a long period of time)
• How to use dreams in recovery from addiction
• The differences & similarities between men's and women’s dreams
• Working with dreams in survivors of trauma or abuse

Addiction related consultancy

• Individual diagnosis of types of co-dependency and subsequent treatment program
• Helping those living with a sex addiction
• How to get a good night’s sleep in early recovery from chemical dependency
• Individual & group relapse prevention