WHAT IF ….. ?

with Sheila Benjamin, CTRS

Imagine a young girl holding a dandelion that has gone to seed.
Where will those seeds land once she blows on this plant?
In this presentation I will share my journey as I have offered a dream program to at-risk teenagers in residential treatment.

Introducing the study of dreams to the at-risk teenagers that I have been working with over the past 8 years, is very similar to the young girl getting ready to blow those seeds everywhere. My desire has always been to aid these youth with broken hearts to learn through their dreams to begin to have some insight and clarity into themselves and their lives. I never know where my seeds of inspiration, of clarity, of peace will land. However through the years I have had the privilege to gaze into some amazing eyes that have been filled with depth, hope and awakening. These teenagers have shared some awesome stories and have some great experience that I would love to share with you.

Through this presentation I will share my journey over the past 8 years from the dream study programs I have offered at the residential treatment facility where I presently work. I will share the dreams and the insights that many of these children have had, from the visitation dream that a young girl had after a friend of hers was killed in a plane crash, to the insights of another as to why she even began hurting herself, to the recognition of a young man that was nervous about returning back home.

Join me as I let you look through my Perspectacles at teens today.

What is it like to live a dream?
When Sheila Benjamin was younger, she use to feel very uncomfortable around individuals that had some form of disability. Individuals who were blind, had limbs amputated, had visible mental illness. 
When Sheila was about to graduate from high school she was still looking for her identity. She wanted to know if she was a follower or a leader so she made the decision to go away to Southern Illinois University, about 350 miles from her home.  Her freshman year she learned that she could get a degree having fun and helping people. Both of these were attractive to her. She enrolled in the Recreational program and majored in Therapeutic Recreation. Little did she know that this was the key that would give her the understanding that was missing as a child.
Once she graduated from SIU, she wondered, ‘what now?’ She thought to herself, ‘Now that I am an adult, now what?’ That’s when she found the School of Metaphysics and began to discover the powerful messages in her dreams and the dreams of others.  Because of her love for both the esoteric studies and her profession as a Recreational Therapist, she always looked for ways that she could marry the two. It has been because of her passion to help others and her thirst for truth that she began to develop dream circles with teens who are ‘at risk’; she has been working with them for the past 12 years.
“DREAM WEAVERS … creating a tapestry from the images in your dreams” is Sheila’s presentation based upon 18 girls in residential treatment exploring their most profound dreams.  First the girls wrote down their dreams in their own personal journal. Next, they met individually with Ms. Benjamin.  She asks them questions about their daily lives. “It was as if each girl was receiving an amazing massage of the heart,” Sheila says. “The responses, paired with their dreams aided the girls to reach inside themselves in a profound way.”
One girl, who was the first one to approach ‘Miss Benjamin’, stated that her dream was sad because it was about her brother who was killed. He had come to her in her dreams. This is the dream she shared:
“My dream is about my brother who was murdered. He came to me in my dream and he said to me, I ‘m Okay and just because I’m not alive, it does not mean that I’m not with you. I will always be living through you. I love you little sis. Be strong for me.”
Through this program this girl began to realize that her brother really did come to her in her dream. She recognized that he was always with her, in her heart. The dream became a good dream to her and a significant part of her treatment.  Join Sheila Benjamin for this enlightening presentation and discussion for you and the teens in your life.

 

Sheila Benjamin, CTRS, has studied dreams since 1978 and has used this media to aid others in counseling, in her ministry, teaching and in her professional work.  A well known speaker, she has presented at the International Association of the Study of Dreams for the past 12 years.   Many of her programs provide CEUs for professionals in human resource fields.  Her first was for nurses and doctors at Mercy Hospital in Des Moines, Iowa.  She has been a presenter for the National Council for Therapeutic Recreation Certification for eight years.

 

 

WHAT IF…..? with Sheila Benjamin, CTRS

Saturday, April 27, 2019 at 6 pm EASTERN TIME

only online during the NATIONAL DREAM HOTLINE®ONLINE Weekend

REGISTER NOW!