Making Use of Active Imagination within Clinical Practice
Date: Thursday, 25 September 2025
Time: 7:30pm – 9pm
Medium: Online
Cost: €22.42 / €17.07 (Students)
Enquiries: isja.events@gmail.com
By ISJA & IAPA
About the Event
Irish Society of Jungian Analysts (ISJA) in conjunction with the Irish Analytical Psychology Association (IAPA) presents live on Zoom – Making Use of Active Imagination within Clinical Practice. Presented by Mary Dougherty, Jungian Analyst, Art Psychotherapist and senior faculty member at the Jung Institute in Chicago.
Active Imagination is a therapeutic method developed by C.G. Jung, that engages the reality of the unconscious – those aspects of our psyches outside of our conscious ego identity. The process of Active Imagination involves an intentional encounter with the unconscious in the form of images, figures, emotions or moods as they may emerge in dreams, waking reveries, fairytales or image making processes. It is an active attempt to come to terms with the unconscious either within or outside of analysis. Jung states: “you give a chance to your unconscious to create its own figures into visibility where your conscious can deal with them (Shamdasani, p9).” In this lecture, Mary will focus on the use of active imagination as described by Jung and on the ways she uses active imagination within analysis. She will share two clinical examples: one making use of image making, and the second using a fairytale and dreams.
Mary Dougherty: MFA, ATR, NCPsyA, is a Jungian psychoanalyst and art psychotherapist in private practice. She is a senior faculty member of the Jung Institute of Chicago and the IAAP Router Program in Ahmedabad, India as well as a Board member of the USA-India Jung Foundation. She teaches courses on dream work in clinical practice as well as experiential seminars on active imagination that link journal writing and image making exercises. Her special interest is on the impact of Jung’s thought on creative development and artistic production with special interest in the symbolic function of art making within the life of the maker.
In a former lifetime, Mary was a printmaker and performance artist who exhibited nationally and internationally, with venues including The George Eastman House, NY; Franklin Furnace, NYC; University of Chicago and The Museo Contemporaneo, Sao Paolo. She was awarded the ‘Lifetime Achievement in the Arts” award by the Chicago Women’s Caucus for the Arts.
Please Note:
Ticket sales end Wednesday, 24 September at 6pm.
Zoom link will be sent from isja.events@gmail.com the day before the event and again one hour before the start time on the day. Please check Spam Folder.
This event will be recorded and the link will be available for two weeks for the personal viewing of registered participants only.