We live in a time of increasing fragmentation. Around the world and within our organisations, institutions and communities we encounter profound social, political and psychological divides. Questions of identity, belonging, authority and power are becoming increasingly contested, while inherited histories continue to shape the present in ways that often remain outside awareness.

The 2026 ISPSO South Africa Regional Meeting invites participants to explore these dynamics through the practice of Social Dreaming, developed by Gordon Lawrence at the Tavistock Institute. Social Dreaming offers a unique way of thinking about the relationship between the unconscious life of individuals and the wider social systems of which they are part.

Rather than viewing dreams as private experiences to be interpreted psychologically, the Social Dreaming Matrix approaches dreams as expressions of the group's unconscious. Dreams, associations and images become shared data through which participants can begin to think together about the social, organisational and cultural realities that shape our lives.

Dreaming the Unspoken

This year's theme invites us to ask:

• What do we inherit that remains unspoken?
• How do histories of power continue to live within our organisations, institutions and ourselves?
• What unconscious assumptions shape authority, leadership and followership today?
• What possibilities for renewal become available when we create space to think together about what has previously remained unsayable?

The Matrix does not seek definitive interpretations or solutions. Instead, it provides a temporary container in which participants can notice patterns, make connections and explore meanings that emerge between dreams rather than within individual dreamers. In Gordon Lawrence's words, the task is to move from the person who dreams towards the dream that dreams us.

A South African Conversation

South Africa offers a particularly meaningful context in which to engage these questions. Our society continues to wrestle with the legacies of history while simultaneously imagining new possibilities for the future. Issues of inheritance, race, identity, inequality, leadership and reconciliation are woven into the fabric of organisational and societal life.

Through the Social Dreaming Matrix, participants are invited to consider how these visible realities may also be reflected in the unconscious life of our institutions and communities. Dreams can illuminate what is difficult to speak about directly, providing a different way of engaging complexity without rushing towards certainty.

What to Expect

Across two days, participants will engage in a series of Social Dreaming Matrices, followed by reflective dialogues that deepen collective learning and systems thinking. Together we will explore the connections between dreams, organisational life and the wider social context, creating opportunities to think differently about leadership, authority, identity and change.

No previous experience of Social Dreaming is required. The only invitation is one of curiosity: to bring dreams, associations and an openness to discovering meanings that can only emerge through thinking together.

An Invitation

In a fragmenting world, Social Dreaming offers an opportunity not to escape reality, but to encounter it differently. By attending to dreams as expressions of our shared social experience, we may begin to hear what has remained unspoken, recognise what has been inherited, and imagine possibilities for renewal that cannot emerge through individual thinking alone.

We warmly invite practitioners, consultants, coaches, leaders, researchers and all those interested in systems psychodynamics to join us in this shared exploration.