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Spiritual Direction is a specialized and supportive relationship of compassionate, contemplative, and skillful listening between a spiritual director and spiritual directee with the sankalpa (sacred intention) of growing safe and nurturing connections within the Self and in our relationships with others, Spirit, and the planet. Modern and ever evolving, it is an ancient practice found within many of the Wisdom Traditions.

While spiritual direction is often therapeutic, it is not therapy; it might be pastoral and should be caring, but it is not pastoral care.

The signposts for this supported journey are different. In a blog post, I explain the five concepts from the Wisdom Traditions that I attempt to support in order to restore safety and connection: satori (inner awakening), samadhi (integration, wholeness), shanti (inner peace), shalom (communal peace rooted in justice), and salaam (freedom from harm).

HELPFUL LINKS

What is Spiritual Direction or Spiritual Companionship?

Do I need a Spiritual Director or Spiritual Companion?

PLEASE NOTE

Even though I have a doctorate in psychology (Psy.D.) and a graduate degree in pastoral care and counseling (M.A.R.), I am not a licensed psychologist  or licensed professional counselor.  The work I do is spiritual direction and I hope this page clarifies the distinctiveness and helpfulness of spiritual direction.  For more information on my professional credentials, please see the about me page. 

As one of my favorite “social worker moms” use to frequently say: you are the boss of you; you are responsible for your own safety.  This is true, but some types of trauma leave a residue that makes it hard to enroll in or orient toward our own safety. 

The first step in transforming our trauma is to reclaim what was first taken away: your agency.  Agency is the ability to make free choices about our lives.  

I believe the Wisdom you “need" is already inside of you; you simply need a safe space of relationship to call it forth and connect with it. 

To that end everything I offer is without “attachment.” That means every question or resource I offer is given gently and carefully, but without any expectation that it is “correct” or even necessarily “for you.”  Something I offer might “click now,” might be for “later,” or might be “not for me.”  

I professionally prefer the title “spiritual director” and the practice of “spiritual direction.” I know the labels of “director” and “direction” can sometimes be confusing. But I prefer them for a very specific reason: the connect and identify me with a history that is nourishing and deeply needed.

A practice of spiritual direction can be found in most of the world’s Wisdom Traditions in some form: from yoga rishis in the Himalayas, to shamans in the Amazon, meditation and martial art masters, elders in earth-centered communities, monks and nuns, bodhisattvas, and other mystics and seers. 

My spiritual amniotic fluid is Christianity and my lineage for spiritual direction is the desert abbas and ammas who retreated from the cities as Rome appropriated early Christianity into imperial theology. They resisted and sought to preserve and restore a non-violent, anti-empire movement that would bring communities of shalom, that is, justice flowering into peace, wellbeing, and wholeness for all people and the planet. I accept the title “spiritual director” as part of my identity with their ongoing mission.

BUT, “director” does not mean “orchestrator” and is certainly not like the director of a film or play. 

I think of myself like a field guide. I’ve been with many in the jungles of India and Sri Lanka; they are amazing. They listen carefully to the forest and hear sounds I don’t hear. They see tracks and patterns that I would miss in the mud and dust. They read the clouds and the wind. They will be the first to say that they cannot guarantee that we will see what we seek; but I would miss so much without their skillful and experienced guidance.  Same same, but different in spiritual direction.

"Wholeness does not mean perfection; it means embracing brokenness as an integral part of life. Knowing this gives me hope that human wholeness—mine, yours, ours—need not be a utopian dream, if we can use devastation as a seedbed for new life."  —Parker Palmer,  A Hidden Wholeness

What is “Trauma-Informed Spiritual Direction”?   

Here’s a long definition:  Trauma-Informed Spiritual Directions is a specialized method of spiritual direction that seeks to establish, cultivate, and/or restore safety and connection to the strained or severed felt sense within the Self and our relationships with others, Spirit, and the planet through trauma-informed spiritual practices. Drawing from the deep wells of the Wisdom Traditions and modern neuroscience, it is a supported journey toward satori (inner awakening), samadhi (integration, wholeness), shanti (inner peace), shalom (communal peace rooted in justice), and salaam (freedom from harm).

Here’s a another way of approaching a definition:  

• Spirituality is about connections.
• Trauma is the disconnections created by a wound.  
• Spiritual direction is about giving attention to our connections.
• Trauma-Informed Spiritual Direction gives extra care-full attention to the disconnections in order to establish, cultivate, or restore the wounds to wholeness and integration.

“Trauma” defies a single definition; these are a few sutras (threads) that hold the fabric of my experience and concept:

• a chronic state of disconnection (Porges);
• an experience that overwhelms our ability to cope and pushes us outside our Window of Tolerance (Dan Siegel);
• Peter Levine emphasizes the “perception” of an event(s) as critical; he suggests that trauma lives more in the nervous system and the body than the event itself.  
• One of my favorite Bessel van der Kolk quotes is “the issue is in the tissue.” He means that trauma lives in our bodies.

You can watch a short video I created (less than 10 minutes) and read a longer article I wrote on Trauma-Informed Spiritual Direction. 

Here is a "Practice Lexicon" of words and concepts I use in my scope of practice. 

HOW TO SCHEDULE A SESSION 

I do not have “online scheduling,” but you can click here to see what openings are available.  Instructions for how to request time are also there. 

LENGTH OF SESSIONS

Most individual sessions are up to 60 minutes.   

Practice support sessions are 30 minutes (usually after a session or two of 60 minutes). 

Group sessions vary from 75 to 120 minutes.

TYPES OF SUPPORT

You can read about my scope of practice and various types of support on this page. 

TECHNOLOGY

The majority of my practice has been through “technology” for 15 years.  I use Zoom for those who want to be “seen and heard” and the phone for those who, for whatever reason, only want to be “heard.”   

FREQUENCY

It depends on what your goals are and what type of support you are seeking, but most come to spiritual direction once or twice a month to give time between sessions for spiritual practices and integration. Folk usually come to spiritual direction for several months; often a directee and director work together for many years. (I worked with mine for over 20 years until his recent death from COVID complications.)

FEES

The two most important elements for starting spiritual direction is that we are a “right match” and that it is the “right time.” These are often difficult to discern via email, so I offer an “Exploratory Session” for $75.

If we would like to continue our relationship, my per-hour session fee is $125 or a pre-paid series of 4-sessions for $375.

Please do not hesitate to contact me if we need to discuss a sliding-scale fee option for you.

Session fees are paid online via an invoice hyperlink sent via email.