Upcoming events
Holding Space Together: An Introduction to Circles of Trust
This experiential workshop introduces participants to the Circles of Trust framework, a model developed by Parker Palmer and the Center for Courage & Renewal. Grounded in Quaker principles and contemplative wisdom, Circles of Trust provides a structure for creating safe, confidential, and sacred space where individuals can listen deeply to their inner teacher, hold space for one another without fixing or advising, and encounter “solitude in community”.
Circling Around God: Working with a Directee’s Shifting Images of the Divine
Those we accompany in spiritual direction come with myriad images of God—images gifted to them, images imposed upon them, images that bring deep comfort, and images that create tension or struggle. God is rock, shepherd, father, mother, spirit, source-of-all-being—and sometimes God is “I don’t know.” In direction, we are invited to hold these shifting divine imaginings with reverence, compassion, and curiosity.
Is a Picture Always Worth a Thousand Words?: The Challenges and Opportunities of ‘Aphantasia’ in Spiritual Direction.
Many spiritual practices - particularly imaginative ones - assume an ability to visualise. But what about those who cannot form mental images (aphantasia), or those whose imaginations are vividly overwhelming (hyperphantasia)? This workshop explores how neurological diversity impacts prayer, reflection, and the experience of God's presence. As Spiritual Directors, how can we support directees with different imaginative capacities?
Streams in the Desert: Spiritual Direction as Prophetic Practice
This workshop will look at how we as spiritual Directors use prophetic imagination to inform our practice.
Women, Men and Spiritual Direction
Some female directors are “wary about taking on men as directees because of a sense of ‘otherness’ and feeling ill-equipped to work with them.” Some male directors regret “the limited number of men involved in spiritual direction. These are complex, delicate, risky, and stimulating issues.
We always light a candle: How can the seasons inform our practice?
How can we use the great gifts in the rhythms of both the liturgical calendar and the seasons. Helping directees to engage with where God is in the present.
This will be a creative and practical morning, helping us grow in what we offer as spiritual directors being informed and enhanced by the liturgical year.
Faith Shift: Walking with Directees Through Deconstruction
Deconstruction refers to the dismantling of religious beliefs, where deeply held doctrines are re-examined and sometimes jettisoned. Although this process is nothing new, it has gained new attention in the past few years as more and more people make that deconstruction process public, particularly in online spaces.