SUPERVISION

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LCSD’s Code of Practice states that Spiritual Directors should “receive regular supervision (sufficient for their own practice and workload) to reflect on and develop their practice, and to be accountable.” To help you fulfil this we run a number of online Supervision Groups throughout the year, on different days and at different times. 

At LCSD we understand Supervision to be a process that is:*

  • Formative: growing in knowledge and insights, developing self-awareness and understanding.

  • Restorative: providing a space for acknowledging and releasing feelings.

  • Normative: understanding and ensuring good practice and ethical standards.

*adapted from Brigid Proctor’s Model of Supervision

We also provide Supervision that is:

  • Contemplative: discerning how and where God is, in a prayerful context.

  • Affirmative: supporting and encouraging.

“The overall goal of supervision is to help Spiritual Directors to grow in self awareness and interior freedom in order to stay with directees’ experiences and to be attentive to God during direction sessions.”
— Maureen Conroy

Supervision Groups

  • The Supervision Groups are for Community members. 

  • The groups have a minimum of 3 and a maximum of 6 people. 

  • Supervisees sign up and commit to a group for a year in the spring, for a September start. 

  • Groups meet nine times per year (three times per term) for two hours.

  • Those joining a group are asked to make a commitment to attending for the whole of the academic year in which they join, if at all possible.

  • The cost to individuals is £252 (£28/session) for the year. There is a deposit of £21 to secure a place in the group and then termly payments of £77 or full payment upfront. 

  • Supervision Groups are facilitated by trained and experienced Supervisors, all of whom are members of the Community of Spiritual Directors.

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“Supervision is a conversation between peers that ultimately fosters the wellbeing of an absent other.”
— Mary Rose Bumpus

Sign up for a Supervision Group

Our Supervisors

  • LINDA HOPKINS

    I am a Baptist minister with a portfolio ministry in spiritual direction and coaching. I teach on year three of LCSD’s Encounter course and am passionate about supporting people’s learning, development and flourishing. I have many years’ experience in theological education, facilitating group work and learning, and I bring my gentle facilitation skills to the supervision space.

  • MIRIAM RINSLER

    After working as a teacher and headteacher, latterly in Church of England schools, I spent some years training teachers. During that time I trained as a LLM, and then engaged in the Ignatian Spiritual Exercises. I was so impressed that I trained as a Spiritual Director, (and then as an Anglican priest). I currently accompany seven people and am constantly astonished and gladdened at how God works through this ministry. Very skilled supervision led me to want to offer similar support for other spiritual guides.

  • NICOLA SMEDLEY

    I trained on LCSD Encounter, ISC's Ignatian Enrichment Course and supervision with LCSD. I have been an Encounter tutor since 2020 and I lead Ignatian Enrichment. As a director, I draw richly from Ignatian discernment and am grateful for insights into the inner journey offered by the Enneagram. When working with groups I like to nurture a safe, sacred space where we can share with honesty and vulnerability in order to receive the gift of God's wisdom. As a supervisor, I desire a greater clarity and understanding for the director/ directee relationship, with the whole group contributing to this process.

  • JANE FRANKLIN

    Jane has a broad experience of Spirituality having worshipped in evangelical, middle and anglo-catholic churches and being part of the healing and complimentary therapies community. She is a Spiritual Director, having trained with LCSD, a Retreat Leader (Oasis Days) and the Co-ordinator of the Igniting the Flame Course for the Celtic Community of Aidan and Hilda.

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    DR ANTONIA LYNN

    I have been a supervisor for LCSD for many years, and have my own private practice focusing especially on those who give the Spiritual Exercises. I teach on LCSD's supervision training programme and have offered workshops for spiritual directors on using supervision well; it is a joy to see more and more spiritual directors avail themselves of this essential and growthful ministry, I am committed to supervision as a contemplative practice,

  • Smiling elderly woman with glasses and short blonde hair

    JUDY O’BRIEN

    Experiencing the Exercises of St Ignatius was transformational for me and a great help for discerning God’s will in my own life. I then trained as a Psychosynthesis therapist to MA standard before going back to my first love of Spiritual Direction and becoming a tutor on the ISC from 1999. I have experienced working with dreams both in Spiritual Direction and in my own therapeutic work which has proved to be very fruitful.

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    JULIE LEGER DUNSTAN

    I have accompanied people for over 40 years in various roles including psychotherapy, Spiritual Direction and Supervision. I believe Supervision should be prayerful, professional, creative and supportive; a place to feel affirmed, restored and challenged.

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    SUE COOK

    I have 16 years’ experience working as a Supervisor in the psychotherapy field specialising in complex trauma and attachment disorders. I am passionate about quality Supervision being offered to Spiritual Directors. I bring my love of poetry into group Supervision to illustrate issues that directees bring and to evoke a heartfelt response in the Director that helps them identify more closely with what needs exploring.

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    TREVOR MAPSTONE

    I work in full time pastoral ministry and train spiritual directors on the Encounter Course at LCSD. I have enjoyed working alongside Christians of many traditions, from evangelical to catholic, in different contexts for many years. I am a contemplative. I love to listen and am interested in human flourishing. I understand spiritual direction as holding space for the soul to find its compass.

  • Person smiling indoors wearing round glasses and a light blue blazer, with a wooden wall in the background.

    SUSANNE CARLSSON

    I am originally from Sweden, and a priest in the Church of England and the Spiritual Adviser for Rochester Diocese. I finished training with ISC in 2005 and have since been involved in giving the Spiritual Exercise of Ignatius of Loyola and teaching on various Spiritual Direction training courses in the UK and Scandinavia. I recently completed a Doctorate in Practical Theology researching ‘What is distinctive about Ignatian religious life and how can it be lived in the Anglican Church’.

Interested in a Group?

If you would like to join a Supervision Group and the groups above are full or the timings do not work for you, please get in touch.

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Train as a Supervisor

The Centre also runs four-day online training courses in Supervision skills for Spiritual Directors, usually in September each year with a follow-up day in March. We can also offer bespoke training and refresher courses for diocesan and other Spiritual Direction networks.

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“The supervisory conversation has as its main purpose to lead supervisees further into the Mystery where the divine and the human kiss.”
— William Creed