The Director’s Inner Work: Why It Matters
A mandala of wholeness — a reminder that the director’s inner work shapes the space in which others are invited to unfold. Spiritual direction is often described as a ministry of listening, discernment, and accompaniment. Much attention is rightly given to the skills required for this work: attentive presence, theological grounding, prayerful awareness, and an understanding of spiritual traditions and practices. Yet beneath all of this lies something more fundamental and less
Ethics & Good Practice in Spiritual Direction
An ethical framework for spiritual direction, accompaniment, mentoring and guidance. This framework emerged from a particular moment of discernment within the spiritual direction community in the UK, when questions of accountability, responsibility, and safeguarding were becoming increasingly pressing, yet formal structures remained underdeveloped. While the original project that commissioned this work did not continue, the questions it sought to address have only grown in re
Accreditation for Spiritual Directors?
At the moment, in England, Wales and Scotland, there is no form of accreditation for spiritual directors. Other countries such as Australia, New Zealand and Ireland do have accrediting bodies that can set standards and offer some form of public accountability. In Canada spiritual directors have a path of certification by a state regulating body. In England, however, anyone can call themselves a spiritual director, whether they have received some form of training or not. Altho
How to find a Spiritual Director
Finding a Spiritual Director has not always been that easy in the UK. Historically, this ancient ministry has been rather hidden away, available only to those in the know within the Church, such as priests and monastics, as I discuss in my article Contemporary Trends in Spiritual Direction . If you are exploring spiritual direction for yourself, you may also find it helpful to read more about what spiritual direction involves and how I work. You can find out more about the h
Spiritual Abuse
This article was first written in early 2016, when spiritual abuse was rarely named or understood in the UK. At that time, survivors often lacked language, validation, or frameworks to make sense of what they had experienced. While much excellent work has since emerged, I keep this piece as a foundational overview of the dynamics involved — particularly for those encountering the term for the first time. What Is Spiritual Abuse? Spiritual abuse is a much under discussed subje
Spiritual Direction or Counselling?
This question is often asked as though spiritual direction and counselling are competing or interchangeable practices. In reality, the relationship between them is more subtle and more fluid than a simple comparison allows. Over the years, as spiritual direction has increasingly entered dialogue with psychology, many practitioners have found themselves working at an attentive boundary between inner healing, meaning-making, and spiritual discernment. What follows is therefore
