In 2024, my spiritual direction practice added a virtual training component. The SoulAdventure Spiritual Apprenticeship prepares qualified persons for the ministry of spiritual direction in 21st-century North America. Three individuals were selected to participate in 2024. This cohort is on track for graduation in December.
During 2025, I will offer the apprenticeship to two or three new apprentices. Please visit this page in late June for up-to-date information on the application process, the 2025 curriculum, cost, and other relevant information.
In the meantime, based on the 2024 Apprenticeship, the following information will give you an idea of how this spiritual direction apprenticeship works:
Training for the practice of spiritual direction is generally provided within formal classroom settings. It involves a curriculum, readings, group work, practice, and writing.
In recent years, an innovative alternative to the classroom model has emerged: It is the 1-on-1 online spiritual direction apprenticeship. Pioneered by United Church of Christ minister and founder of the Phoenix Center for Spiritual Direction, Teresa Blythe, individuals may be trained 1-on-1 with an apprentice guide via Zoom following a customized curriculum. This method, designed for persons who have already received spiritual direction for at least a year, is less expensive and time-consuming. It offers a rich learning experience for those who choose it.
Beginning in January 2024, I launched the SoulAdventure Spiritual Direction Apprenticeship. At this writing (March 2024), three qualified apprentices have been working on readings, meetings with the Apprentice Guide, and reflection papers. Beginning in July, the Apprenticeship will focus on the practicum. The apprentices will work with individual clients for five months while continuing their reading, writing, and regular meetings with the apprentice guide.
What is an apprenticeship?
The standard description of an apprenticeship is one-on-one training "to help people gain new knowledge, skills, and behaviors so they can improve their competency in an occupational role"--University of London.
Why offer an apprenticeship for the practice of spiritual direction?
Spiritual direction training under the supervision of an experienced spiritual companion is less time-consuming and less expensive and allows for customized training for individual needs. For busy persons, it permits easier scheduling. It also allows the apprentice guide to include areas of reflection not widely addressed in existing spiritual direction+companioning programs. For example, the SoulAdventure Spiritual Direction Apprenticeship emphasizes the sociological and cultural contexts for offering spiritual direction, including climate awareness. In selecting the readings, authors from various cultural, racial, gender, and economic backgrounds have been determined. Emphasis is placed on inter-faith and inter-spiritual fluency.
This apprenticeship is sharply focused on practical matters. I highlight the nuts and bolts of setting up a culturally attuned 21st-century spiritual direction practice, including digital and business best practices. In traditional classroom training, the first year is often focused on spiritual formation, reading the Desert Fathers and Mothers, mystics, and modern contemplatives and contemplative practices. The assumption is that basic spiritual formation has occurred through other studies, religious involvement, or being a spiritual direction client for a year or more.
How long does the apprenticeship take to complete?
The apprenticeship is designed to begin in January of the calendar year and conclude in December. Meeting twice a month virtually for an hour-long session, the entire itinerary (syllabus) can be completed in about twelve months, including twenty-four one-hour sessions with the apprenticeship guide. In preparation for the Zoom meetings, students complete assigned readings and short reflection papers on the current discussion topic. Toward the end of the apprenticeship, participants engage in practice sessions with feedback from the apprentice master. Apprentices spend up to three hours preparing (reading, writing) for each session.
How much will each session cost?
The cost of the apprenticeship for 2025 will be announced during the summer of 2025. The fee will be synched to spiritual direction rates now prevalent in Central Indiana.
What books are required? The following list is for 2024 but may change in 2025 due to curriculum (itinerary) design modifications. These works are listed here only as indicators of the apprentices' current reading.
Anderson, Laura E. When Religion Hurts You: Healing from Religious Trauma and the Impact of High-Control Religion (Brazos Press, 2023)
Barry, William A. & Connolly, William J. The Practice of Spiritual Direction (Revised and Updated, Harper One, 1982). This book is out of print, and new copies are costly. Used copies may be found at Abe Books and Half Priced Books.
Blythe, Teresa 50 Ways to Pray: Practices from Many Traditions and Times (Abingdon, 2006)
Blythe, Teresa Spiritual Direction 101: The Basics of Spiritual Direction (Apocrophile Press, 2018)
Fetzer Institute, What Does Spirituality Mean to Us? A Study of Spirituality in the U.S. (free PDF available at www.Fetzer.org)
Lee, Cindy S Our Unforming: De-Westernizing Spiritual Formation (Fortress Press, 2022)
Mabry, John R. Starting Spiritual Direction: A Guide to Getting Ready, Feeling Safe, and Getting the Most Out of Your Session (Apocrophile Press, 2017)
Tucker, Lucy Abbott Spiritual Direction Supervision: Principles, Practices, and Storytelling (SDI Press, 2020)
Ulanov, Ann Primary Speech: A Psychology of Prayer (Westminster John Knox Press, 1983)
U.S. Surgeon General Our Epidemic of Loneliness and Isolation: The Surgeon General's Advisory on the Healing Effects of Social Connection and Community (2023, available from Amazon)
Weiner, Roslyn Seeking the Company of Others: The Wisdom of Group Spiritual Direction (SDI Press, 2021)
From time to time, additional articles and books are suggested. In addition, all apprentices are asked to hold membership in Spiritual Directors International throughout the year and to complete one of the many virtual continuing education events that SDI hosts for spiritual directors and other contemplatives.
The SoulAdventure Spiritual Direction Apprenticeship has arranged for the 2024 cohort to have around-the-clock access to the entire digitized library of Presence. Presence, published by Spiritual Directors International,is the world's most distinguished spiritual direction quarterly. The materials that can be accessed date from 1995 to 2024.
Does completing the apprenticeship mean I am qualified as a "certified spiritual director"?
There has yet to be a recognized certification body or organization for spiritual directors. The most prominent spiritual direction organization, Spiritual Directors International (SDI), is a worldwide contemplative learning community for spiritual directors. Spiritual directors may hold a certificate of completion from a training organization or an apprenticeship. When all apprenticeship studies are fulfilled, a certificate of completion will be awarded from the SoulAdventure Spiritual Direction Apprenticeship, along with a detailed description of the required studies.
What is the apprenticeship itinerary or syllabus?
The year's studies will follow an itinerary. Assignments, links, and other materials necessary for each step are posted on a SoulAdventure Spiritual Direction Apprenticeship website with a restricted password only for apprentices and guests invited by the apprentice guide. The following itinerary is based on Teresa Blythe's core textbook for the apprenticeship, Spiritual Direction 101, and includes additional topics not addressed in that book.
- Sessions 1 & 2: The sociological and cultural context for spiritual direction in North America
- Sessions 3 & 4: What is spiritual direction? Definitions and perspectives
- Sessions 5 & 6: Theologies and spiritual direction
- Sessions 7 & 8: The evocative method of spiritual direction
- Sessions 9 & 10:Tools for listening and responding in spiritual direction
- Sessions 11 & 12: Forms of spiritual direction
- Sessions 13 & 14: Intercultural perspectives: working outside your tradition, culture, and comfort zone
- Sessions 15 & 16: Spiritual direction and other helping relationships (therapy, pastoral care, etc.)
- Sessions 17 & 18: Ethics in spiritual direction: The Revised Code of Ethics of Spiritual Directors International
- Sessions 19 & 20: Supervision in spiritual direction
- Sessions 21 & 22: Supervised real-life practice sessions based on verbatims or recalled sessions (also known as The Practicum)
- Sessions 23 & 24: Setting up a spiritual direction practice: websites, payment options, virtual sites, scheduling, marketing, engagement agreements, location
Is there a culminating or final project?
Apprentices must present a capstone project or paper to graduate.
What is the application process?
The 2024 SoulAdventure Spiritual Direction Apprenticeship applicants were asked to submit the following information. It is expected that in 2025, the application process will be similar.
- Name, mailing address, phone number(s), email address
- Listing of undergraduate and graduate degrees.
- Summary of relevant spiritual formation involvements (for example, continuing ed, your spiritual practices, ministerial focus points, retreats, intentional renewal sabbaticals, etc.)
- Statement of how you define and understand spiritual direction
- Statement of why you want to train for spiritual direction through the apprenticeship
- Other relevant comments and information you would like to share
- Two reference letters
Check out Dan's short concluding comment in this video clip.
"We're all just walking each other home."--Ram Dass