- People who would like to receive spiritual direction can contact the SPIDIR Referral Secretary for help in finding someone suitable.
- This service is free but contributions to the special fund would be welcomed to support training.
- We do not offer counselling
There are different ways of finding a Spiritual Director.
- It may be that you already know someone who you find easy to talk to - it is worth having a word and seeing if they are able to meet you regularly for spiritual direction.
- Or it might be that a third party, maybe a friend or someone at church, could recommend somebody to you.
- If these possibilities do not apply, you can approach SPIDIR and we will try to help. When somebody telephones for this, we have a conversation during which we try to find out what sort of person would be helpful for them at this moment. These are often very interesting conversations and the joy of this task lies in 'meeting' so many fascinating people!
The actual work of finding the most appropriate director for somebody is done by past and present SPIDIR Course leaders as a group - between us, we know everybody who has passed through the courses and we each bring that knowledge to bear. Hoping that the resulting relationship will be a fruitful one we do all we can to choose the right person, taking time and care rather than just picking a name at random from a list.
Many people who telephone ask about our fees. As a matter of policy, SPIDIR does not charge for Spiritual Direction. Many people do want to offer payment, and we have set up a special fund into which such payments can be made - this fund enables discretionary grants to be offered towards the initial or ongoing training of our directors. Enquiries can be made to the treasurer Martin Day.
If you live in other parts of the UK we are pleased to be able to tell you that the following people have expressed willingness to advise you about finding a spiritual mentor or adviser or director. The areas relate to Anglican Dioceses (in alphabetical order) but the ethos of SPIDIR and of the colleagues mentioned below is ecumenical.
All the people on the list have given us their permission to publish their details on the SPIDIR website. If you do contact any of the people on this list please make it clear that you have been referred to them from SPIDIR through this website.
Bath and Wells Revd. Sister Sue Berry email: suecsf@franciscans.org.uk Canterbury Chelmsford Chichester | Cambridge & Ely Exeter Gloucester Guildford | Leicester Lichfield Manchester Peterborough York |