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What is Spiritual Direction?
Spiritual Direction is a form of coaching that revolves around your spirituality. Ben works with you to explore your relationship to your spirituality, facilitate opportunities for reflection, and encourage you to go deeper. Spiritual direction is not about learning a religion, or for me to craft a path for you to follow, but for you to have a space to work. Sessions occur monthly or bi-monthly, usually involving homework. Spiritual direction is non-denominational, though Ben works mostly with alternative spirit communities.

Spiritual direction is NOT therapy
Though similar in many ways, spiritual direction is not therapy. Whereas therapy focusses on obstacles and issues, spiritual direction focusses on opportunities and growth. In spiritual direction we will not be discussing issues more suited for therapy, but we will discuss how those life issues impact your spirituality. Ben is a registered therapist and can make mental health referrals to other therapists if the need arises. Please see below the areas we will work with:

Spiritual Direction Services

How Can I Help You?

Fees
General Sessions are 50 minutes long, twice or once a month. Single session: £80.00 (GBP) / $120.00 (CAD)

Sliding Scale
Unfortunately, sliding scale is not offered for spiritual direction services.

Insurance
Spiritual direction is generally not covered by insurance providers, but check with your provider to see if ‘spiritual counselling’ is included in your plan.

Spiritual direction has a different focus tha therapy, but utilizes many of the same modalities. Below are some of the areas we can work with in the scope of spiritual direction, especially in

Some specific areas I can help with:

  • Identity exploration and formation

  • Dark nights of the soul

  • Connecting to the Divine

  • Relationship between sexuality, gender and spirituality

  • Narrative and story in spirituality

  • Secular spirituality

  • Patterns, omens, and foreshadowing

  • Applying belief to life

  • Creating meaningful ritual and practice

  • Challenging unhealthy spiritual habits

What Can A Client Expect In Their Sessions?
Counselling jouneys are different for everyone, but below are some common stages in a counselling journey.

Stage 1: Consultation
In the initial consult we meet to discuss some of the reasons you are seeking spiritual direction, your goals, and a little about your spiritual journey so far.

Stage 1: The Getting to Know You Stage
In this stage, we are getting to know one another. I want you to give me a run down of your spiritual journey, and in particular how you’ve changed over the span of that journey. From here I get a better sense of your goals in perspective. We discuss some ground rules for sessions including your needs around how we work together.

Stage 3: Regular Sessions
These are the bulk of our sessions. These sessions are client directed, where modalities are introduced as appropriate, and where homework may be given. It is in these sessions the gentle challenges will be posed, and the deep work will take place. At intervals, we may take some time to reflect back on original goals and progress made.

Stage 4: Closing Down
Closing is as important as openings, and I usually include a small ritual of closing to end our spiritual direction relationship. A closing session is a good time to look back over the work and put any growth into perspective.

Stage 5: Subsequent Follow Ups
My door is always open for clients to return to do singular or multiple follow up sessions. Sometimes a client might like to work on a particular pattern or return to spiritual direction.

FAQs

Do you give homework?
I do tend to give homework between sessions, these can range from logging patterns, worksheets on specific competencies, and even journal prompts. Homework is not mandatory for our work, but clients report the suggestions are often very helpful.

I am a big believer that homework has to be relevant to and tailored to the client. I also love exploring fandom and popular culture to bring that in to our work.

How long does spiritual direction take?
It can take as long as you want it to, unlike therapy spiritual direction can be a long term commitment to yourself to have that place set aside for you to do your work. We do not meet as regularly, and some clients can choose to meet on a monthly basis for years. Sometimes clients need a short

Can I change my spiritual director if I am not connecting?
Yes, and infact if you start to feel that the working relationship is not working for you, then you should discuss this with your spiritual director. We will be talking about some deeply intimate and vulnerable parts of your life and mutual trust must be maintained.

What intersectional communities are you informed in?
I am proud to be informed in and open to serving the the following communities and their needs. As someone from many of these communities, my own spiritual journey has been informed by my experiences, insight which assists me in working with clients from these communities.

  • Kink and Fetish communities

  • Poly and Non-Monogamy community

  • Queer Communities

  • Neurodiverse Community

  • Alternative Spirituality communities(Paganism, Occult, New Age, et al,.)