I long to live life to the full, but how can I respond to this longing?

 

In Spiritual Direction you are invited to explore your relationship with God, however you express or understand spirituality or faith. Or perhaps you need a safe space where you can talk about the things in life that you find most important but don't quite know how to articulate.

 

Have you ever considered that your deepest longings might be a reflection of how God loves and longs for you? If we want to live life to the full, we may find ourselves drawn to deepen our relationship with this God of love and longing.

 

What do I really want from my life? How can I explore what is going on inside of me where it matters most?

 

How can I become more fruitful and more impactful? More alive, more loving?

 

How can my relationship with God become more meaningful, more personal? How can I pray?

 

How can I keep trusting – or keep living -  when the faith I used to hold no longer makes sense? When I no longer know who or what ‘God’ is?

 

How can I follow Christ in a way that fits and makes sense in my life?

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And what are your questions?

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What happens in spiritual direction, and what is the role of the spiritual director?

 

In spiritual direction we reflect together on your life experiences and the questions that arise out of them: small and big, light and dark. The ‘spiritual’ and the ‘ordinary’ are equally important in discovering who God is, and who God is for you. Your response to God can grow from this understanding, and you can begin to discern and choose how to respond.

Spiritual direction is less about being directed and much more about being encouraged to draw closer to God in a most personal way. The real ‘director’ is the Holy Spirit, who breathes life into your relationship with God.

It is a sacred privilege to be invited to share your story. I am not a therapist or a teacher, but I am a fellow seeker and can be a companion on your life’s journey. Perhaps we might agree that the term ‘spiritual accompaniment’ expresses our relationship better.

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You are welcome, whoever you are, wherever you have come from, whatever you bring.

 

There is a wide and wonderful world in God to explore!

 

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Some practicalities

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We will typically meet together for an hour every 4 - 8 weeks, at my home or another place that suits us both.

I charge for my work, on a sliding scale, usually between £30 and £50. Let's talk about this!

All of our conversation is held in professional confidence. I work under colleague supervision.

 

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Exploring heart and voice : my context and impetus

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My life has been characterized for as long as I remember by a longing for authenticity, freedom and truth. Coming from a Christian home, it has been the adventure and the challenge of my whole life to be seeking a really personal faith that fits who I am in the world and that I can own with all my heart.

 

With evangelical roots, I lived in ecumenical community in Switzerland for 6 years, raised my family in the Church of England, and for a year led a team offering spiritual direction in a Roman Catholic parish in Manhattan.

 

And so I have come to esteem many expressions of Christian spirituality, including charismatic spontaneity, traditional liturgical rhythms, and contemplative stillness. Exploring meditative practices and mysticism has helped widen my perspective and I find it exciting to encounter with a broad range of spiritualities and world faiths. I affirm diversity including LGBTQ+.

 

 

Creativity is part of how I express myself and where I come alive! This includes playing the oboe, conducting choirs, painting, and writing poetry. I also teach Alexander Technique, which I love to describe as an embodied method of seeking, resting in and responding to life’s events from a quiet inner space. All this contributes to the integration of all that i am, heart-soul-mind-strength!

 

I warmly welcome your contact.

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Some relevant roles and experience:

Spiritual Director: training at London Center for Spiritual Direction, 2015-2020

St Albans Diocese Prayer and Spirituality Resourcing Group leadership team

Tutor, "Encounter" training in Spiritual Direction at (LCSD), 2020 - present

Guest tutor, SD training Notts and Southwell Diocese 2022

Retreat/Quiet Day Leader, freelance, 2013- present​

Leader of SD team, Epiphany RC Church, NYC 2018-2019

Founder, Community for Spiritual Directors NYC, 2019

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