Spiritual Direction
Many people seek out professional counseling when something in life is wrong. But in recent years, many also seek out counselors to further shape what is right.
Called spiritual direction, the counseling is done one-one-one with a pastor or trained mental health worker. Lynn Holden, spiritual director at the Samaritan Counseling Center, said the focus is about being open to new ways of seeing and experiencing God.
"There are so few places in a crowded world people can talk about things of depth in their lives, (this) is a place they can do that," said Holden, who refers to the process as "holy listening."
Holden, who holds a master's degree in counseling psychology and has completed certificate programs for spiritual formation, has held her title for 18 months at Samaritan, which has offices in six locations including Butler and Cabot.
The Rev. Graham Standish, pastor of Calvin Presbyterian Church in Zelienople, currently counsels eight people including a pastor in North Carolina and a counselor in Florida.
Standish said spiritual direction is "life-focused," differing from Christian counseling in that it is not problem-focused. Many people who seek counseling with their pastor are concerned about their marriage or job. They are not asking "Where is God in my life?" he said.
Although more typical in the Roman Catholic faith, spiritual direction spans across all faiths. Standish said his counselees have been Lutheran, Pentecostal, Presbyterian, Methodist and nondenominational Evangelicals.
Holden said many of her clients are referred by clergy, but sometimes people have questions but are uncomfortable talking to their minister or priest about issues with the church or God.
For Ginny Corbett of Sewickley, spiritual direction was a way to move forward. Hearing about the program at Samaritan, Corbett has been meeting with a spiritual director for six months.
"It's really good to clarify your thoughts," she said. "I think it's really beneficial for everyone."
Corbett and others receiving spiritual direction usually meet with their therapist once every four to six weeks for one-on-one sessions. Counselees can have as many or as few sessions as they need.Not covered by insurance, Samaritan administrators say the agency charges slightly less than half for spiritual direction than for problem-focused counseling.Holden said in a person's first session they are invited to talk about the struggles or questions that led them to seek spiritual counseling.Each of Holden's sessions end with a "homework" assignment unique to each individual. Assignments can range from reading stories from the Bible to analyzing personal prayer practices.With no formal standardization of training, Holden and many others have attended certificate programs in formative spirituality.Some training is available at the Shalem Institute in Bethesda, Md., the United Methodist Church in Camp Hill and various Roman Catholic colleges.Standish has begun developing a two-year program at the Pittsburgh Theological Seminary. The program will include six to eight courses that address spiritual direction and spiritual leadership, he said.He said the creation of the program is in response to a demand, with more and more people seeking out the service.Part of the Roman Catholic and Episcopal faiths for generations, Standish said the spiritual direction program began to develop in the 1970s with real growth beginning in the 1990s.Although the practice has gained in popularity in the past two decades, Standish calls spiritual direction a "discipline recovered" instead of a trend."Spiritual direction has been part of faith since the beginning," he said.Eventually, pastors began to recognize that if they wanted to be healthy pastors they would have to be healthy themselves and began receiving counseling. In the 1990s they began talking to lay people and it grew from there.Alternatively, Sue Stangl of Pittsburgh was inspired to counsel after receiving spiritual direction herself.With a doctoral degree in formative spirituality, Stangl is a former director of St. Paul of the Cross Retreat Center in Pittsburgh. Like many, she began on that path through seeking out guidance."(I wanted) to try to determine what God was asking of me," she said.
