Spidir offers resources and support for those interested in Christian Spiritual Direction. As part of that, we uphold a Code of Practice and invite Spidir members who accept the Code to adhere to these guidelines.
The ministry of Spiritual Direction is a privilege. It seeks to enable an engaged and dynamic interaction between life, spirituality and theology in the context of the directee’s life, lived in relationship to God, creation, the world, the local community and the community of faith.
The director has significant potential power and responsibility that should be exercised with care to ensure the intention of the relationship is not undermined. Such care needs to be practiced in the use of language, in the expression of moral judgements and in the handling of decision-making so that the autonomy of the directee is not undermined. To this end;
Spidir Members are required to:
- Have an ongoing relationship with God and a commitment to deepening that relationship by maintaining an appropriate spiritual life (personal prayer, worship, retreats etc.);
- Have an understanding of and be in sympathy with our Christian tradition;
- Be rooted in a widely-trusted faith tradition and transparent about religious influences in the spiritual direction relationship ;
- Receive regular spiritual direction ( e.g. at least 3 times a year)
- Receive regular supervision (sufficient for their own practice and workload) to reflect on and develop their practice, and to be accountable;
- Engage in ongoing training and development by attending courses or day events, reading appropriate books, etc;
- Explain and agree the role of spiritual direction to enquirers;
- Contract the terms of confidentiality and maintain clear professional boundaries; e.g. will not (ordinarily) relate to the directee in a separate context (for example as a friend, colleague or supervisor);
- Act in a way that respects the integrity and wellbeing of the directee;
- In matters relating to the wellbeing of a directee, act solely in the interests of the directee;
- Encourage directees to seek further support where necessary, e.g. counselling, medical attention, etc;
- Have knowledge of, and abide by legal and ethical guidelines – for instance in relation to Safeguarding;
- Comply, where appropriate, with Data Protection. (i.e. any personal data held about the directee will be kept in safe and secure place, available for inspection and destroyed at the end of the relationship).
- Accept that no charge is made for this ministry of spiritual direction for directees referred through the Spidir Network
Amended with permission from the London Centre for Spiritual Direction in conjunction with the Retreat Association
Safeguarding: If you are a Directee and have concerns about your Director, please contact the Chair of Spidir, The Revd Dr John Philpott-Howard at philpotthoward@aol.com