Spiritual Direction &
Soul Centred Leadership Training
Philosophy
The Spiritual Direction & Soul Centred Leadership Training is based upon an apprenticeship circle model of learning. Our training is based upon the understanding that the deepest learning happens through relationship, modelling, and experience. The art of offering spiritual direction and service from a soul centre is rooted in seasoned learning, anchored in a lineage of wisdom.
With a minimum of 12 participants and a maximum of 16 participants per three-year cycle, the training is grounded in teaching, study, relationship, interaction, discussion and experience. The training is a two year program focusing on spiritual direction and personal development, with an awareness that the skills learned can be used in 1-1 settings, group facilitation, and leadership roles. A third year is available for supervision and extended learning.
Rooted in a 2-year foundation of Soul Care Spiritual Formation programs, there is an understanding of inner work, contemplative practices, shadow work, stillness, prayer and listening that this program is built upon.
Participants entering from other spiritual formation programs / experiences will be required to complete a 6-day Year One and Two intensive. (Online six 4-hour days, late August / early September).
Even if offering spiritual direction is not clear for your future, the art of companionship, soul care for another, and continued personal development and growth will enhance your life in whatever vocation you pursue. This school will equip you with a soul-centred approach to serving others in 1-1 work and any group leadership experience.
Spirituality
Rooted in a contemplative Christian mystical and Celtic tradition as well as drawing on wisdom from other spiritual traditions, this training is based upon the unconditional and merciful Love that the mystics experienced and expressed in their lives and writings.
It is the belief that we come from this Love and we are being re-membered into this Love.
Through Spiritual Direction and other environments of care for the soul, we are committed to creating spaces where this Love is palpable and accessible to all.
We believe this Love is healing and transformative and invites us all to live our lives in freedom and fullness, mercy and compassion, justice and kindness.
Soul Care also draws from the wisdom of depth psychology through dreamwork, archetypes, typology, and more.
Application
Applications are currently being accepted until our school is full.
Next program commences September 2026. The training will hold bi-monthly gatherings. One gathering per month will be focused on teaching and learning triads. The second gathering will be focused more on experience (such as dream-work), discussion, verbatims, Q & A and more. The schedule will include on-line classes and two weekend in-person gatherings for each year. Participants will also have interaction with each other throughout the training with monthly pairs, a group on-line forum, and opportunity to participate in the Soul Care Community meditation gatherings.
Current training Cohort is in their Year 3 Supervision that runs September 2025 to June 2026.
“The beautiful art of Spiritual Direction is a way of walking together through life. It is a sense of companionship through the ebb and flow of life, a soul friendship where one can lean into Presence and remember what is true. The truth of one’s being is alive in each person but most people fall into forgetting who they are and are pulled out of themselves into fear and control. The long journey of spiritual direction allows us to keep falling back into the rhythms of knowing the truth of our souls. Spiritual Direction is a gift guiding our lives towards being re-membered, re-turned, and re-called home.” Cathy AJ Hardy, Walk with Me
i) Requirements
- Completion of Soul Care Circles Year One and Two Formation Programs
- OR a minimum of two years of spiritual formation experiences (programs, studies, workshops, retreats) with 2 letters of reference. If applying without experience in the Soul Care Spiritual Formation programs an intensive will be required prior to the commencement of the training program.
- Two years minimum of receiving Spiritual Direction
- Discernment process upon application.
ii) Teachers – Local teachers and others from across Canada and abroad will form the instructive aspect of our learning. Teachers have included:
- Doreen D. Kostynuik, M.Ed.Counselling, Spiritual Director
- Dr. Marlene A Schiwy, Author, Jungian Counsellor, Body-Soul Writing Mentor
- John Welch, O. Carm. Dr Rel Ed.
- Lucy Abbott Tucker, SDI Co-founder, Author & Teacher
- Gertrud Muller Nelson, Jungian Author
- Dr. Tracy Busse DMin, LPC, ACS
- Kathi Bentall – Rivendell Retreat Centre, Bowen Island
iii) Curriculum – The Spiritual Direction Training Curriculum includes:
- The Art of Listening
- The Art of asking Questions
- Dreamwork and Spiritual Direction
- Creative Arts, Poetry and Spiritual Direction
- Self-Care and a Life-style of Contemplation
- Learnings from St. Teresa & St. John in Spiritual Direction
- Trauma Informed Spiritual Direction
- Family Systems and Spiritual Direction
- Archetypes and Spiritual Direction
- Engaging in Story as a Pathway for Transformation in SD
- Journaling Tools in SD
- Enneagram and Spiritual Direction
- Jungian Typology and SD
- Discernment & Times of Threshold Crossing
- Ethics and Power Dynamics
- Journey out of Fundamentalism and SD
- History of SD / Learning of the Mystics
SPIRITUAL DIRECTION STAFF with links to bios:
iv) Faculty
- Cathy AJ Hardy – Director & Founder
- Corrina Arnold MA MC RCC – Associate Director
- Beth Woelk M.SC – Associate Director
- Arlana Knuttila – Assistant Director
- Judith King – Chaplain support
v) Wisdom Council
- Kathi Bentall – Rivendell Retreat Centre, Bowen Island, Spiritual Director
- Doreen Kostynuik M.Ed Counselling, Spiritual Director
- Mary Boucher B.Ed MTS, Spriitual Direction
“It has been a beautiful experience to discover and be part of a community of kindred spirits walking the same path and learning together. I have been really touched by the wisdom, compassion and beauty of the souls in our class as well as the deep commitment, love, and wise teaching, from those leading the program. I have felt trusted and encouraged each step of the way. The breadth of the learning has been rich and deep and was complemented so well by the formation of the Soul Care circles which offer a solid foundation for training in Spiritual Direction. I feel as though I have come home in terms of my own spiritual journey…there is much resonance in the teachings with my own life experience and my intuition about the Divine and Love’s Presence within and surrounding each human soul and all of life on earth. There has been an honouring and claiming of Love’s original blessing, as well as the slow steady work of uncovering and rediscovering the soul. It has been an amazing experience of both learning practical skills for Spiritual Direction, and a deep commitment and calling to continue to grow in our own self awareness and soul work.”
~Inspired by the mission and vision of L’Arche, current long term member and former Community Leader/Executive Director of L’Arche Greater Vancouver.
I came into Soul Care Spiritual Direction Training believing that I wanted to learn more about companionship with someone on their own spiritual journey, and little did I know that as I learned more from week to week, the Spirit was doing a work of transformation in my own heart and soul. Through the training, I have come to see the importance of listening to someone’s story, and walking with them towards healing and wholeness. The cohort that I am a part of is such a safe place to listen, to learn and to experience spiritual direction. Cathy, Beth and Corrina are incredible teachers, imparting their wisdom to us, and modeling the beauty of spiritual direction. As a class we have been given some incredible tools and processes to use , first of all learning them and relating them to our own journey, and then we will be able to use them in our own sessions as Spiritual Directors. These years have been so full, but I still know that what we learned individually and as a cohort has changed all of us for the better. I am so glad that I decided to send in my application for this training, and so thankful for the transformation happening in my own life, and this training is helping me to see Spiritual Direction as a big part of my future.
~ Joy K, Winnipeg
