Online Spiritual Direction

Can Online Spiritual Direction Work For You?

Traditionally, spiritual direction has been a face-to-face, private or group conversation with your spiritual director. In today’s modern world though, online spiritual direction is becoming an option for many struggling to find spiritual direction in traditional ways.

Can Spiritual Direction Be Done Online Effectively?

Yes! Spiritual direction is simply a conversation between two people for a private session or between a group of people for a group session. With the modern technology available, this can easily be accomplished online.

When the pandemic hit, there was an even greater need for online counseling and spiritual direction. The tools for it already existed, but many therapists and spiritual directors were apprehensive to use these tools. They felt that it took away from the personal nature of the session.

The pandemic proved everyone wrong. Many moved to online spiritual direction and found that they could gain the same benefits from a live session as an in-person one. In fact, it offered some unique benefits, as well.

Benefits to Online Spiritual Direction

Easier to Fit into Your Schedule

With traditional spiritual direction, you had to stop what you were doing, commute to your appointment, have your session, commute home, and settle back in again. Essentially, this doubled the amount of time required.

With online spiritual direction, you can set aside 45-50 minutes of your lunch break at work to speak with your online spiritual director, and still have enough time to grab a quick bite before heading back to work.

With online spiritual direction, you no longer have to take a half-day off work or spend your entire evening commuting back and forth. A quick session can be taken from anywhere you can make a phone call or connect to the Internet.

Spiritual Direction Anywhere

You are no longer confined to driving to your spiritual director’s office. This has many advantages.

You are no longer limited to finding a spiritual director in your area. This actually solves multiple issues. One issue it overcomes is finding a spiritual director close to home. Spiritual direction is making a comeback, but the numbers are still low compared to the number of people needing spiritual direction. So finding a spiritual director close to home can be challenging.

For rural Christians, there may not be a spiritual director within 100 miles. No one wants to drive 2 to 3 hours to have a 1-hour spiritual direction session. The remote flexibility of online spiritual direction fixes that.

Remote spiritual direction also helps find the right spiritual director for you. All spiritual directors have a different approach. My approach focuses on practical spirituality and a direct approach, but if you want a more reflective approach to a deeper contemplative spirituality, online spiritual direction offers you the opportunity to go beyond geographical limits to find the spiritual director that is perfectly fits your needs.

A Bit of Anonymity

For some, the idea of sharing deeply personal stories with another person can be intimidating (for good reason). Meeting online can help with that. You can choose to turn off the video and do an audio-only session. Or, we can simply chat over the phone. For some, it adds that level of comfort that can’t be found in-person.

Flexibility

Your session is what you choose it to be. Want to walk in the park as we chat? Go ahead. Want to talk in your car during your lunch break from work? That sounds perfect. Want to deepen your faith without ever leaving your home? We can do that, too. Whatever works best for you.

Tools for Spiritual Direction Online

There are a number of tools that can be used to facilitate spiritual direction online. Here are some of the tools that I use:

Online Appointment Booking

To book an appointment, simply go to my calendar page and find a time right for you. It will automatically send a calendar invite with a link for logging in.

Zoom Online Meetings

I choose to rely on Zoom for private meetings and group sessions because of it’s ease of use (we don’t want to waste precious time with technology issues!). It’s a great way to connect with both video and audio, which gives us the same benefits of meeting in-person.

Direction by Phone

When all else fails, a phone call can do a lot. The Internet can be fickle. When technical difficulties arise, a quick phone call can continue the conversation offline. We lose the benefits of video, but for some, they may prefer it, anyway.

Which Do You Prefer?

I am open to using any of these tools, so when you book your session, let me know which option works best for you.