This is not a short-cut program. The rationale is not acceleration or cutting corners but rather an intentional concentration on the essentials of spiritual direction in an intensive manner with a specific participant in mind. The SSD program is not just for anyone but rather for persons who have some basic theological background, formational experience, history of being in spiritual direction, and the time, energy, and capacity to engage a yearlong intensive hybrid program. Focused attention is given to the essentials of spiritual direction: presence, prayer, contemplation, listening, and discernment. Each is integrated both in theory and praxis in every course we offer throughout the year. Examples of suitable applicants are: pastors/priests and religious sisters with theological education or ministry degrees, professional or volunteer hospice workers, campus ministers, chaplains, bereavement ministers, and men and women who have participated in spiritual formation programs or are involved in, gifted at, or called to a ministry of accompaniment but who may lack formal training as a spiritual director and/or may not have geographical access to a local program.
NOTE: The entire program technically constitutes approximately a 15-month period because we lengthened the breaks in between modules to allow ample space for the participants to engage in a more contemplative processing of the materials and their own training experience. In addition, we incorporated pre-practicum supervised SD practice sessions (“Real Plays”) in dyads. We also lengthened the Group Spiritual Direction (GSD) module from 4 weeks to 6 weeks to allow more time for praxis.