What to expect
Scope of spiritual direction
Spiritual direction ultimately seeks to look at God’s relationship to you, personally, and your experience of it; however, it may also include looking at your relationships with others, your environment and yourself, all of which are intimately connected.
The precise scope of spiritual direction sessions and what we end up talking about is determined ultimately by you, the directee, and what you wish to and feel safe to look at together in your sessions but may be reasonably limited by my scope of practice. I’m a duly trained and trauma-informed spiritual director and not a licensed counselor or psychotherapist. While I may use therapeutic techniques for which I’ve been formally trained (e.g., internal family systems therapy), at no point should our sessions be considered clinical counseling, psychotherapy or a substitute for them where needed.
As a professional courtesy from me, I ask that if you’re seeing or begin to see a psychotherapist, please inform them you’re also seeing a spiritual director and that some of what you discuss in therapy may also be discussed with your spiritual director.
Length, timing & frequency of meetings
Spiritual direction meetings will last approximately 60 minutes but may end a little earlier or later by mutual agreement at that time. I commit to scheduling a full 15-minute buffer after all appointments in order to allow us to run long if necessary; however, you’re welcome to have a “hard stop” and encouraged to let me know when this is the case so I can watch the clock for you.
It’s OK if you’re running late, but we may still end on time as scheduled, and I ask that you simply let me know as promptly as possible. I may or may not send you a reminder if I see you haven’t arrived but will wait up to 15 minutes, praying for you.
Our cadence of meeting will be monthly (every four to six weeks) unless otherwise arranged for special circumstances, and I ask that we keep this cadence going until you wish to end. This allows me to track with your journey consistently and for us to engage a work together that’s larger than the sum of its parts. It also allows me to project and manage my load appropriately. After several months of inactivity in our relationship, I may take on additional directees that may make it difficult for you to resume scheduling with me.
Scheduling, rescheduling & cancellation
Please use the link provided to schedule all appointments and use the links in the calendar invitation or confirmation email generated to either reschedule or cancel your appointment if needed. If you don’t receive a confirmation email, your request may not have gone through completely, and please follow up with me to confirm. Recurring monthly times may be available on request.
Rescheduling and cancellation are completely fine. Life comes up. I appreciate as much advanced notice as possible. There is no fee for either.
Term & termination of spiritual direction
Generally, I ask that you commit for yourself to six initial months of monthly spiritual direction, after which we’ll continue month-to-month for as long as you might desire. Many people pursue spiritual direction as a lifelong spiritual practice; some may only participate over a season for several years.
I ask that prior to terminating or “taking a break,” you reach out and let me know what your plans are. I’m deeply appreciative of the chance to have farewell conversations, listen to any concerns and offer any referrals openhandedly and openhearted.
Cost & billing
My present rate for new directees is $80 per hour unless otherwise arranged. This helps support the work of the Order of the Common Life, which employs me for the work of spiritual direction and training spiritual directors and gives me the ability to provide spiritual direction and retreats to others at reduced or no cost on a needs basis.
Around the end of each month, you’ll receive an invoice from Quickbooks, which can be paid via PayPal or ACH. Other arrangements may be made for international payments.
Confidentiality
I hold your identity and the identifiable content of our conversations in strict confidentiality. While you’re welcome to disclose the nature of our relationship to others or publicly, I will not do so except: (a) where you’ve made it known to me you’ve willingly disclosed our relationship to a given person, (b) if compelled to do so in order to prevent imminent harm to yourself or others or (c) if as a member of the Order of the Common Life our relationship is already known to its administrators on a need-to-know basis and with an equivalent duty of confidentiality.
Within my commitment to your confidentiality, I may discuss some anonymized content of our conversations with a supervisor or colleagues for professional or educational purposes—meaning all potentially identifying information (name, location, church, etc., anything that could reasonably be pieced together to suggest your identity) will be redacted, changed or fictionalized—subject to the great concern and sensitivity I hold for your feelings of safety and trust, which I’m grateful to receive and zealously protect.
I may take notes during and after some of our conversations, all of which remain strictly confidential. Paper notes contain absolutely no remotely identifying information, and electronic notes are kept securely under password protection and my sole access.
Accountability & safeguarding
While no centralized reporting mechanisms exist for U.S.-based spiritual directors, I have positioned myself to be fully accountable to and under the authority of both the Order of the Common Life (Vineyard USA) and Scarlet City Church (Columbus, OH). If you have any concerns about my practice or person that you don’t feel you can safely raise first with me, please direct them to jared[at]orderofthecommonlife.org (founding director) and/or jay[at]scarletcitychurch.org (senior pastor) or any of Scarlet City’s elders.
Please note that I’m presently pursuing continued development to this accountability and safeguarding process to include third parties. I would welcome any feedback to this end.