The Spiritual Direction Certificate Program is for individuals seeking a sacred path of service as a spiritual companion/guide that is spiritually oriented and not denominationally-oriented. It is designed to teach the art of spiritual companionship, so that individuals can tend to the holy through inner wisdom, healing, and compassion.

Intended outcomes are for students to:

1. Experience a strong professional spiritual director identity with the foundational knowledge and skills needed to support others.
2. Demonstrate profound self-awareness, including one’s own internal movements and patterns of reacting to others and to similar circumstances.
3. Demonstrate adequate knowledge of human nature, including the findings of the human and behavioral sciences regarding attachment styles, personality differences, developmental stages, psychological obstacles to flourishing, and of the spiritual life and workings of supernatural grace in the human person.
4. Exhibit a professional, pastoral approach to encouraging gradual moral and spiritual development, while respecting a person’s spiritual path and honoring the divine in each person.

It is important to understand the distinction between certification and receiving a certificate. There is no professional designation or governing body in the United States that currently oversees the certification of spiritual direction programs. As such, programs can be as varied as lasting two weeks to three years. Receiving a certificate or diploma from a training program usually means that you have successfully completed your specific program’s educational requirements. It does not mean that you have met the practicing standards of a particular profession. By receiving our certificate, you show that you exhibited a dedication and commitment to the art and ministry of spiritual direction. Your certificate shows dedication to those you will serve and supports your integrity with the greater body of spiritual directors around the world. It should give you a common language to use, an understanding of the rich history of spiritual direction, sufficient practice working with others, and a rich exploration of the Self and the Holy.

Program graduates receive a certificate from UWSI’s program in the Art of Spiritual Direction. The program has no credentialing status in Unity churches or Unity Worldwide Ministries.

Our program consists of:

Although completing the tasks set forth by UWSI and your facilitators is a baseline, it is important to understand that our ultimate assessment of confidently issuing you a certificate lies in the nature of spiritual direction itself. It is as much a way of being, as it is a series of accomplishments you must achieve. However, we do have benchmarks. They are:

While this program is unique to New Thought tenets, it is for individuals who are called to companion others of all religions and spiritual backgrounds or none. The program has no credentialing status in Unity churches or Unity Worldwide Ministries.

$6850

You will receive training and education that will equip you to provide spiritual direction and companionship to others in your own spiritual direction practice. This practice can take place with church-going individuals and or members of the greater community. It is a service that can be provided to anyone, since it is interspiritual and not denominationally-oriented. The program is meant to be available to anyone, within Unity or otherwise.

Unfortunately, no, you’ll be responsible for purchasing those separately.

No Unity education prerequisites are required. However, recommendation letters demonstrating an individual’s spiritual leadership, or desire to lead, are a part of the application process. The Spiritual Direction Certificate Program is for anyone called to minister to others through one on one or group spiritual companioning.

Currently, yes.

Courses are done live, but to enhance the learning experience, some classes may include both synchronous and asynchronous learning modules.

Weekly.

We engage instructors who are experts in their field, almost all of whom are spiritual directors themselves, for a rich, new, unique, spiritual direction learning experience.

The Spiritual Direction Certificate Program is a cohort-based learning community. Each class will build upon the previous one experientially. Classes for the program are not available individually.

This depends on the class and curriculum of each instructor. You can expect some of this to occur. You will also be meeting with individuals under your care as a spiritual director.

Our sincere hope is for you to use a person trained specifically in spiritual direction. We have a list of spiritual directors that can be found here. You can also visit the Spiritual Directors International website to choose from over 6600 spiritual directors. If you resonate with a spiritual director from a different faith tradition from yours they can often provide additional tools for your own growth and practice.

No, but ongoing formation is encouraged. It is also strongly recommended and ethically appropriate that if spiritual directors are providing spiritual direction for others that they remain in both spiritual direction and peer supervision. Spiritual Directors International provides ongoing formation classes for spiritual directors who wish to continue their development and practice.

Spiritual Directors granted a certificate in our program provide a different function that is not specific to Unity churches, though a spiritual director can work within a church in support of the ministry. Spiritual directors provide a reflective ministry to individuals and small groups through private practice. Their function is different than a minister.

Absolutely! Class time will almost always be in the evening or on weekends. That time totals three hours, or two one- and one-half hour classes. A helpful, but generous estimate for time outside of class, should be no more than two hours weekly per class. Our program consists of two online evening classes per quarter for two years, one-on-one online meetups with designated program advisors every quarter and regular sessions with your own spiritual director. In the second year, students also engage in an internship involving spiritual direction with two directees and a monthly session with a spiritual direction supervisor.

Unfortunately, no. A spiritual direction relationship with a student could create an appearance of favoritism. Additionally, in the unlikely instance of requiring adjudication, a staff member/instructor has administrative authority over a student that could be influenced by the relationship created as a spiritual director/directee.