Supervision for Spiritual Directors
"Supervision is a conversation between peers that ultimately fosters the well-being of the absent other" (Mary Rose Bumpus in Supervision of Spiritual Directors: Engaging Holy Mystery).
Supervision for spiritual directors is a contemplative process that happens either in a peer group or in conversation with a more experienced director. The purpose of supervision is to enhance your growth as a director in response to the movements of God, so that both you and your directees can flourish.
Peer group supervision is a good choice for some directors. If you happen to live in a community with lots of other directors, you will often be able to find an existing group of directors to join, or if not, you can sometimes start a new group with other directors. A peer supervision group may offer you a broader array of perspectives than you would receive in individual supervision. Peer supervision is also free since the members of the group provide supervision for each other.
However, peer group supervision is not always the best choice. Reasons you might want to consider individual supervision include:
For any of these reasons or others you might have, you're welcome to contact me for individual supervision on either a long-term or a case-by-case basis. I have about a decade of experience as a supervisor (mostly with students at Anabaptist Mennonite Biblical Seminary) and have graduated from Together in the Mystery, one of the few supervision training programs for spiritual directors in the U.S. I suggest the same amount for supervision that I suggest for direction.
"Supervision is a conversation between peers that ultimately fosters the well-being of the absent other" (Mary Rose Bumpus in Supervision of Spiritual Directors: Engaging Holy Mystery).
Supervision for spiritual directors is a contemplative process that happens either in a peer group or in conversation with a more experienced director. The purpose of supervision is to enhance your growth as a director in response to the movements of God, so that both you and your directees can flourish.
Peer group supervision is a good choice for some directors. If you happen to live in a community with lots of other directors, you will often be able to find an existing group of directors to join, or if not, you can sometimes start a new group with other directors. A peer supervision group may offer you a broader array of perspectives than you would receive in individual supervision. Peer supervision is also free since the members of the group provide supervision for each other.
However, peer group supervision is not always the best choice. Reasons you might want to consider individual supervision include:
- You live in a community where there aren't enough other directors to form a supervision group. In this case you can still receive supervision via phone or video calls from a supervisor who lives elsewhere in the U.S. or Canada.
- You want more detailed, in-depth supervision than a group provides. Some groups might only allot 30-45 minutes to explore your situation, whereas an individual supervisor will focus on you and your situation for a full 60 minutes. And if you're in a large group, it may take a while for everyone to take a "turn," and as a result you're only able to present your material 2 or 3 times a year.
- You wonder if your group might be missing important issues. A good supervisor can help you to address significant issues that a group might miss—or thorny issues that a group might avoid.
- You want to discuss your spiritual direction practice with a more experienced director. In some peer groups the members all have approximately the same level of experience that you have, perhaps even less. By contrast, individual supervisors have typically been directors for many years (sometimes decades). Although it isn't always possible, consider choosing an individual supervisor who's worked as a director for at least a decade longer than you.
- You want to tend confidentiality and boundary issues more carefully. If you live in a community where many people know each other, perhaps everyone in your peer group would know your directees if you divulged too much information. Though you're careful, several of the group members might even be able to guess who your directees are. In such a setting, confidentiality could easily be breached and boundary lines crossed. Using an individual supervisor from elsewhere in the country may alleviate these issues.
- You need an individual supervisor for a specific situation that has come up in your direction work. You plan on continuing with your existing peer group, but something unusual has arisen that you think would be more helpful to explore with an individual supervisor.
For any of these reasons or others you might have, you're welcome to contact me for individual supervision on either a long-term or a case-by-case basis. I have about a decade of experience as a supervisor (mostly with students at Anabaptist Mennonite Biblical Seminary) and have graduated from Together in the Mystery, one of the few supervision training programs for spiritual directors in the U.S. I suggest the same amount for supervision that I suggest for direction.
