Seek and Find: A Worldwide Resource Guide of Available Spiritual Directors is the first-ever comprehensive, global listing of available spiritual directors.
>>> Click here to view the Seek and Find Guide.
>>> Click here to join Spiritual Directors International and be included in the Seek and Find Guide.
>>> Click here to submit corrections to, or be removed from, the Seek and Find Guide.
For more information click a link below, or scroll down the screen.
The Purpose of the Seek and Find Guide
Members are already in the guide!
I’m a member but I don’t see my name in the Seek and Find Guide.
Why would this be?
Seek and Find Expanded Listing
Timely Updates
Print Version
Seek and Find Guide Comments and Suggestions
Questions seekers might ask
What do I do if I get a bad feeling about someone who calls me?
A prospective spiritual directee wants to know about an engagement agreement. What’s that?
Why aren’t e-mails listed for every spiritual director?
The Purpose of the Seek and Find Guide
Remember when you first sought a spiritual director? Spiritual Directors International’s desire is to provide an easy, inviting way for seekers to find and contact a spiritual director. Often, this a vulnerable time for a seeker. Therefore Spiritual Directors International asks that all spiritual directors listed in the Seek and Find Guide respond to inquiries within 48 hours and invite seekers to interview at least one other spiritual director during their search process, if appropriate.
The Seek and Find Guide will only list spiritual directors open to receiving new directees. Many members of Spiritual Directors International are not actively available for spiritual direction. If you are not available to seekers and new directees, please remove your name from the Seek and Find Guide. Some reasons you may not want your name listed:
- You are an intern in formation.
- You are a busy faculty member.
- Your current time availability does not allow for new directees.
- You are retired from offering spiritual direction.
- You do not want to receive inquiries about spiritual direction from the general public.
Even if you remove your name from the Seek and Find Guide, you remain a full member of Spiritual Directors International.
Members are already in the guide!
As a member of Spiritual Directors International, your basic information will appear in the Seek and Find Guide unless you ask not to be included.
The basic information displayed will be your name, spiritual affiliation, city, province/state/territory, country, postal code, and telephone number. You do not need to do anything if you are available for spiritual direction and the listed information is correct.
Please update changes to your personal information to the Seek and Find Guide by clicking here.
I’m a member but I don’t see my name in the Seek and Find Guide. Why would this be?
In the past, some members have told us that they did not want their name to appear in lists or directories. In keeping with their wishes, we have not included those people in the Seek and Find Guide. Also, members who have told us in the past that they were not currently available for spiritual direction were also not included in the Seek and Find Guide. Only currently available spiritual directors are included in the Seek and Find Guide.
It is easy to have your name added. If you are a member, please use the Seek and Find Guide update form, to tell us that you do want to be in the Guide and that you are available for spiritual direction. You can access the Seek and Find Guide update form by clicking here.
Finally, only active members will appear in the Guide. If you sent your Seek and Find Guide update form, waited a week for the Web site to be updated, and you still do not see your name listed, your membership may have lapsed. You can find your membership renewal date on the address label of our latest mailings to you. If your membership has lapsed, you’ll need to renew your membership and may do so in our Web store.
If you are an active member who has sent us an update form and still are not finding your listing, please contact the offce, seekandfindhelp@sdiworld.org.
Seek and Find Expanded Listing
Say more!—expand your listing:
Seek and Find: A Worldwide Resource Guide of Available Spiritual Directors
All members of Spiritual Directors International receive a FREE basic listing in the Seek and Find Guide. But does that tell your whole story? For only US$ 25.00 per year, you can purchase up to one hundred extra words, allowing you to share much more about your ministry.
For example, you can include things such as:
- a description of your ministry
- your e-mail address or Web site
- your enrichment, formation, and training program name(s)
- the days or times you are available for spiritual direction
- whether you are available as a trained supervisor.
Why not expand yourself? For more information about the expanded listing service, click here.
Click here to purchase an expanded listing.
Timely Updates
The online Seek and Find Guide will be updated regularly to add new spiritual directors and to accommodate spiritual directors who make changes to their free basic listing. A reason for changes might include a change in telephone number, or taking your name off the list when you are not currently available for spiritual direction due to an extended time of sabbatical, vacation, illness, or other reasons.
Print Version
Once all the online information is updated and complete, Spiritual Directors International will publish a limited number of paper copies of the Seek and Find Guide and offer it as a resource to theology schools, retreat centers, hospices, and members of Spiritual Directors International. The fee for purchasing copies of the print version has not yet been determined.
One of the really big benefits of the Seek and Find Guide is that seekers might actually call you up. But every light side has a shadow side. Some of the seekers are probably filled with questions, and you might be caught off guard by that. But really, questions are a good thing. In fact, Spiritual Directors International recommends that seekers spend time discerning an appropriate person to ask to serve as their spiritual director. Examples of questions you may be asked are posted on the Spiritual Directors International Web site on the Find a Spiritual Director page.
What do I do if I get a bad feeling about someone who calls me?
It is normal and important to ensure we are in a safe place whenever we meet someone who is unknown to us. Just as prospective spiritual directees have questions about who you are as a spiritual director, it is wise for you to take precautions and interview the prospective spiritual directee by telephone before agreeing to meet with him or her. After learning about their reasons for seeking spiritual direction, mindfully choose where to meet for the first time. If you have any reservations, it might be prudent if you met in a populated public place for your initial session. Consider taking a mobile telephone with you. Do not rely on the other person for transportation. Always let someone else know when you are meeting a new directee for the first time, and when you are expected to finish. At the very least, write down some information (place and time) about your meeting, so there is a record in case of an emergency.
A prospective spiritual directee wants to know about an engagement agreement. What’s that?
An engagement agreement spells out the expectations and the boundaries of the spiritual direction relationship. It is always a good practice to use an engagement agreement. You can see a sample agreement on the Spiritual Directors International Web site, by clicking here.
Why aren’t e-mails listed for every spiritual director?
Three reasons: Spam, general membership dues, and pastoral telephone conversations.
Unfortunately, unwanted spam and solicitations to members and regional coordinators with e-mail automatically displayed on the Web site has resulted in members that are upset with Spiritual Directors International, instead of with the spammers. This is partially why the option for an e-mail contact was placed in an “expanded listing” field. A member can choose to add their e-mail, along with any text that is intended to help seekers. Every “expanded listing” requires a manual update to the Web site, and takes a level of skill that is costly administratively, hence the extra administrative cost.
Moreover, there are many reasons people join Spiritual Directors International. Some members do not want their yearly dues spent on the creation or maintenance of any listing of currently available spiritual directors. To honor these members, we will remove their names from any list at no cost. Additionally, we are committed to keeping general membership dues low by offering additional services related to the Seek and Find: A Worldwide Resource Guide of Available Spiritual Directors a “pay for use” kind of service.
Finally, we hope to encourage a personal pastoral telephone conversation between seeker and potential spiritual directors, to help promote a safe and meaningful first encounter. The telephone may or may not be safer than e-mail, but it does appear to be more pastoral.
Our hope is that we have found a compromise among the many desires of a global learning community.