Spiritual Direction Workshops

Throughout the year CFDM Northwest offers workshops on various topics for anyone interested in adding to or refreshing their skills as a Spiritual Director, and one-day Day of Prayer events for recalibrating one's connection with Jesus.

PAST Workshops

Together in Ministry

“Together in Ministry” is a continuing education program for Spiritual Directors. Find out more about our 3-day October workshop at Lemolo Point, Poulsbo, WA.

Supervision: Moving Past Frustration to Fruit

As spiritual directors, we know that we need to be in supervision, but often it’s not easy. Have you experienced that tension between need and reluctance? Supervision can be challenging on several different levels. First, because we are asked to turn our attention to something (Focus Question) that is not clear from a particular Spiritual Direction session we conducted; and in addition, it is often something that made us very uncomfortable. Exploring our focus question puts us in a vulnerable place. Second, the process of even forming and writing the Focus Question can sometimes be challenging. Then we must also consider: “Which session and what portion of the session do I bring?” and “Can I sufficiently remember the dialog?” While supervision does take a considerable amount of prayerful preparation and effort on our part, God is always there to meet us. Through supervision, the Spirit has much fruit to offer us: new awareness, increased freedom, growth, nourishment, grace, transformation. It’s our hope that this workshop will help you move past some of the challenges to the fruit and grace God has for you. In our time together, we will: Explore where you are with supervision; Identify places you’d like to grow and receive more grace; Help you brush up on preparing for your supervision sessions (ie: what to bring, writing your Focus Question). (Workshop held March 2020)

Day of Personal Retreat - Friday for Ministers

Ministers are trained to care for the souls of others, but are often less prepared to tend to their own. This Day of Personal Retreat: Friday for Ministers, is designed especially for those whose primary work is pastoral and who, themselves, desire to start the new year freshly awakened to a lived experience of God. Join others in community for an immersive experience—gathered prayer, reflection and communion; engaging with scripture for transformation as well as information through the Christian contemplative practices of lectio divina, solitude and silence; experience life-giving encounters with God and others. You will sample CFDM’s 9-month Formation program by attending this one-day event. If Jesus is the vine and we are the branches, poses Macrina Wiederkehr in her literary prayer, at  times we are “tired branches.” Our aim is that you leave with fresh life--more able to hear, see, and respond to God’s invitation to ever-deepening relationship, and further equipped to help others do the same. Come let us serve you as you serve others. (Retreat held February 2020)

Stages of Faith: From Certainty to Wonder

As spiritual directors, we listen. Learning to listen more deeply merits an understanding of spiritual development for the whole person. Stages of faith, one way to explore growth and maturity, provide tools to name the formation that occurs in seasons of life. Reflection on the sense of growth, or lack thereof, explores the relationship of the human and divine interaction. While the faith journey is not linear, it does have common characteristics along the way that serve as encouragement, challenge, and authentic experience of God’s presence. In particular, the journey from certitude to mystery uncovers the counter-intuitive discovery that growth happens in knowing less, not more. For this workshop, join us as we explore the various ways to look at stages of faith whereby you gain approaches for directees in whatever season of life. (Workshop held October 2019)

DreamWork 2.0: Learning to “Sleep on It”

This workshop is an opportunity to know yourself better and discovery how God might be working in your life by paying closer attention to your dreams. This workshop will include lectures on understanding symbol and metaphor as the language of dreams, animus/anima and your shadow-self, how to work with dreams that come in a “series,” and as time permits, the exploration of some whimsical topics such as the creativity of the unconscienced in using archetypal figures, animals, inanimate objects, and even colors to present you with “truth about your own life and soul.” (Workshop held March 2109)

Embodied Wisdom

God speaks in a myriad of ways, from gifts in scripture or nature, through other people, in the quiet of silence and solitude. One of the most neglected ways to listen deeply to God is through the body. Taking time to acknowledge, listen to, and address the way the body responds within a spiritual direction session gives clues to the interior life. Awakening to the power of physical responses can lead to greater understanding of the invitations God provides. (Workshop held October 2108)

Living a Formational Life

What are the practices and life rhythms that support a spiritual director and deepen an awareness of God? If you're a spiritual director, or you are interested in contemplative spiritual disciplines that grow your life in Christ, then this workshop is for you. Through a panel presentation, community discussion, and small group experiences, you'll gain fresh perspectives, insights and approaches that can help shape and deepen your own spiritual formation and daily journey with God. (Workshop held April 2018)

Contemplative Creativity

Play-filled experiences to nourish and refresh your soul. Finding ways to enhance your spiritual direction ministry. (Workshop held March 2017)

The Role of Dream Work in Spiritual Direction

Was the dream I had last night the result of late night spicy chicken wings or is God trying to get my attention?

One of the foundational precepts of spiritual direction is that God chooses to communicate with each of us. And second, as we learn to pay closer attention to the variety of ways God “speaks” to us, we can experience our Lord’s love and guidance in a very personal way. Dreams can be honest and reliable messengers of the condition of our heart (Psalm 16:7), as well as the voice of God within our heart (Psalm 17:3). A close consideration of the symbolic language used in our dreams can show up areas in our lives in which God is inviting us to grow. (Workshop held October 2016)

Creativity and the Arts in Spiritual Direction

Whether we know ourselves to be creative or honestly shudder at the notion, our loving God thought of us by filling the universe to overflowing with expressions of Divine creativity so that we can better know who is this God who desires nothing more than to offer us unending love. Creation points us to the Creator. By nurturing our own attentiveness, we begin to notice our hearts opening in new ways so that we can better attune to, explore and grow within this pathway to God. (Workshop held April 2016. We'll bring it back in the future.)

The Enneagram Revisited

This 4-hour workshop is for those who have some prior knowledge of the enneagram and who would like to learn more about how to use it as a tool for personal development. We will focus on the levels of development within the enneagram system as well as look at how the virtues help us to grow and develop into our truer self. Please have some familiarity with the enneagram by reading at least one enneagram book on the 9 types. It is not necessary to know your type but it is helpful to have an idea of what type(s) you identify with. A good book to read prior to the workshop is The Enneagram Made Easy by Renee Baron and Elizabeth Wagele if you don’t already have a book. (Workshop held October 10 2015. We'll bring it back in the future.)