Professional Development

As professional development is one of the requirements for Conference of Spiritual Directors Australia (CSD Australia) members, details of such opportunities are offered below. These include coming events organised by CSD Australia as well as other spiritual direction associations.

If you would like to include details of your event here, please contact us.

Scroll down to see what events are coming up.

Save the Dates

You are welcome to join all or any of the monthly sessions.These sessions will be held via zoom.

There is no need for members to book. A zoom link will be sent to all members in the preceding week. No cost for members.

For non-members, you are very welcome to join, please contact communications to express your interest. 

 

Upcoming session

Welcoming in a Time of Reflection on Advent

Saturday 14th December  9.30am – 11.00am (AEDT)

As the Advent season approaches, we invite you to join us for a morning of reflection as we contemplate the journey of Mary and Joseph—navigating the unknown while embracing the call to welcome.

This will be a time of quiet reflection, small group conversation, and setting your heart in preparation for the season ahead.

All are welcome to join, CSD members a link will be directly email to you closer to the event. For anyone else please contact communications. 

Previously in 2024:

Saturday 5th October, 9:30 – 11:00 am (AEDT)
Safeguarding and Professional Standards

We warmly invite you to join us for a morning with Dr. David Treanor opening a discussion on safeguarding and compliance in the context of spiritual direction. Dr. David Treanor is the Director of Safeuarding and Compliance at Australian Catholic Safeguarding Limited. David received his Ph.D in philosophy from the University of Tasmania, Australia where he specialised in Disability, Ethics and Friendship.  

 

Saturday 7th September, 9:30 – 11:00 am (AEDT)
Sharing the Gift of being Spiritual Directors guided by CSD Reference Group

We warmly invite you to join us for a morning conversation to share our experience, wisdom, learnings and joys of practicing the art of spiritual direction. A morning guided by our CSD team and yourself. Creating an opportunity to connect with other members of the wider CSD community, with longer periods in break-out rooms to share your story, hear one another’s story along with the experience of practicing the art of spiritual direction.

 

Saturday 3rd August, 9:30 – 11:00 am (AEDT)
Sharing the Fruits of AECSD Conference: Paschal Mystery – A Reflective Time

Join us for a morning sharing and reflecting on the fruits from the recent AECSD conference. A few of our CSD members will share their experience from the conference. Breaking open the conference theme ‘Paschal Mystery’ by sharing of experience, along with having conversations in small groups and reflecting together as a community.

 

 

 

Previously in 2023:

Saturday 21st October, 9:30 – 11:00 am (AEDT)
Encounter: The Essence of Interculturality with Cathy Solano

Interculturality a theology calling us to embrace the rich diversities that God creates in our world. It is a vision of the kin-dom that Jesus preached, a belief that it is God’s dream for creation, and is also the deep yearning of all the peoples of earth. If we are open to the personal demands required for the process of interculturality we will be moved to address the fears fuelling the many problems of our world such as racism and exploitation. 

 

Saturday 2nd September, 9:30 – 11:00 am (AEDT)
Exploring Spiritual Direction from the perspective of Cosmogenesis with Peter Hay

Holding a traditional cosmology can be a blockage to a person’s growing and evolving into the very best version of themselves. Laudato Si and many spiritual writers and mystics as well as science have opened us to a new understanding of cosmology, our sense of the world and our origin. In this workshop you will explore how as a spiritual director you may be able to hold, understand and nurture a directee into a new freer experience of spirituality and life.

 

Saturday 19th August, 9:30 – 11:00 am (AEDT)
Spiritual Direction in the Professional Space with Dr Bernadette Miles

In 2022, Kardia Formation Pty. Ltd, with the support of the Patrick and Anthony Wright Formation and Education Fund and the University of Divinity, conducted research to examine how critical reflection through spiritual direction could support teachers in developing resilience, teacher formation and wellbeing. This workshop will explore the results of this research and pose the question: How is spiritual direction moving beyond the traditional and religious contexts?

 

 

Saturday 17th June, 9:30 – 11:00 am (AEDT)
Barriers to Contemplative Listening: Enneagram Perspective with Rev. Malcolm Drake

The seminar is called ‘Barriers to contemplative listening. Enneagram perspective’. Using Janet Ruffing’s chapter in ‘Beyond the beginnings.’ Breaking open each section on ‘head’ ‘heart’ and ‘gut’ and how this influences spiritual direction. Rev. Malcolm Drake ‘Retired’ Uniting Church minister connected to Adamstown UCA Newcastle NSW.

 

 

 

Saturday 11th March, 9:30 – 11:00 am (AEDT)
Counselling or Spiritual Direction: Making the Right Call with Rev. David Songy

Up until this month, David Songy was the Director of St. Luke’s Institute, Boston. He is a licensed clinical psychologist and spiritual director. He will explore with us the unique benefits of psychological counselling and spiritual direction offering strategies for choosing and appropriate path of support and treatment.

 

 

 

Previously in 2022:

Saturday 19th November, 9:00 – 12:00 pm
Intensive Journal Workshop with Kate Scholl

Join us for a three hour morning workshop presented by Kate Scholl from Eremos. Is it time to pause and take a look at where / who you are?The Intensive Journal process provides a means to clarify one’s purpose, deepen relationships and live more authentically. We invite you to participate and engage with this wonderful process which connects us deeply to our inner resources and opens new awareness.

 

 

Saturday 8th October, 9:30 – 11:00 am
Exploring an article together: Spiritual Direction, the Wonder of the Incarnation with Philip Carter

A Conversation on Spiritual Direction, the Wonder of the Incarnation by Philip Carter. A morning reflecting together on the insight and what resinates from Philip Carters article. Small group conversations enable deeper conversation along with sharing in the larger group.

 

 

Saturday 10th September, 9:30 – 11:00 am
The Language of Silence with Sally Longley

If silence is God’s first language (St John of the Cross), then how fluent are we in this language? What are some of the ways we can develop our vocabulary and nuanced  communion with the Divine through silence? And what are some ways we can encourage our directees on this path of conversations with silence?  Sally Longley is a pastor, retreat leader, spiritual director and author based in Sydney, Australia.

 

 

Saturday 20th August, 9:30 – 11:00 am
Contemplative Supervision: An invitation to grow with Lynette Dungan

What does contemplative supervision look like? Images and perspectives. Who am I as a supervisor? Who am I as a supervisee? What do we hope to foster in spiritual direction supervision? And what are the shadows to be aware of? Ethics and Opportunities to grow.

 

 

Saturday 28th May, 9:30 – 11:00 am
Discuss the latest podcast with Brene Brown and Richard Rohr, and its impact on us as spiritual directors. 

Spirituality, Certitude, and Infinite Love. This is a two part series podcast. Father Richard graciously expands on just a few of the quotes that have turned Brene Brown’s world upside down, sharing his thoughts on what it means to be humbled by the mysteries of faith; how we often misinterpret God as a dictator, not a lover; and how we’re ill-equipped to grasp the infinite nature of God and God’s love.

 

 

​Saturday 5th March, 9:30 – 11:00 am
Jungian concept of the “Shadow” and its impact on spiritual direction with Fr Joe McHugh SJ

The Swiss psychiatrist and psychoanalyst Carl Jung developed the concept of the “human shadow” to describe a collection of certain aspects of an individual’s personality which can inhibit and limit a person’s ability to live a fuller and more fruitful life. It is helpful for spiritual directors to be able to recognize how the “human shadow” functions, both in themselves and in their directees.  A clearer awareness of how the “human shadow” works might better enable both directee and director to be to be more attentive, to where the Spirit might be leading.

 

Saturday 12th Feburary, 9:30 – 11:00 am
The Resilient Spiritual Director: Strengthening the Inner Life in Challenging Times with Dr Robert Wicks

One of the greatest gifts we can share with others is a sense of our own peace. However, we can’t share what we don’t have. By discussing spiritual and psychological approaches to maintaining a healthy perspective and inner strength in challenging times, Dr. Wicks, an expert on the prevention of secondary stress (the pressures experienced in reaching out to others) offering insights into how we can live in peace and, in turn, extend our warmth to others without losing our own inner fire in the process.

 

Previously in 2021:

Wednesday 8 December, 7:00 – 8:30pm
Advent Prayer with Carole Carmody

Carole Carmody will lead us in a time of prayer and reflection at the beginning of the season of Advent. Carole is a supervisor at Heart of Life. She is Sister of Mercy with a passion for the contemplative approach to spiritual direction, prayer, formative processes and retreats. She’s also a member of CSD Australia. Please join us for this pre-Christmas event, that last one for 2021.

 

 

Thursday 18 November, 5:00 – 6:30pm
In conversation with President Elect of Uniting Church, Australia – Charrisa Suli

Charrisa Suli is the youngest person ever elected and the first person of colour to serve as President-elect, and the second ordained woman in the role. She is second generation Tongan Australian. In her response to the announcement Charissa said: “This is the Uniting Church I have come to know that has given me the space to grow and be challenged, the opportunity to try new things, to call me into mission and to exercise my discipleship and affirm my gifts as a leader, even if I looked different or did things that were different from the status quo.”

 

Saturday 16 October, 9:30 – 11:00am
Spiritual Accompaniment Among the Fringes with Elizabeth Lee

Elizabeth Lee has a passion for fostering human connection through deep listening and for being a listening presence among the fringes. Liz has a diverse professional background. In recent times she has had the privilege of offering pastoral care among those living with homelessness. She will share with us some of her experience and learning along the way. Liz is a Spiritual Director/Pastoral Supervisor and a member of CSD Australia.

 

Saturday 18 September, 9:30 – 11:00am
Images, Story Telling and Spiritual Direction with Peter Malone

We know that storytelling is key to our experience of spiritual directing and direction. Those in direction sometimes reference books and stories they have read or draw on writings of spirituality authors in the process of Lectio Divina. But reading is a diminishing activity these days. Images on screen and streaming have gained significant influence. References can be made to films and television, social media. There is also a place for “spiritual watching”, “Visio Divina” as part of our ministry.