What is the Difference Between Spiritual Direction & Therapy?

Spiritual Direction focuses on one's relationship with the Trinity God and on one's growth in holiness through prayer, service, and the sacramental life within the Mystical Body of Christ. 

This is a series of Posts for the FAQ of those seeking Spiritual Direction. We will be adding to this series along with links to other sites that may help provide more answers.

What areas in my life does Spiritual Direction address? 

 "addresses what is in one’s daily life as one prays their way through life’s complex decisions

and interpretations of their spiritual experiences in those everyday life circumstances."

(Joseph Tetlow, SJ)

Is Spiritual Direction Therapy?

Yes and No.

Yes: Therapy for the Soul is for today, tomorrow, and eternity. However, it is not what the healthcare system calls therapy today, which also uses the term counseling. The skills used overlap, while the focus and ends are different.

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What are the differences Between the Helping Professions and a Ministry? *

• Psychological Therapy: The mind is the focus for emotional health. It is a problem-solving focus with crisis management treatment for individuals in their relationships with the self and others for emotional health and well-being. God is not part of the dialogue, for they focus on the temporal time frame. Assessment (or diagnosis), planning, and treatment with an end goal set within a time frame.   

• Pastoral Counseling: Here the focus is on the mind and soul in relationship with God and others. It is problem-solving, crisis management, faith-based care where God is a primary partner for emotional health and well-being. It combines psychological treatment protocols within one's faith tradition. Assessment, plan, and treatment with an end goal within a set duration considerations within a temporal and eternal telos.  

• Spiritual Direction: The full human person ( body and soul) with all its facilities ( intellect, memory, and will), one's desires, and direction in life (both temporal and eternal) in relationships with God, others, and the self with Christ as the central focus.  This is a form of pastoral counseling where two people come together listening to the whispers of the Holy Spirit's direction for one to grow in holiness for service.  It is multi-dimensional, using all of the skills in counseling - assessment, planning, and 'treatments (such as prayer). Healing, health, and well-being are accompanying results. The focus and frequency change over time, for the intermittent goal is temporal, while the end goal is eternity.  It may also include teaching, mentoring, and disciplining.  

• Mentoring: It is caring for the development of another to improve one’s external actions, where the companion acts as a coach. in discipling another in the transmitter of knowledge.​

  
  

• Spiritual Companion : One accompanies another peer in their walk with the Lord. One may use some of the basic listening skills of a spiritual director yet do not offer direction. 

Other roles of a spiritual director 

At times, spiritual direction sessions may enter into the other forms of spiritual companionship to assist the directee in finding God’s call in their life. Depending upon the circumstance, the (human) spiritual director may accompany the directee in the roles as a spiritual counselor,  a companion, a facilitator, a coach, a teacher, a mentor, and always as a holy listener, for it is the Holy Spirit who is the Spiritual Director.

Am I looking for training as a Spiritual Director or a Coach, mentor, companion, or Practitioner as a Catholic?

• A Spiritual Director utilizes all the skills of counseling to help one develop a conscious, intentional, and active relationship with Christ, integrating it within a formation model that provides a solid foundation of the Church's teachings in the moral life and one who has an understanding of the stages of growth in the spiritual life, ways of prayer, in addition to theology, sacramental life,  and human development.  

A Catholic Coach, Mentor or Companion walks alongside and accompanies another in their spiritual journey, possible even as a spiritual friend (soul friend), as does a Spiritual Director, yet may not offer the formal training for the roles of instruction or counseling

How to Locate a Catholic Spiritual Director?

What is Catholic Spiritual Direction? ​

What does Catholic Spiritual Direction Involve?​​

What is the Training of a Spiritual Director?

Who Goes, How Often, How much, What to ask?

​* click on:  Training Programs  - section on different levels of accompaniment evolving today ​