My approach to spiritual direction

Spiritual direction is a spacious and compassionate space to take a sacred, honest look at your life with God. All parts of your life and soul are welcome as God is present in all of it. I ask that you agree to pay attention to what's happening in your life, to bring what you notice into our sessions, and listen and engage with God as you understand God/Spirit/Christ/the Divine. While I come from a Christian worldview, you need not share my faith or beliefs. I will do my best to honor your traditions, beliefs, and faith background, as well as your race, culture, ethnicity, and sexual orientation.

As the director, I am committed to listen well to you and to the Spirit within me, to pray with and for you, and to respond authentically to what I hear. I am not an expert or authority in this space, but a co-listener and will offer any responses with humility and openness. My job is to direct your attention to the Spirit, not direct your life or choices with answers, advice, or solutions. Spiritual direction is not counseling, therapy, coaching, or teaching. As we direct our attention to the Spirit of Love, I trust God will meet and guide you.

What does a typical session look like?

Sessions typically occur once a month for about an hour. We agree to begin and end our sessions on time and to meet in a private, quiet spot, minimizing distractions by silencing phone and computer notifications.

This time is your time: a sacred space to take a long, loving look at your life and so you are free to shape the way our session takes form. If you prefer a more structured format, I will offer a time of centering, which may include silence, a prayer, or a meditative reading. I will then invite you to speak about what you are noticing in your life with the Spirit. At any time you are free to pause our conversation to be in silent prayer, read from or write in your journal, or engage in another form of spiritual listening and responding.

Through the course of the sesssion, I will contemplatively listen, witness, and pray on your behalf. I may ask questions to clarify or evoke further exploration, invite silent prayer, share my noticings, or suggest possible contemplative practices for you to try. Together we will co-create a sacred space on your behalf.

Scope of Practice

It's natural for psychological and/or relational issues to come up through the course of spiritual direction. As previously noted, spiritual direction is not counseling, and if I sense that our sessions go beyond the scope of my abilities or the purpose of our meetings, I may refer you to a counselor or another spiritual director. If you find yourself in need of additional support, you may also request these referrals at any time. Spiritual direction and counseling are not mutually exclusive, and entering counseling does not terminate the direction relationship.

I aim to abide by the Guidelines for Ethical Conduct set forth by Spiritual Directors International.

Confidentiality, Consent, & Release of Liability

I hold your identity and the content of our conversations in confidentiality except for certain exceptional scenarios. I am mandated to report suspected cases of child or elder abuse by CA state law. I am also bound by conscience and my code of ethics to work out some way to intervene should you state your intent to cause physical harm to yourself or another. If this should happen, I will take steps to support you including one or more of the following:

Calling your emergency contact.

Calling your psychiatrist or psychotherapist if you have one.

Arranging care for you at the Emergency Department of a local hospital.

Calling an ambulance or the police if necessary.

For the purposes of supervision and/or consulation, I may share aspects of our conversations with my supervisor, Tara Owens at Anam Cara Ministries or other spiritual directors in a peer supervision setting. In these situations, I will take care to withhold anything that may be indicative of your identity.

Please know that you are free to share whatever you choose about our conversations with anyone.

Electronic safeguards: I do not keep notes of our sessions. Any stored data, email correspondence, and other identifying information is password protected on my private computer, and/or destroyed. By signing below, you are releasing any liability that may be attributed to cyber security breeches beyond my control.

Fees & Payment

I hold spiritual direction as a ministry, vocation, and also a source of support for my family. With that in mind, I offer a three tiered rate:

The standard rate is $85.

If you wish to subsidize a lower rate for those in less fortunate financial situations, you may opt to pay a supporting rate of $100.

A reduced rate is offered on a limited basis for those in difficult finanical situations. If you need to request a reduced rate, please reach out to me to discuss this option.

I ask you to appraise the value of this sacred time and consider what you might offer based on your ability and heart for this ministry. I will assume you will pay the standard rate unless you let me know of your desire to opt in to the supporting rate, or that you have a need for a reduced rate. And if what you are able to give changes over the course of our time together, please let me know.

Fees are payable upon booking an appointment which is outlined below.

Appointments & Cancellations

You may schedule directly with me at the end of a session for the following month or you may schedule an appointment via my online calendar or website https://katelaymon.com.

In-person appointments are available at my home in Auburn, CA. I also offer walking spiritual direction near my home. Otherwise, we will meet via Zoom. Appointment reminders are sent via email and include the Zoom link if we are meeting on Zoom.

If you need to reschedule your appointment, please let me know at least 24 hours in advance, either by changing your appointment directly through the scheduling website, through email (kate@katelaymon.com) or text (805-996-0841). Rescheduling appointments is preferred in order to apply your payment to the next appointment. If you must cancel an appointment, please also do so a full 24-hours in advance of the session. A small fee may apply in the event of a cancellation to cover the cost of refunding your money.

Cancellation Policy: Missed or cancelled appointments with less than 24 hours notice will not be refunded (except in the infrequent instances of illness or emergencies in which the payment will be applied to the rescheduled appointment). If I, as your spiritual director miss a scheduled appointment without 24-hour prior notice, unless due to an emergency or illness, you will be provided with one free session. This is standard policy within the healing professions.

Duration & Termination

Discernment is a part of our on-going relationship, not only for fit at the beginning, but throughout the months we meet together. Every once in a while I will check in with you and invite you to notice and reflect on your experience in our direction relationship and offer any feedback or changes you would like to see.

Either of us is free to end this spiritual direction relationship at any time. If an ending is discerned, it would be preferable to schedule a final direction session in order to provide closure to the relationship. This termination policy is not meant to be restrictive or proprietary in any way, but instead is intended to help both the director and directee know that the direction relationship is and will be maintained unless it is directly stated that the relationship is being terminated. This is designed to encourage a relationship of mutual respect and care.

Communication

If there is an urgent need to contact me between your regularly scheduled sessions, you may call or text 805.996.0841 or email me at kate@katelaymon.com.

In an effort to create and maintain appropriate relational boundaries, it is important to understand my policies on contact through social media. Please know that I will not initiate contact with you through any social media channels that I use for personal interaction. If you reach out to me via these channels, I will not communicate with you via social media channels, but will address any messages during our regularly scheduled sessions.

I do send out a newsletter via Substack with updates, thoughts, and resources for the spiritual journey. You do not need to be on Substack to receive this newsletter as it arrives in your inbox as an email. Please check the box below if you'd like to receive these emails from me.

If you have any questions about this covenant or our spiritual direction relationship, please feel free to bring these up with me at any time.

By signing below you acknowledge and agree to all the terms and policies of the spiritual direction covenant mentioned above.