San Diego Spiritual Direction Training 2024/2025

This spiritual direction modality of ministry is the art and craft of skilled sojourning.  Spiritual direction finds itself in a unique place among helping professions.  It is richly rooted in the history of the church, steeped in contemplative tradition, and was in its pre-modern time, the quintessential discipline for attending to matters of the interior life.  Modernity replaced this practice with the field of psychology.  While in some ways, psychological research, Freud and beyond, served the modality of spiritual direction well, the contemporary discipline of psychology has provided an ill equipped substitute for the spiritually discerning, attuned accompaniment of spiritual direction.  This course seeks to harness both, the richness of the tradition of spiritual direction as well as the contributions of object relations psychology and even more recently, interpersonal neurobiology.  For this reason, the content spans the spectrum of graduate level and popular level reading, personal prayer and reflection assignments, as well as rigorous clinical practicum (second year).  

What makes this program distinct from other offerings is its over indexing in cross-disciplinary study and an overview approach to other relevant (but less relevant) topics.  Our points of focus are curated to ministry with Christian professionals living and working in a post Christian context.  To learn more about our training distinctions, click here.

Overview

• 2 year training program resulting in all requirements met for membership into Spiritual Directors International and Evangelical Spiritual Directors Association.  You do not have to join these organizations, but you will need to join at least one if you want to secure insurance for your spiritual direction practice.  

• In the 1st year: 

   - Eight monthly 3 hour online meetings for Group Supervision (1.5 hours) followed by Book Discussion & Instruction (1.5 hours) with a brief break in between (dates and times listed below).

   - Eight monthly 1.5 hour in person Prayer Project Reivew meetings (dates and times listed below).

   - One day cohort retreat (date and time listed below).

   - Approximately one book per month of reading due.

• In the 2nd year:

- Nine monthly 1.5 hour online meetings for Group Supervision

- Nine monthly 1.5 hour video presentations to watch prior to discussion

- Nine monthly 1.5 hour online prayer and presentation reflection

- You will pick a spiritual direction topic of research and create and record a 45 minute presentation of the topic

- At least two meetings with directees per month for 10 months.

- You must be in personal spiritual direction

Meeting Dates for 2024/2025 Cohort

In-Person Cohort Retreat

Saturday, January 4 from 9:30am-5:30pm PT

Location: San Diego, CA (address will be provided)

Saturdays (Group Supervision, Book Discussion & Instruction Zoom call from 9:30am-12:30pm PT)

2024

September 7 (first years from 11am-12:30 PT this meeting only)

October 5 

November 2 

December 7

2025

February 1

March 1 

April 5 

May 3

Thursdays (Prayer Project Review In Person from 7:00- 8:30pm PT- San Diego address will be provided)

2024

September 19 

October 17

November 14 

December 19

2025

January (In-person retreat Jan. 4) 

February 20 

March 20 

April 17 

May 15

Application

If you have questions please email julie@nuosformation.com or are ready to apply, send the following application materials by Saturday, July 6 to julie@nuosformation.com  

From there we will schedule an interview.  I would like to keep the cohort to 8 participants.  

Application Materials

Spiritual Autobiography (no more than 5 pages double spaced)

Answers to the following questions (approximately 100 word answers)

• What makes you interested in spiritual direction training?

• What is your understanding of what spiritual direction is?

• What is your relationship to Scripture?

• What are some books that have influenced your spiritual growth?

• What have you been saying to God lately?

Letters of Reference 

• One from a pastor or mentor

• One from someone who has benefited from your spiritual care

Cost

$2600 for each year 

Total of $5200 for entire Spiritual Direction Certificate Program

This can be paid each year or split into semester payments.  

Additional Costs:

Books: Approximately $200/year

Make up days $150/session

Personal spiritual direction $50-$160/month 

About the Instructors

Julie Barrios

Julie Barrios has over 15 years experience as a spiritual director, supervisor and trainer of spiritual directors. She holds an MA in Spiritual Formation and Soul Care from the Institute for Spiritual Formation at Talbot School of Theology and an additional certificate in Ignation Spiritual Formation from Loyola Institute. Julie has found great joy in helping people grow in the craft of spiritual direction. With interests in art, technology, embodied spiritual practice and thoughtful ideas of all kinds, Julie weaves her interests to serve her passion of forming directors for a rapidly changing and dynamic world.

Jason Tom

Jason Tom has long been curious about the ways people’s individual stories are woven into God’s larger story and how their everyday experiences shape how they understand themselves in that story. That curiosity led him to a B.A. in Psychology from the University of California, San Diego followed by a Master of Divinity from Fuller Theological Seminary and a 7 year stint as a pastor prior to becoming a trained spiritual director in 2021.  Jason has two young kids who ground his life in the place where silly and play meet the holy. He loves where sacred moments and irreverent humor collide to ground life in the encounter of oneself and God without pretense.