The first phase of the Wellstreams program is open to anyone seeking spiritual awakening in community. Students will be invited to live a more contemplative life, discover greater freedom to bring more compassion to the world, nurture healthier relationships with the divine, others, and the world, based on a holistic view of self, enhance skills for empathetic listening, discernment, and community building, and deepen expressions of spirituality.
The second phase of Wellstreams provides practical experience in preparation for offering spiritual companionship, with continued discernment and learning. Students will be trained to provide spiritual direction individually and in groups, offer retreat leadership and small group formation, and enhance skills and presence in caring professions.
Completion of Awakening is a prerequisite for Immersion.
I
Wellstreams Awakening
Into the calm of life there often falls an unexpected stone of awareness. While sinking into unfamiliar depths of discovery, it also stirs up the clear refreshing waters within. This water cannot be contained but insists on streaming out in a life of thanksgiving and compassion. The Wellstreams program honors in each individual this ever-deepening cycle of awareness and empowerment.
II
Wellstreams Immersion
In late 1992, Carol Ann Spencer, a Dominican Sister, assembled a team of spiritual directors, all of whom were trained by the very best spiritual formation institutes both domestically and internationally. Together, they set out to develop a new training program to serve central Ohio. After four years of research and planning, the first group of ten supervisors and nineteen students gathered in January, 1996, and Wellstreams was born.
Carol Ann believed that 90% of what is needed to be a good spiritual director is to be faithful to our own spiritual journey. The remaining 10% is a set of tools and skills that can be taught. She also believed that excellent supervision is the key to equipping students to be confident and successful in their work.
Thirty years have passed since that first class, and Wellstreams continues to be shaped by the precedent Carol Ann set. In our two-phase program, students explore practices of spiritual formation, discern their call to spiritual direction, and undertake a practicum as directors-in-training.
I. Wellstreams Awakening
The first phase of the Wellstreams program is open to anyone seeking spiritual awakening in community. Students will be invited to live a more contemplative life, discover greater freedom to bring more compassion to the world, nurture healthier relationships with the divine, others, and the world, based on a holistic view of self, enhance skills for empathetic listening, discernment, and community building, and deepen expressions of spirituality.
Hear our students describe their Wellstreams experience in an episode of our podcast, Awakening Lives.
Hear our students describe their Wellstreams experience in an episode of our podcast, Awakening Lives.
II. Wellstreams Immersion
The second phase of Wellstreams provides practical experience in preparation for offering spiritual companionship, with continued discernment and learning. Students will be trained to provide spiritual direction individually and in groups, offer retreat leadership and small group formation, and enhance skills and presence in caring professions.
Completion of Awakening is a prerequisite for Immersion.
Questions? Contact program director Amanda Cushing at 614 228-8867 or ascushing4@spiritualitynetwork.org.