Spiritual direction offers accompaniment for your own spiritual journey, time in which to share your reflections with a sympathetic fellow traveller. On the journey there is no one direction to be taken, no set itinerary everyone must follow. But that does not mean there are no maps, no signposts, and the role of the spiritual director can be to suggest resources from the Christian tradition which you might find it helpful to explore and reflect on.
Life Coaching is particularly valuable in finding a new direction for your life through a time of change - one of the biggest challenges we face. The good news and core belief of coaching is that we already have the resources to choose that new direction and start moving towards it. Through skilled and sensitive listening and questioning your coach helps you to clarify priorities, choose goals and set a programme for action.
The many ways of defining psychotherapy reflects the complexity and uniqueness of each human being. One way to look at the spectrum of psychotherapy is to explore the word itself. Psyche means breathe/soul; an intangible/unseen/mysterious life force. Psychotherapy is a trained way of working with this life force within and around us, that becomes tangible/visible in our lives through, i.e. body, beauty, creativity, love, relationship, sexuality and also through, i.e. illness, addictions, relationship breakdown, loss, disconnection, homelessness, anxiety, depression and so on. The relationship between therapist and client, as an interpersonal invitation, is vital. Client confidentiality and the therapists own supervision contribute to the importance of safety. Psychotherapy is a process in which all aspects have meaning and value. Ultimately healing and clear direction comes from within the client.
The services of the following are available based at Emmaus House or elsewhere.
Andrew Bain (Spiritual Direction and Life Coaching)
Andrew is trained and qualified as a spiritual director (under the auspices of the Society of the Sacred Mission, an Anglican religious order), as a life coach (Glasgow Caledonian University), and has counselling skills training (COSCA). Andrew’s main inspirations are Benedictine and Franciscan; but he has a broadly based experience of the range of Christian traditions as well as training in Buddhist mindfulness meditation. Andrew has affiliate membership of the Association for Coaching and is presently working towards full accreditation. (For more about Andrew see “About Us”).
Barbara Buda (Spiritual Direction)
Following a career in social work, Barbara trained as a Spiritual Director prior to co-founding and running a House of Prayer as a member of a new prayer-based community whose vision is to share faith and food for the journey to God. She is currently a Core Team member of the Epiphany Group, which supports and provides ongoing training and supervision for those practising as Spiritual Directors in the Ignatian tradition. Barbara has a long-standing interest in the arts and is passionate about the relationship between faith, life and creativity.
Ruth Schaebler (Spiritual Direction)
Ruth was born and raised in Bavaria (Germany) and moved to Scotland 11 years ago. Trained as a spiritual director by the Epiphany group, she is involved in retreat work, one to one sessions and days of reflection in parishes. For nine years she lived and worked in a House of Prayer in Dundee. For over 20 years Ruth has had a special interest in body awareness, in finding the quiet, life-giving place within.
Contact details for appointments with Andrew:
Tel: 0131 228 1066; E-mail: info@emmaushouse-edinburgh.co.uk
with Barbara or Ruth:
Tel: 01786 469877; E-mail: barbara.buda@straitmail.co.uk or ruth.schaebler@straitmail.co.uk
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Wendy Robertson Fyfe (Psychosynthesis Psychotherapy, Medicine Walks)
Following a career in Higher Education (Cultural Studies and Social Science) and training in London, Wendy is now a psychotherapist working privately in Edinburgh and East Lothian, and employed at the Crossreach Post Natal Depression Service. Psychosynthesis is a psychospiritual approach to Self Realisation which honours and enables a personal journey of integration of all our parts contributing to wider cultural and global integration. The work can be brief to enable a particular point on the journey, or long term towards creating a ‘ground of being’ in authenticity with all of who we are in our homecoming with The Divine. Wendy is particularly interested in ‘body’ and processes of embodiment; the process of transmutation of which life crisis, conflict and trauma can be part; beauty, imagination and creativity. Wendy has also created the ‘Medicine Walk’ (sometimes called ‘Sacred Walk‘) along the coastal paths of East Lothian which is a ‘journey of the soul’ with our land body; a retreat for spiritual nourishment and guidance. It has been filmed by BBC Scotland. Wendy is also a writer, poet and photographer.
Wendy can be contacted on: 01620 892719 / 07748 175961, wendy.fyfe@btinternet.com, www.inner-source.co.uk