Spiritual Director

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Kerry Wilson

Spiritual Director

Kerry Wilson, an experienced Spiritual Director in Guelph since 1997, sees herself as a “spiritual midwife” who helps to hear others’ spiritual journeys into being. Listening deeply, with one ear on God and the other on her directee, she holds safe space for going deep. Kerry is a SoulStream Companion, a Covenanted Spiritual Companion with Harcourt United Church, an official facilitator of the Work That Reconnects, and a past leadership team member of the Ontario Jubilee Program. She offers one-on-one spiritual direction, supervision of other directors, workshops and retreats for adults and youth and has been a guide/supervisor in the Guelph Ecumenical Week of Guided Prayer since 1996, as well as being an ongoing guest director/retreat facilitator/workshop leader at Loyola House Retreat Centre, Guelph.

As a daughter, mother and wife, Kerry is a passionate, ongoing student of the school of life, having taken life’s hardships and woven spiritual threads through them. She has a passion for directing the Ignatian Spiritual Exercises, and accompanies with a trauma and IFS informed approach. She is also trained in evocative spiritual direction, applied mindfulness, embodied spirituality, Celtic spirituality, feminist spirituality, the Enneagram, and creative spiritual practices. Kerry has a deep background in environmental and social justice work, embracing diversity and creating welcoming space for those outside of the mainstream.

Kerry is part of Guelph’s Eccumenical Christian community, is a member in good standing of Spiritual Directors International (SDI) and the Canadian Association for Spiritual Care (CASC), abiding by their ethical standards, and has attended many SDI courses, workshops and conferences. Spiritual Direction & Supervision are available by appointment only.

What is Spiritual Direction? I believe that life is a spiritual journey, and in that, Spiritual Direction is a conversation between two people in which we gently explore your understanding and experience of “God/the Sacred” (in whatever way you may name it) in all of your life. Guided by God, my role is to hold safe space, to be deeply present to what we hear, and to support your growth, exploration of spiritual practice, and deepening of relationship with the Sacred. Our relationship is characterized by deep trust, respect and love as you engage in this journey of discovery.

Services Offered

Both remote and in person

 

 

 

Ongoing Spiritual Direction – one on one, in person or remote

 

Directing the Ignatian Spiritual Exercises (Annotation 19) – a retreat in daily life.  Journeying through these exercises with directees has been a major focus for Kerry.

 

Ongoing Supervision for Spiritual Directors – one on one, in person or remote

 

Leading Spirituality Groups & Retreats – for youth, young adults, & adults in every stage of spiritual growth (including Prayer 101, “Praying in the Messiness of Life”, Spiritual Parenting, Creativity & Spirituality, Work That Reconnects, seasonal retreats and more)

 

Ecumenical Week of Guided Prayer – individual guiding, training workshops for guides, leading rituals

 

Events

Both remote and in person

 

 

Awakening the Artistic Soul

Exploring Creative Expressions of the Inner Life

at Loyola House, Guelph, Ontario

March 25, 2025 @ 7:30 pm ET – March 27, 2025 @ 4:30 pm ET

This creative art-based retreat will take you on an exploration of not just a variety of artistic practices, but also a deep journey into the landscape of your soul in a warm and supportive environment. No artistic background is needed for this silent retreat, and all materials and instructions will be provided. Come with an open mind and a willingness to explore and be surprised!

Each day will have three guided creative sessions, as well as restful open spaces for free time to explore the land and your own independent art. The day will end with an optional sharing circle to reflect on your process and experience – not product! You will never be required to show anything you have made, and an attitude of supportive, non-judgement will be cultivated collectively. It’s about the the spiritual journey!

Daily guided practices will take you on a deep inner journey, exploring how art can crack you open to the Divine. Creative sessions will include Visio Divina, Mirror Mandala Meditation, Doodle Prayer, Praying in Colour, Body Mapping Meditation, Play Dough Meditation, Salt Painting, Tangling Mandala, and Collage. Please bring your journal and sketchbook, any favourite art supplies (for free time), your open heart, curiosity and adventurous spirit!

$424 Ensuite Room, $379 Standard Room, $265 Commuter (prices include art supplies, limited to 20 participants

 

For more information or registration, visit https://ignatiusguelph.ca/event/awakening-2025-03-25/

 

 

 

Peace & Chaos: Journeying with Christ through It All

Friday, March 28, 2025 at 4:30 pm PT (7:30 pm ET) to Sunday, March 30, 2025 at noon PT (3 pm ET)

a Zoom Lenten Weekend Silent Retreat at home

cost – $100

  • Silence is observed after the first session Friday until the closing sharing on Sunday.
  • Four group input sessions will exploring various dimensions of this theme.
  • Four or five 45-60 minute periods for assigned personal prayer spaced throughout the retreat
  • Three 15 minute one-to-one spiritual direction sessions with Jan, Esther or another spiritual director.
  • Participants are encouraged to retreat in a physical space conducive to maintaining silence while they vacation with the Lord.
  • More details will be sent following registration.

for more information or registration visit https://soulstream.org/event/peace-chaos-journeying-with-christ-through-it-all/

 

 

Annual Offerings

Guelph Eccumenical Week of Guided Prayer

A retreat in daily life – a brief introduction to spiritual direction in the Ignatian tradition in which you pray and meet your director daily

 

Ethics, Professionalism & Supervision Workshop at Loyola House, Guelph

Ethical Conduct, power differentials, professional boundaries, working as a spiritual director inside and outside institutions, SDI, the what when where & why of supervision – full day workshop

Creativity & Spiritual Direction Workshop at Loyola House, Guelph

Creativity and creative responses of the spiritual director to the needs of the directee – full day workshop

 

 

Some Past Events

Spiritual Self Care Workshop – April 24, 2024

Join us for a restful and reflective time with Kerry Wilson to explore the sacred art of spiritual self care through practice, play and conversation. Kerry is a mother, spiritual director, educator, artist and music teacher who lives in Guelph and has spent years exploring soul care in practical ways. She views all of life as an opportunity to live into our spirituality as an intentional response to God, and invites you to join her on this journey.

During this workshop participants will be offered a short presentation on the spiritual need for space, rest and play in our lives, the barriers we might encounter along the way, and some practices that can help us to deepen our intentionality. Participants will then be invited to move at their own pace to several nourishing and restful activities to further explore and expand their own relationship to spiritual self care – which can take many forms! (You may want to bring your calendar along for one activity.) The workshop will conclude with a sharing circle for conversation and any further questions.

Coming Back To Life Book Group
March 21 – May 9, 2022 from 7:00 pm – 8:00 pm EST

For those of you who are interested in learning more about The Work That Reconnects and the Spiral, Kerry Wilson will be hosting a free book group based on Joanna Macy’s book Coming Back to Life: Practices to Reconnect Our Lives, Our World. Read chapters independently, then we meet on Zoom for group discussion, viewing videos of Joanna Macy’s teaching, and group activities. There will also be the option of additional one-on-one spiritual companioning with Kerry throughout the weeks.

March 21 – Introduction, March 28 – Gratitude, April 4 – Honoring Our Pain For the World, April 11 – Seeing With New Eyes, April 25 – Deep Time, May 2 – Going Forth, May 9 – Closing

Light in the Darkness – A 2021 Advent Retreat

Many are experiencing grief, numbness, and paralysis in response to both the ongoing pandemic, the climate crisis and the general state of the world. We often feel stuck and don’t know what to do. How can our Christian faith inform and transform this experience, helping us to tune into how God is calling us to bring the best of ourselves to our current world situation?
This retreat will focus on opening to God’s light, healing and inspiration in this dark time, and will help directees discern how they are personally being called to respond in their own lives. Rooted in deep ecology and the Work That Reconnects, it is based on the four Advent themes: Hope, Peace, Joy and Love. Each themed unit begins with “Breathing In” (focus on the inner life), then “Breathing Out” (focus on discerning how we move from the inner life into the world). Units will include a scripture reading, a contemporary reading, a suggested spiritual practice, music, and creative response opportunities with a focus on discernment. Participants are not expected to complete all the material, but instead to choose what speaks to them and use it as a springboard into prayer. Participants will meet with their director daily as they reflect on incarnation during this season. Through these embodied contemplative opportunities, directees can go deeper into their own experience of Emmanuel – God with us, and discern how they are personally being invited to respond.

 

 

 

 

 

My Training

 

 

 

Ongoing Supervision has been my most important form of training as I regularly examine case studies with my supervisor and Peer Supervision Group on my vocational journey as a Spiritual Director. 

 

Formation:  I Have Completed the Ignatian Spiritual Exercises in 3 different forms:

– Ann. 19 directed by Lorraine Dykman

– Twenty-four Spiritual Exercises for the New Story of Universal Communion directed by Lois & Kuruvila Zachariah (English & Zachariah)

– The New Spiritual Exercises (Savory)

 

Spiritual Direction Training

2024 Internal Family Systems Advanced Training for Spiritual Companions (Frank Rogers Jr)

2023-2024  Evocative Spiritual Direction Training Intensive (Wendi Bernau)

2023-2024 Trauma Informed Spiritual Direction Training through SDI and Jubilee National (Kim Barthel)

2023 Spiritual Exercises for Women Course (Elizabeth Liebert)

2021 Feminist Perspectives on Spiritual Direction through SDI

2021 graduate studies at Tyndale University, Toronto

2016 Spiritual Directors’ Workshop, Loyola House, Guelph

2006 Approaches to Spiritual Direction and Discernment, Loyola House, Guelph

1996 Course on Spiritual Direction (John Veltri, Tarcia Gerwing & Jean Mitchell), Loyola House, Guelph

 

2022-2023 Facilitator Development Program in the Work That Reconnects directed by Molly Brown, Mutima Imani & Constance Washburn

2022 Racial Justice Training Courses Levels 1-4, United Church of Canada

 

Supervision Training

2022 Supervision Training Course through SDI (Lucy Abbott Tucker)

2019 Supervision Practicum Retreat through the Ontario Jubilee (Miriam Frey, Maureen McDonnell, Jan Evans)

2015 Supervision Workshop with Janet Ruffing, Loyola House, Guelph

 

Authorship/Creations

– Illustrator of Amazing Friendships Between Animals and Saints by Greg Kennedy

– author of spiritual practices for children and lesson plans (online resources) that accompany Amazing Friendships Between Animals and Saints

 

Earth Day Liturgy author (with Greg Kennedy) – 2018 at Dublin Street United Church & 2019 at Guelph Unitarian Congregation

 

co-author of Encounters – a series of digital spiritual exercises for teens (co-author Andre Auger)

 

2013 directed the Les Miserables project – a 6 month musical theatre production involving 80 teens in spiritual practices & consciousness raising about social justice issues in addition to doing the show