Spiritual Direction Practicum

Spiritual direction is essential to the quest for justice and peace in our world. For years, Still Harbor has trained emerging and experienced spiritual leaders committed to collective liberation through a formative nine-month program.

flame-lighting-light-finger-hand-candle-1533033-pxhere.com.jpg

What Is Spiritual Direction?

Spiritual direction is more than a contemplative process — it is a diverse and holistic approach to spiritual healing. This sacred practice integrates embodied experiences, contemplative reflection, and creative expression to nurture a deeper awareness of the sacred.

At Still Harbor, spiritual direction may include:

  • One-on-one spiritual relationships grounded in trust and confidentiality

  • Contemplative practices such as meditation, prayer, and reflection

  • Embodied modalities like yoga, movement, and dance that connect body and spirit

  • Listening and discernment to recognize the movement of the divine in everyday life

Spiritual direction is not counseling or therapy. It is a sacred practice of accompaniment that invites awareness, healing, and transformation through the integration of mind, body, and spirit.

Who the Program Is For

The Still Harbor Spiritual Direction Practicum welcomes participants who feel called to offer spiritual accompaniment to others, including:

  • People from diverse spiritual, religious, and cultural backgrounds

  • Community leaders, organizers, and activists integrating spirituality and justice

  • Clergy, chaplains, healers, and caregivers deepening their spiritual presence

  • Those discerning a vocation in spiritual direction or contemplative practice

Still Harbor is especially committed to participants from underrepresented communities, affirming the sacredness of all identities.

The Still Harbor Spiritual Direction Practicum

A nine-month virtual training that equips participants from many traditions with the skills to offer one-on-one spiritual direction. The curriculum blends readings, group discussion, written reflection, embodied practice, and contemplative learning.

Distinctive Features

  • Independent of any single religious tradition

  • Practice-based, experiential learning model

  • Rooted in collective liberation and justice-centered spirituality

  • Incorporates embodied spiritual practices such as movement, ritual, and creative expression

Centering People on the Margins

Still Harbor’s practicum is led by people on the margins, centering queer and trans leadership to prioritize the spiritual care of queer and trans communities. This commitment shapes the program’s culture, pedagogy, and community, resisting spiritual abuse and affirming inclusive spiritual practice.

Learning in Affinity Groups

Participants engage in identity-based learning communities for reflection and accountability:

  • White Accountability Group

  • BIPOC Affinity Group

These groups provide space for honest dialogue, growth, and mutual support within an affirming environment.

Program Components

  • Live Virtual Classes: Twice monthly experiential sessions on Zoom with group work, contemplation, and practice sessions.

  • Reflection: Readings, lineage reflections, and practice papers integrating personal and collective learning.

  • Spiritual Practice: Development of personal rituals, embodied practices, and discernment of call.

  • Monthly Workshops: Four sessions led by thought leaders throughout the academic year.

Program Outcomes

Graduates of the Still Harbor Spiritual Direction Practicum are prepared to:

  • Offer one-on-one spiritual direction grounded in compassion, embodiment, and discernment

  • Integrate spiritual direction into existing roles in ministry, healing, or education

  • Facilitate spaces of reflection, movement, and accompaniment within communities and movements

  • Engage spiritual direction as a practice of justice, healing, and collective liberation

  • Sustain a personal contemplative and embodied practice as a foundation for spirit-led leadership

Graduates receive a Certificate in Spiritual Direction from Still Harbor, affirming their completion of a rigorous, practice-based formation rooted in both spiritual depth and social transformation.

practicum instructor

Rev. Dr. Althea Smith Rev. Dr. Althea Smith, UU Community Minister, Spiritual Director, and descendant of enslaved people, is a contemplative who seeks a resting place with God that is healing and transformative, living into God’s commandment to love. She focuses on Afrocentric contemplative practices.

Founder of the Joshua D Smith Legacy Project, named for her son, who was murdered in the Summer of 2021. This project seeks opportunities to pair churches with community agencies to expand their social justice work. She is an abolitionist.

Currently, she is certified as a Contract Parish Minister and has worked with small pastoral congregations in New England. 

Rev Dr. Smith has strong community ties to Dorchester, MA. She is the Chair of the Board of Directors at Brookview House, a transitional living program for women and children experiencing homelessness. Brookview provides a safe place to live and programs to help build self-esteem.

 She embraces the work of Families for Justice and the National Council for Incarcerated and Formerly Incarcerated Women and Girls.  She supports them spiritually.

 She has a Doctor of Psychology from Boston University and a Master of Divinity from the Episcopal Divinity School. She is a retired Registered Nurse, an activist, and a community leader. Rev. Althea is also a wonderful listener and a keen observer who will challenge us to do our work of discernment. Her open heart informs her ministry as she works to abolish injustice and inequities in our community, country, and the world.