Making a Living
As a Spiritual Companion
Cultivating and Aligning Our
Money, Purpose, & Well-Being
A New Course from SDI, beginning January
2025, Including 8 Presenter Sessionsand 3 Workshop Sessions
Presenters
Douglas Tsoi
Stacey Couch
Wendie Bernstein Lash
Hailey Mitsui
Christina Roberts
Josh Proctor
Dina ElBadry
Cynthia Winton-Henry
Dates
Eight 90-minute Presenter Sessions: January 6 – February 24, 2025 (Mondays at 10am Pacific)
Three 90-minute Workshop Sessions with SDI Staff Amrutham Babu and Matt Whitney: January 15, February 5, February 26 (Wednesdays at 10am Pacific).
Duration
Webinar will be recorded.
True success is measured not just by what we earn, but by how we align our purpose with the world’s deep need.
SDI is excited to announce the launch the latest version of it’s most popular course, “Making a Living as a Spiritual Companion.” We are offering eight session with experienced professionals who will share their recipes for turning spiritual companionship into a financially sustainable career. This is for all spiritual companions – and those training – who want to follow their calling AND pay the rent. Together, we will learn, grow, and empower one another to serve more people in meaningful and sustainable ways.
Is this course for you?
If you’ve already discerned that spiritual direction or companionship is your true vocation, but find the path to making it sustainable challenging, you are not alone. This course invites you to explore how to align your money, purpose, and well-being in ways that foster both personal and collective success. We believe that in community, we can support each other, stay inspired, and grow stronger together. By helping one another succeed, we contribute to the broader work of spiritual direction and companionship in the world.
What to Expect
Throughout this course, you’ll hear from eight experienced spiritual companions who have turned their deep, heart-centered callings into sustainable practices. They will share practical insights, resources, and the strategies they used to build thriving spiritual direction careers. From blending services to creating content or finding specific niches, each presenter offers a unique approach to making a living from this sacred work. Each presenter will offer actionable tasks that you will be able to immediately apply to building your sustainable practice.
In our workshop sessions, you can expect opportunities for accountability, sharing the containers you use to promote and expand your practice (ie websites and social media), receiving supportive and constructive feedback, and next steps. We are open to the emergence of the needs of the community as the course progresses, and possible topics include optimizing your SDI Profile, nuts and bolts of websites and social media, tips for writing for SDI publications, and outreach.
Success as a spiritual companion is about finding balance—between purpose and well-being, giving and receiving, self and community.
Course Highlights
- Practical steps for making your practice financially sustainable, including discernment, finding your niche, and building a supportive community.
- Engaging presentations by experienced spiritual companions who have navigated these challenges successfully.
- Exploration of the ethics and complexities of charging for spiritual direction.
- Tools for nurturing your identity and well-being as a spiritual companion.
- Discussions on navigating systemic inequities and finding economic stability.
- How seeking to support the flourishing of others benefits all of us.
- A customized workbook for keeping notes and working through exercises.
- Workshop sessions with SDI Staff Matt and Amrutham for sharing, processing, accountability, encouragement, and workshopping our various efforts in a supportive environment with other spiritual directors and companions.
Course Schedule
Session 1 (Jan 6): Douglas Tsoi – The Complexities of Charging for Spiritual Direction
Session 2 (Jan 13): Stacey Couch – The Ecosystem of Spiritual Companionship
Session 3 (Jan 15): Processing/Workshop Session One
Session 4 (Jan 20): Wendie Bernstein Lash – Nurturing Your Identity and Well-Being as a Spiritual Companion
Session 5 (Jan 27): Hailey Mitsui – Navigating Systemic Inequities as a Spiritual Companion
Session 6 (Feb 3): Christina Roberts – Spiritual Director/Companion Mastermind Groups
Session 7 (Feb 5): Processing/Workshop Session Two
Session 8 (Feb 10): Josh Proctor – Finding Economic Stability as a Spiritual Director
Session 9 (Feb 17): Dina ElBadry – Modeling Humility and Setting Examples
Session 10 (Feb 24): Cynthia Winton-Henry – The Economics of Grace – The Practicalities of the Work of Spiritual Companionship
Session 11 (Feb 26): Processing/Workshop Session 3
Takeaways
- A holistic approach to making your spiritual practice sustainable, both financially and spiritually.
- A supportive community of fellow spiritual companions with whom you can exchange encouragement, insights, and accountability.
- PDF resources to help you apply what you’ve learned to your practice.
- Personalized workshop sessions to reflect on and integrate your learnings.
Let's Flourish Together
If you’re a spiritual director, companion, or student of spiritual direction, this course will equip you with the tools and community support needed to begin (or continue) making your practice sustainable. Whether you’re just beginning your journey or seeking to deepen your existing practice, you are invited to join us in this enriching experience. Let’s be successful together.
Register today to secure your place in this transformative course. We look forward to walking this path with you!
Your practice has value and is needed by many. Let it be sustained by both your inner calling and the support of others.
Presenters
Douglas Tsoi
Trained at the Franciscan Spiritual Center in Portland Oregon, Douglas’ mission is to help people participate in grace. He writes about the writes about the intersection of personal finance and spirituality at the Substack newsletter Money and Meaning. In addition, he teaches, speaks, and creates community projects around gratitude and appreciation. https://www.douglastsoi.com/
Stacey Couch
Stacey Couch is a Conscious Business Mentor and Spiritual Advisor supporting students of the soul. She specializes in inter-spirituality. Wisdom in nature, myth, and mysticism provide guidance in her work. She’s been a spiritual companion since 2005 and is the author of Gracious Wild: A Shamanic Journey with Hawks. www.wildgratitude.com
Wendie Bernstein Lash
Wendie Bernstein Lash offers spiritual guidance, supervision, mentoring, and meditation to seekers around the world. Wendie is meditation teacher, a chant service leader, and a former SDI board member. She formerly co-directed of the Yedidya Center for Jewish spiritual direction. She published two CDs: Blessing (chants) and Sacred Relaxation. www.wendielash.com
Hailey Mitsui
Hailey Mitsui is a spiritual director, trained at Hesychia School, who is supporting herself offering spiritual companionship and embodiment coaching. She works with individuals, groups and communities at the intersection of spirituality, identity, justice and healing. She participated in CAC’s Living School, serves as a board member of Mystic Soul, completed a Foundations of Energetic Ecology Reiki Apprenticeship, done Somatic Abolitionist Training with Resmaa Menakem, and apprenticed with Rev. angel Kyodo williams. One of her distinctive approaches is to focus on women, non-binary and trans people as her directees. She says: “As a mixed race, Japanese American, I grew up with my feet in two words but never felt at home anywhere. As the grandchild of survivors of the Japanese American concentration camps, I am acutely aware of social and economic injustice and how life-threatening it can be to live in America with the ‘wrong’ color of skin or the ‘wrong’ shape of eyes.” This deep compassion has led her to be very clear – and very honest – in her invitation to new directees. Learn more: https://www.haileymitsui.com/
Christina Roberts
Christina Roberts grew up in the Greek Orthodox faith and loves exploring the intersection of ancient practices in our modern world. In addition to her work as a spiritual guide, she facilitates spiritual guidance mastermind groups and hosts the weekly podcast, The Contemplative Life. https://foundrysc.com
Josh Proctor
Josh has a private practice as a spiritual director called Wholly Ourselves, and serves as a pastor at his local church in West Palm Beach, FL. He holds a Masters in Biblical Literature and is currently pursuing his Doctor of Ministry at Kairos University. He specializes in the integration of sexuality and spirituality, especially within LGBT+ experiences. https://www.whollyourselves.org/
Dina ElBadry
Dina ElBadry is an IEA accredited professional and Founder & Head Teacher at The Enneagram Academy, Egypt. She works with Chestnut Pães Academy As Head Mentor Worldwide & Staff member in Africa and Europe. Dina studied the Gurdjieff work and she teaches the CP levels of awareness model that’s based on both Gurdjieff & Sufi Work. https://www.dinaelbadry.com/
Cynthia Winton-Henry
Cynthia Winton-Henry, M.Div. coaches highly sensitive, creative people through The Online Hidden Monastery as an author, dancing elder, and chaplain for the Online Dance Chapels. Her spiritual direction includes courses that credential leaders who seek a more embodied, ensouled practice using The Art of Ensoulment Playbook on How to Create From Body and Soul. As a creator, entrepreneur, and activist, she credits her ability to thrive to wisdom learned as a pastor, a seminary faculty member, and the executive director, fundraiser, and cofounder of the international non-profit InterPlay. Follow her on Substack at The Dancing Center. Her books include Chasing the Dance of Life, A Faith Journey, Dance: A Sacred Art: The Joy of Movement as Spiritual Practice, and Move: What the Body Wants. http://interplay.org
Additional Information
- Participants from all spiritual traditions and orientations are welcome in this webinar series as are those with all levels of spiritual experience.
- Each session will run 90 minutes. We understand that the timing of the seminar will not be convenient in every time zone on the planet. For those who have trouble making this time, a recorded copy of each session will be made available to all those who sign up.
- CEU credits are available for all those who participate. SDI will provide a certificate of completion for self-reporting to agencies. More information can be found here: continuing education units (CEUs).
- Cost: $349 for non-members, with significant discounts for SDI members
- Scholarships are available for those facing financial hardship. Please apply here.
Your Price, Your Practice
The pricing for this course strikes a balance between presenter honoraria and SDI operational costs, while being affordable to our community. With that said, we don’t want cost to be a barrier to your participation. If you require financial support we invite you to choose an amount that fits your budget and honors the value of this course. You may also consider how you might give back in other ways. Your contribution, in whatever form, helps support the flourishing of our entire community.
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