Meet Your Spiritual Director
Akunna Okere is a certified Spiritual Director and Brain Health Coach. She is a former youth and young adult minister that specializes in youth, young adult, and family ministries. She owns her own event planning business and is also the Operations Manager here at Tandem Psychiatry. After much demand in her spiritual direction & coaching ministry, she recently launched her new spiritual direction and coaching practice, Companion Cross Spiritual Direction & Coaching.
Spiritual Director
A Spiritual Director is a trained listener who will accompany you as you share about your spiritual journey (big or small), helping you to notice God’s presence and activity along the way, as well as your personal reactions and responses. Spiritual direction is a ministry that helps you grow in your prayer life and live into your calling as a follower of Christ.
Whether you seek a spiritual director during a specific season of your life, or engage with one as part of your regular ongoing spiritual practice, Spiritual Direction is beneficial in many ways. It connects you with a trained spiritual professional this is:
- Someone with a spiritual, God-centered, Christian perspective that is outside of your normal circles.
- Someone who continues to realign you with God’s love, care and constancy through all of life’s circumstances.
- Someone to stay awake and supports you spiritual on the road when you are spiritually weary.
- Someone to lift you up before God while you struggle with issues that aren’t solved quickly or easily.
- Someone to celebrate God’s work of transformation with you and for you.
Someone to celebrate God’s work of transformation with you and for you.
What is a Spiritual Direction?
God is Love, He is Mercy. And He desires a close relationship with us. He wants to help us and guide us through this earthly journey, and He is in constant communication with us, if we take the time to listen and experience this communication. Every decision, every movement, & every moment in our day to day lives is an opportunity to experience a profoundly interpersonal relationship with God.
Often times we feel that God is distant, indifferent and unable to connect with, and this could not be further from the truth. When we finally open ourselves up to the Living God, we are able to experience a life, fully lived and realized.
Spiritual direction is a spiritual journey, lead or guided with a trained certified Spiritual Director, which enables the client or “directee” to pay attention to God’s personal communication to him or her and to respond to this “personally communicating” God. This journey enables us to grow in intimacy with this God, and allows us to live out a new, more fulfilling, purpose-filled life in relationship with God.
- Spiritual direction focuses on the experiences of life & how God is speaking through them.
- Spiritual direction is about a relationship. It is not isolated or consisting only in extraordinary events.
- It encompasses all aspects of life, relationships, family events, work life, physical, spiritual & mental health, and every other event or experience of daily life. And it connects and relates everything back to the ongoing relationship between the person and Christ.
- The real spiritual director is the Holy Spirit. The Spiritual Director is trained & certified through years long formation & training to listen the promptings of the Holy Spirit and through Him provide advice, give indications of life and prayer, and aid in the resolving matters of faith, life & morality without replacing the choices and decisions to the person they are accompanying on this journey. God touches the human heart directly, through the process of Spiritual Direction.
The Catholic Church, and many other Christian denominations see Spiritual Direction as an important part of the spiritual life. It is a way for Catholic Christians and non-Catholic Christians alike to grow in their relationship with God, to discern God’s will for their lives, and to overcome spiritual, mental, physical, and emotional struggles.
The Christian life often entails times of spiritual uncertainty. Situations in which we are unsure of God’s will, confused about what God is doing in our circumstances, or feelings of dryness in our relationship with God. Spiritual direction is a safe place to explore your questions and concerns about your life with God.
What Can I Expect from Spiritual Direction?
Spiritual direction is a transformative journey that offers guidance and support for individuals seeking to deepen their spirituality and connection with God. Here’s what you can expect:- Guidance and Support: A trained spiritual director provides a secure, non-judgmental space to explore your spiritual journey, helping you to unlock your innate potential and forge a stronger bond with God.
- Deep Self-Reflection: This process encourages profound introspection, allowing you to examine your life through the lens of your relationship with God and discover paths to personal growth.
- Exploration of Faith: It’s a space to delve into your faith, expressing doubts and seeking understanding, which can lead to a more profound spiritual life and realization of your God-given potential.
- Alignment with Values: Spiritual direction assists in harmonizing your life’s journey with your core values and beliefs, fostering a sense of purpose intertwined with your spiritual essence.
- Connection with God: This journey aims to fortify your relationship with God, providing opportunities to cultivate a deeper spiritual connection.
- Personal Growth: Engage in conversations and reflection that spur new insights and healing, contributing to personal transformation and a sense of peace
- Confidentiality and Trust: Sessions are confidential, establishing trust for open, honest dialogue, enabling you to fully embrace your spiritual potential.
- Respect for Diversity: The practice honors diverse beliefs and backgrounds, open to all seeking spiritual enrichment.
- Frequency and Format: Sessions adapt to your needs, with various formats available, such as in-person or virtual meetings, to support your spiritual development.
- A Journey of Discovery: Spiritual direction is a path of self-discovery and spiritual exploration, a quest to uncover meaning and realize your full spiritual and personal potential.
