Ethical framework

I adhere to the Ethical Framework for Spiritual Direction as laid down by the UK Forum on Spiritual Direction, viz:


1. Summary of Core Values and Principles
There are 4 key ethical principles which can inform practitioners in their consideration of ethical practice, guiding ethical reasoning, decision-making and behaviour. These are:
(i) Compassionate Care and Respect – We respect and care for the well-being of those we work with, committed to avoiding harm and acting in their best interests with kindness and compassion.
(ii) Competence – We are informed by professional education, knowledge, training and experience, and work within the known limits of our competence. We engage with activities that develop and maintain our competence.
(iii) Integrity – We are honest and trustworthy, and our practices are transparent.
(iv) Responsibility – We value our responsibilities to our directees, faith communities, to colleagues, the wider community of spiritual directors and to society. This includes professional accountability and responsibility in the use of our skills, respecting the welfare of others.

Each principle is further described, and good practice guidelines that spring out of it explored, in section 4.


2. Personal qualities to which members are encouraged to aspire and be committed to in their continuing development.
* Spirituality: Commitment to deepening one’s own spiritual journey and on-going life of spiritual practice and prayer.
* Sincerity: Consistency between what is professed and what is done.
* Discernment: The ability to practice good discernment in our own spiritual life.
* Empathy: The ability to communicate understanding of another person’s experience from that person’s perspective.
* Humility: The ability to recognise our own strengths and limitations, while also aware of our own self-worth.
* Care: Benevolent, responsible and competent attentiveness to someone’s needs, wellbeing and personal agency.
* Courage: The capacity to act in spite of known fears, risks and uncertainty.
* Respect: Showing appropriate esteem for people and their understanding of themselves and their spiritual path. Able to be with variety, uniqueness and difference; prepared to work at understanding another’s life and experience, respecting the dignity, worth and uniqueness of all and affirming their autonomy to make decisions contrary to our beliefs, practices or advice.
* Diligence: The conscientious and consistent deployment of skills and time to those we seek to serve.
* Resilience: The capacity to accompany others through difficult times in their life and spiritual journey, and in any ways that a person may be ‘other’ to the director, without being personally diminished.
* Not-knowing: Able to hold oneself and particular views back, acknowledging our own ignorance and ‘not-knowing’, to enable the holding of a safe, welcoming, open and hospitable space for others.
Integrity: Commitment to being ethical in dealings with others, including transparency, honesty and consistency.
* Wisdom: In possession of sound judgment, insight and discernment that informs our practice in spiritual direction and life.
* Learner: A person who never stops being a learner (beginner’s mind) and is open to new perspectives and on-going growth and development.
* Openness: Open to the surprise of the Divine, the freedom of the Spirit, who blows wherever (she wills).
* Accountability: Valuing and modelling accountability and transparency by making our work accountable to supervision and professional standards.
* Self-respect: Caring for our own self well-being and health, and valuing what we have to offer.


3. Making Ethical Decisions
The challenge of working ethically means that spiritual directors may need to make decisions in difficult, changing and unclear situations. It is hoped this Ethical Framework can provide a context for considering ethical questions with the core values and principles guiding ethical reasoning and discernment, directing attention to the variety of ethical factors that may need to be taken into consideration.

Ethical principles are suited to examining justification for particular decisions and actions. However, reliance on principles alone may detract from the importance of practitioner’s own personal qualities as explored above. A practitioner’s obligation is to consider all the relevant circumstances with as much care as possible and be appropriately accountable for decisions made. No statement of ethics can eliminate the difficulty of making judgments in circumstances that may be changing and full of uncertainties. By accepting this ethical framework, members and practitioners are committing themselves to engaging with the challenge of striving to be ethical, even when doing so involves making difficult decisions or acting courageously.


4. Good Practice Guidelines Exploring Each of the Core Values and Principles
Under each principle we highlight specific issues and considerations that spiritual directors should be aware of in applying the principles in their work. However, these are not the limit of how the ethical principles work out in practice, but are listed to indicate key areas. They are also aspirational rather than legislative in nature, continually inspiring and moving a practitioner towards best practice in their work.

(i) Compassionate Care & Respect
We, as spiritual directors, care for our clients and colleagues; we want them to feel respected and safe. We value the dignity and worth of all persons and seek to offer compassionate care.

In particular:
· We speak and act in ways that honour the dignity, value and uniqueness of every individual.
· We respect the cultural, ethnic, gender identity and expression, racial, sexual orientation, marital status, political belief, mental or physical disability, and any other form of diversity of those we serve, affirming the dignity and value of each individual.
· In particular, we demonstrate respect for the values, conscience, theology and spirituality of others, even when these are different from our own, and refrain from imposing our own values and beliefs on those we serve.
· We are respectful of the faith traditions and spiritual communities to which our directees belong
· We work in open-minded ways that understand and respect the directee’s right to self-determination and autonomy
· We avoid judgmental and defensive stances in the clear awareness of our own beliefs and convictions, and the capacity these have to create bias and prejudice.
· We avoid any form of spiritual abuse that may be caused by using our own spiritual insights, experience and beliefs to manipulate or control the directee.
· We recognise the imbalance of power in the spiritual direction relationship and take care not to exploit this through behaviours such as sexual harassment, financial exploitation, bullying and spiritual abuse.
· We do not enter into sexual intimacy with or make any specific or implied sexual proposition to clients.
· We are also sensitive to the dynamics of power and idealisation that may occur between directee and director, and to the implicit power difference. We do not exploit this situation for personal or professional gain, aware of the potential impact of our words and actions on the client.
· We establish and maintain appropriate physical and psychological boundaries with our directee.
· We act with compassionate loving action, including empathy, generosity, openness, fairness, humility, sincerity, distress tolerance, commitment and courage.

(ii) Competence
Competence refers to the spiritual director’s ability to provide their specific services to a proficient standard. Our competence is informed by many sources - experience, professional education, knowledge and training. We value continuing development and the maintenance of competence, recognising the limits of our knowledge, skill, training, education and experience.

In particular:
· We consider our possession or otherwise of appropriate and sufficient skills, underpinning knowledge and practice needed to serve our clients effectively.
· We know the limits of our competence and when to suggest the need of additional or alternative support from others eg counsellors or differently experienced directors.
· We take responsibility for, and are committed to, the on-going personal and professional development of our skills through attending workshops, training days and courses.
· We are committed to on-going growth of our knowledge and awareness through studying sacred texts, theology, spirituality, psychology and other disciplines related to spiritual direction.
· Especially, we read books, articles, journals and other writings or view electronic sources on spiritual direction work and spirituality, and remain abreast of developments in the field of spiritual direction.
· We receive regular supervision so as to enable reflection, development and accountability in our practice.
· We continually monitor our own practice and ability to work with a particular directee, noticing when our effectiveness is impaired. We take action to serve the best interests of our client.
· We are committed to developing and maintaining our knowledge, skills and capabilities to practice safely, ethically and legally.
· We communicate clearly with directees what they can expect from us, setting clear expectations regarding the nature of spiritual direction, our responsibilities, appointment frequency and scheduling, reviews and termination process, confidentiality (and its limits) and data protection issues.
· We agree with clients how we will work together: stating clearly terms and conditions, fees (if any) and methods of practice.
· We keep up to date with the law, regulations and any other requirements relevant to our work.
· We keep accurate and appropriate records

(iii) Integrity
Spiritual directors seek to be honest, open and truthful, behaving in a trustworthy manner where our practices are transparent.

In particular:
We are committed to and maintain our own personal and communal spiritual practices, seeing our commitment to our own spiritual development as a life-long process.
· We are committed to our own spiritual direction process in regular sessions with our own director.
· When communicating our competencies, education, training and experience in relation to our practice of spiritual direction, we do so accurately and honestly.
· We are open, honest and accurate in representing affiliations and methods of working, and do not make unjustifiable claims about competence.
· We work ethically and with careful consideration of how we fulfil our legal and ethical obligations
· We maintain professional and personal boundaries between our work with clients and what lies outside that work
· We avoid any conflict of interests.
· We address differences with our client such as issues of complaint and take action where we cannot resolve them
· We nurture self-knowledge.
· We strive to be trustworthy, honouring the trust placed in the practitioner.
· We are also open and honest with our colleagues and relevant organisations.
· We distinguish between spiritual direction and other forms of 1:1 helping relationships such as counselling, and ensure clients understand the type of support we are offering.
· We model a way of living that contributes to the faith life and spiritual development of all people.

(iv) Responsibility
Spiritual directors value their responsibilities to their directees, faith communities, to colleagues, the wider community of spiritual directors and to society. This includes professional accountability and responsibility in the use of their skills, respecting the welfare of others. Awareness of responsibility ensures that the trust of others is not abused.

In particular:
· We commit to follow a framework of ethical behaviour.
· We have insurance to protect our clients.
· We protect client confidentiality and privacy – addressing legal exemptions.
· We keep confidential all oral, electronic, and written matters arising from sessions.
· We do not record unwarranted personal information and ensure all such (personal) information is held in strict confidentiality.
· We allow clients access to all personal data kept in electronic and written form in compliance with GDPR.
· We take all reasonable precautions available to ensure spiritual direction via electronic means is as secure as possible.
· We safeguard the confidentiality of clients when using materials for educational or written purposes.
· We make ourselves accountable to an accrediting body and/ or the guidelines of any local network to which we belong.
· We hold periodic reviews to hear how clients are experiencing our working together.
· We ensure our own well-being sufficient to sustain our quality of work. This includes exercising self-care to maintain our own physical, psychological and spiritual health and keeping a healthy balance between our work and other aspects of life.
· We recognise and address with the client, and take to supervision, any multiple roles or relationships that pose difficulties to the effectiveness and clarity of the spiritual direction relationship.
· We cultivate insight into the influences of culture, socio-historical context, environmental setting and institutions in relation to our work.
· We seek consultation with other appropriately qualified professionals where necessary.
· We respect the opinions, beliefs and professional endeavours of colleagues and other professionals.
· We endeavour to inform directees well in advance of approaching endings and be sensitive to their expectations and concerns when we are nearing the end of our work together.
· We try to be open to opportunities to offer our work to the underserved and those on low incomes who cannot afford remuneration.



Last updated: 29 January 2024

Safeguarding policy

This policy is adapted from guidelines issued by the London Centre for Spiritual Direction and The Retreat Association. Its purpose is to safeguard the wellbeing of both directees and director in a Spiritual Direction relationship and to clarify what each party can expect during such a relationship.

Policy
Like other Spiritual Directors, I meet with people in a variety of locations and circumstances. I recognise that I may, at times, work under the auspices of other organisations such as local diocese, churches, charities, etc. In such cases, while working on behalf of other organisations, their own safeguarding policy will apply. Even so, the following commitments will remain:

As director, I am committed to safeguarding all directees. This means I will:
* Value, respect and listen without judgement to the directee.
* Support any directees who have been impacted by abuse or neglect.
* Begin the spiritual direction relationship by explaining that while meetings are confidential, any matters relating to the protection of children or adults will be referred to appropriate representative or statutory agencies, e.g. Police or Social Care.
* Maintain written records of all safeguarding concerns and report / refer on as appropriate.
* Maintain my own safeguarding knowledge and skills by regular training and/or updating awareness of current best practice — as a minimum, every three years.
* Ensure I have adequate professional indemnity and public liability insurance.
* Undertake regular one-to-one and/or group supervision.


Confidentiality
While spiritual direction conversations would normally be held in confidence, where a
disclosure is made that could cause a child or adult to be at risk of significant harm, then I will seek advice and guidance from my supervisor or relevant professionals (e.g. Local Safeguarding Partnership). I will keep a written record of any disclosure and action taken.

Situations that may necessitate action include, but are not limited to:
* Disclosures of past abuse as a child where the perpetrator still has contact with children or adults at risk of harm.
* A person who may have committed abuse or is fearful that they have the propensity to harm.
* A person who is currently experiencing abuse, witnessing it, or indirectly involved.
* A person who may view or download indecent images of children or extreme abuse.

At the start of all spiritual direction relationships, I will either:
* Keep a written agreement, signed by both me and the directee, stating that while meetings are confidential, any matters relating to the protection of children or adults will be referred to appropriate representatives or statutory agencies, or;
• Keep a signed record which states that these matters have been explained and discussed with the directee.


Responding to a safeguarding concern
I (the director) will take any non-urgent safeguarding concerns to my supervisor. Urgent concerns, such as if the directee or any other person is at immediate risk of significant harm, may necessitate a referral to healthcare, social care, the police, or the emergency services.

It is not my role to ‘investigate’ safeguarding concerns. Rather, I will seek advice. In the event of a safeguarding matter arising, I will keep a written record of the action taken. This record may be disclosed to the police, social services or other relevant agencies at their request.

If you have a safeguarding concern about me or our relationship, you should either:
* Contact the Designated Safeguarding Lead of the organisation/diocese through whom you contacted me or for whom I am working, or,
* Contact the Spiritual Direction Forum via their website https://sdforum.uk who may be able to help you, or,
* In an emergency contact children or adult social services and/or the police.
  


Last updated: 29 January 2024

Privacy policy

Your privacy is really important to me, and I understand how important it is to you.
 I (Ralph Buckingham, me, the 'data controller') aim is to be as clear and open as possible about what I do with your personal information and why I do it. I am committed to the privacy of all clients, users and those who have regular contact with me.


How do I process your personal information?
I comply with my obligations under the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) by keeping personal information up to date; by storing and destroying it securely; by not collecting or retaining excessive amounts of information; by protecting personal information from loss, misuse, unauthorised access and disclosure and by ensuring that appropriate technical measures are in place to protect personal information.

In summary, in each case I will only use your personal information for the following purposes: -
* To administer programme or retreat records, including name, contact details, attendance, etc.;
* To administer retreats and Spiritual Direction, including the name, address, phone number, email;
* To maintain records for safeguarding purposes;
* To manage potential employees, coworkers and volunteers;
* To maintain my own accounts and records;
* To inform you of news, events, activities and services I may offer.


What is the legal basis for processing your data?
I have identified a legitimate interest as the lawful basis for processing information. This includes:
* Where you sign up for an event run by me or agree to Spiritual Direction, I need to communicate with you about that event, meeting or group.
* Where you have contacted me independently for information about retreats or Spiritual Direction. In this context I will only use your contact details to respond to your enquiry unless you explicitly consent for me to use your information for another purpose.
* Where you have attended a retreat or Spiritual Direction.
* I maintain and process information about those who are in regular contact with me.
* Where I need to communicate with you about news, events, and retreats, or a public-interest matter, for example to let you know if an event is cancelled due to bad weather, and for good governance and accounting, for planning, analysis and developing new services.

Additionally, I have identified 'legal obligation' as the lawful basis for maintaining safeguarding and financial records or when you exercise your rights under data protection law and related disclosures.


Sharing your personal information

The information we hold about you will be treated as strictly confidential and we will only share your data with third parties with your prior consent, or unless required to do so by law.


How long do we keep your personal information?

I keep data in accordance with the guidance set out by the GDPR. I endeavour to maintain only data that is relevant, accurate and up to date. I periodically review the data I hold and delete data that is no longer relevant to our purpose for processing. Specifically, I retain client information while it is still current; financial data for up to 6 years after the calendar year to which they relate; and safeguarding records permanently.


Your rights and your personal information

Unless subject to an exemption under the GDPR, you have the following rights with respect to your personal information:
* Access to your information: You have the right to request a copy of the personal information about you that I hold.
* Correcting your information: I want to make sure that your personal information is accurate, complete and up to date and you may ask me to correct any personal information about you that you believe does not meet these standards.
* Deletion of your information: You have the right to ask me to delete personal information about you where you consider that I no longer require the information for the purposes for which it was obtained or that I no longer need to retain it in accordance with our statutory obligations; you have validly objected to our use of your personal information - see ‘Objecting to how I may use your information’ below; our use of your personal information is contrary to law or our other legal obligations.
* Objecting to how I may use your information: Where we use your personal information to perform tasks carried out in the public interest then, if you ask me to, I will stop using that personal information unless there are overriding legitimate grounds to continue.
* Restricting how I may use your information: In some cases, you may ask me to restrict how I use your personal information. This right might apply, for example, where I am checking the accuracy of personal information about you that I hold or assessing the validity of any objection you have made to my use of your information. The right might also apply where there is no longer a basis for using your personal information but you do not want me to delete the data. Where this right is validly exercised, I may only use the relevant personal information with your consent, for legal claims or where there are other public interest grounds to do so.
* Withdrawing consent using your information: Where I use your personal information with your consent you may withdraw that consent at any time and I will stop using your personal information for the purpose(s) for which consent was given. Please contact me in any of the ways set out in the ‘Our contact details’ section if you wish to exercise any of these rights.
* Lodging a complaint: If you feel I have used your information incorrectly or without lawful basis, or you dispute our lawful basis, you have the right to lodge a complaint with the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO).


Further processing
If I wish to use your personal data for a new purpose, not covered by this Privacy Statement, then I will provide you with a new notice explaining this new use prior to commencing the processing and setting out the relevant purposes and processing conditions. Where and whenever necessary, I will seek your prior consent to the new processing.


Our contact details
Contact us via our contact form on the website.



Last updated: 29 January 2024

Complaints Policy

This policy describes the rights of a client should he or she (‘you’) have a complaint or grievance against the director (practitioner, ‘me’, ‘I’).

It is my intention that I should serve all my clients and those connected with me as the Lord Jesus would wish. However, I recognise that in our fallenness there may be times when we fall short of those standards. I want therefore to create an environment that promotes open communication, enabling free and informal discussion of any problems.

Occasionally however, problems may arise that can only be resolved through a more formal process and this is outlined below.

Responsibilities
The spiritual direction relationship is based on mutual trust, openness and good communication. To help me maintain such trust and understanding, and to keep my practice accountable to others, I regularly undertake one-to-one and/or group supervision. Should there ever feel unhappy with the service I have provided, you have a right to complain.

I (the practitioner) have a responsibility to uphold this policy by:
* Reminding clients of this policy.
* Ensuring that I attempt to resolve any complaints informally and as quickly and as fairly as possible.
* Ensuring that any complaints that cannot be resolved informally are resolved as quickly and as fairly as possible following referral to a third party.

Those bringing a complaint have a responsibility to adhere to the policy by:
* Familiarising themselves with the Complaints Policy.
* Taking all reasonable steps to address any concerns with me, the practitioner.
* Contacting a representative of the Spiritual Directors Forum for advice and guidance.

Procedure
If you have a complaint, you should, in the first instance, discuss this informally with me. I hope that any concerns will be resolved at this stage, and I will do my best to ensure this happens.

If, however, you feel that the matter has not been resolved through informal discussions with me, then you should contact the Spiritual Directors Forum. While the Forum does not have any legal authority over practitioners, it could act as an intermediary with the aim of resolving your complaint to everyone’s satisfaction. The Forum’s contact details can be found on their website, https://sdforum.uk.



Last updated: 29 January 2024

Definitions of key terms

Spiritual Direction — The process of journeying with another as they explore the deepest questions of their life about God, spirit, reality, meaning, purpose and life experience to find a deeper connection and attunement with the divine. Spiritual directors stand by and support people in their seeking and searching. The person’s sacred story is heard and the presence and movements of God/spirit/the divine in the client’s life are responded to through this enabling listening.

Spiritual Director — The person who accompanies the directee/ client. Other commonly used terms are Soul Friend, Spiritual Companion, Anam Cara (from the Celtic tradition), Spiritual Guide, Spiritual Mentor and Spiritual Friend. Spiritual Director is the traditional term in the Christian tradition. The more generic term ‘practitioner’ is also used in the Ethical Framework to refer to any practicing person. Where ‘I’, ‘me’, ‘us’, or ‘we’ is used, this refers to the Director.

Practitioner — Someone who is providing spiritual direction.

Directee — Any person using, receiving or seeking the services of a spiritual director. Also referred to as a ‘client’. Where ‘you’ is used, this refers to the Directee.

Client — Any person or persons (such as in group spiritual direction) that a practitioner works with.

Supervision — The intentional space and process where a director reflects on his/her practice with an individual or within a group context.

Termination — An intentional process of bringing to an end the spiritual direction relationship, which can be instigated by either party.

Faith Community — A recognisable group who share a belief system and usually undertake religious practices such as prayer, reading from sacred texts and communal acts of worship.

Child — any person who has not reached their 18th birthday.

Parent — for the purpose of this document, the term parent includes a child’s legal guardian.

Adult at Risk — any person aged 18 and above who has a condition or disability, and consequently received accommodation, personal care or support. The terms Adult at Risk and Vulnerable Adult are interchangeable.

DBS — Disclosure and Barring Service.



Last updated: 29 January 2024