What is Spiritual Direction?
Spiritual direction, (an ancient title) happens when a spiritual director holds space for others to consider God. Together we look with kindness at the comings and goings, happenings and ponderings that fill your days, all is holy ground.
I love to work with people who find themselves disconcerted, or curious about their response to God or their theology amidst trauma or transition.
As a young teen I fell in love with this Jesus, who washes feet, cooks’ fish, goes after the outcast, and welcomes children. Decades later, mountains climbed, I remain enamored. This passion fuels my work as a spiritual director.
I work with Christian pastors, ministry leaders and people inside and outside church, to address the impact that abuse, neglect, insecure attachment and trauma has on our relationship with God. Left unaddressed, these experiences can undermine best efforts to overcome a variety of issues such as; hijacking emotions like anger and fear, tendencies toward addiction, anxiety, and dissociation, all of which contribute to frustration in ministry and cloud our relationship with God.
Creating awareness of all that grows in the sacred ground of your life.
Nita Baer M.A.
Soul Formation Spiritual Director Lifespan Integration Therapist/Consultant
My journey into work as a spiritual director began with intention at the Seattle School of Theology and Psychology in 2005 when I was introduced to the concept and began taking classes in spiritual formation and spiritual direction. I hold a master’s degree in Christian Studies. Then life took unexpected turns and by 2013 I was working primarily as a mental health counselor specializing in Lifespan Integration. In 2018 I was introduced to Soul Formation and began stepping into work as a spiritual director.
Work as a mental health counselor informs my work as a spiritual director. In therapy clients focus on their relationship with themselves, in spiritual direction the focus is on their relationship with God. Sometimes the same issues people have within themselves are those that create issues with God. My understanding of human growth and attachment melds with decades of biblical study, passion for God and broad awareness of life’s complexities. My great joy is to sit together with others and watch what happens when we give attention to the reality of God’s love.
Work with Nita
- Spiritual Direction: $120 per session
- Mental Health Counseling: $140
- Seminars
Contribute to those amidst transitions and struggle to afford spiritual direction or therapy.
Spiritual Formation
Psalm 18… God was angry and came down to draw me out of many waters….. What if we looked at spiritual development from a neuro psych perspective of level 1-3? God who sees us tailors his interactions… many times we have tried to offer spiritual formation in a broad...
The Next Step
What to do when the fabric and texture of our world changes? When everyone I dearly love poses a risk? Every. One. The shaking, the full stop, uncharted ground for many and many have known a version of this place. Diagnosis, divorce, disownment, refugee, assault,...
Little Did I know
I was planning to be in the Redwoods this week. Am glad they seem to be good at waiting for all manner of things to pass! In January, while at the Soul Formation annual Spiritual Director’s retreat, I sensed some kind of personal change brewing but unsure what that...
Don’t Fear
“Therefore, we will not fear….” Psalm 46:2 Interesting how these words can be used to dismiss or embrace. A parent who tells a child, “You’re fine, don’t be afraid, nothing to fear.” Leaves a child alone with their very real fear. When the attorney said, “Don’t be...
Resources
Recommended Authors, Quotes & Links
John O’Donohue Divine Beauty:
“There is an unseemly coarseness to our times which robs the grace from our textures of language, feeling and presence.” (pg 14)