Spiritual direction: beyond professionalism

Some time ago, an acquaintance told me that she would be reluctant to recommend someone to ‘a spiritual director who had not completed some sort of training course’. Setting aside for the moment the fact that, as an Orthodox Christian, I prefer to think in terms of spiritual fathers or soul friends (the Celtic equivalent of spiritual fathers), why am I uncomfortable with this?

• I think of training courses in spiritual ‘direction’ as resources rather than qualifications. There is no way a training course can qualify you to be a spiritual ‘director’.
• It smacks of the professionalization of spiritual ‘direction’: spiritual ‘directors’ become a specially trained elite; if you haven’t been through the training, you can’t join the elite.
• Professionalization narrows the range of spiritual ‘direction’ that is available by excluding those who for whatever reason are unable to do the training: those who can’t afford the cost of training; those who can’t spare the time; those who lack the educational ability to do the training; those who are deemed not to fit because of their personality type or other emotional or psychological factors. Thus some of the finest spiritual ‘directors’ / spiritual fathers / soul friends of the past would have been disqualified.
• Most of the formal training in spiritual ‘direction’ in the UK appears to be Ignatian in orientation, perhaps because Ignatian spirituality lends itself most easily to a formal structured approach. I hope I’m wrong, but I fear this can leave ‘directors’ who have completed such courses ill at ease with ‘directees’ seeking something less structured.
• But, ultimately, competence in offering spiritual advice has little to do with a paper qualification and much to do with the quality of the relationships the advisor has with God and with the person who has sought their advice.