Hi!

I’m Heather.

I provide skilled and compassionate support to people seeking wholeness and authentic spirituality.

I support individuals in the midst of faith transition as they consider new understandings of the Divine and reconstruct their own meanings, purpose, and spiritual connection.

I assist those with spiritual and religious wounding in finding spiritual renewal, peace, and healing.

My STory

I have lived the liberating, heartbreaking, and ultimately fulfilling journey of spiritual sifting and shifting known by many names such as faith deconstruction, faith transition, or faith expansion, since 2016 when I was spiritually compelled to let go of many of my core religious beliefs. 

Transitioning from a totalistic worldview to trust my own spiritual discernment, even when that led me to reject religious dogma, was a soul-wrenching experience that required the full depth of my mental and spiritual strength.  

I found the support of a wise and compassionate spiritual director to be a vital resource. Having a space that provided compassionate presence and safety for whatever was real for me at any given session - from deep anger and sadness, to spiritual longing and tender experiences - was life giving. 

Through skilled listening, thoughtful reflection, and perceptive questions, without agenda for any particular beliefs or outcome, my spiritual director supported me as I journeyed to find spiritual renewal in a way that was truly authentic to me. This was immensely healing, and I’ve continued to work with a spiritual director for support in my evolving spiritual understanding and identity, and to help me grow my sense of spiritual connection, ever since.

Seeing a deep need in my community for this kind of support, I became a spiritual director myself. I now support others as a companion on their spiritual path through the professional discipline of spiritual direction, in both one-on-one and group settings. Learn more here. 

Experience & Education

I trained and am certified as a spiritual director through The Chaplaincy Institute in Berkeley, California, an interfaith theological seminary. I completed my spiritual direction practicum under the supervision of John R. Mabry, PhD, an author and leader for interfaith spiritual direction who specializes in supporting those who have experienced spiritual abuse and religious wounding. I continue to receive his mentorship.

I have eight years of experience offering emotional and spiritual support and advocacy to individuals, their families, and staff in the hospital and on hospice, as an interfaith and non-faith chaplain. My training for this work includes two units of CPE (Clinical Pastoral Education – graduate level spiritual counseling training) in 2014 – 2015. I’ll be returning for an additional year of this training in March 2023. I’ve trained as an end-of-life doula with INELDA (International End of Life Doula Association). I have a Bachelor of Science degree in Psychology from The University of Utah.

In addition to serving individuals transitioning through end-of-life and their loved ones as a healthcare chaplain, I have worked as a birth doula helping women, birthing individuals, and their partners to bring their little ones into the world.

It’s been a profound privilege to experience this sacred work at both of life’s ultimate thresholds. I’m a Holding Space Consultant with the Institute for the Study of Birth, Breath, and Death and have completed numerous trainings through that institute for supporting grief and loss, and facilitating support groups.

Understanding and supporting trauma survivors, commonly known as trauma-informed care, has been a focus of mine, including having completed a 40-hour rape crisis advocacy training. I recognize that spiritual and religious harm often centers in sexuality. Finding grounded wholeness that includes healthy sexuality has been an area of both professional and personal focus. I’m enthusiastically LGBTQIA+ affirming. I consider examination of my own intersecting privileges, the identification and deconstruction of any beliefs that diminish the full humanity and dignity of others, and shadow work, to be of critical importance to living a life in service to Love.

I’m a member of the professional organization Spiritual Directors International, and commit to following their standard of ethics, which can be found here.

ARt

I’m an artist. But it took a long time for me to view myself this way, because I didn’t naturally draw well from a young age. It turns out that drawing, like working in any other artistic medium, is a skill that can be learned, and learned well.

But I believe being an artist is less about the quality and quantity of things that one makes, and more about moving through life in a way that takes seriously - and playfully! - the creative elements of line, color, texture, pattern, form, sound, movement, story, and metaphor, as essential ingredients to a life well lived.

Art, and visual art in particular, invite us into the present moment - to truly take in what is in front of us. Currently I work with fiber, collage, and drawing, to create art that’s mostly just for myself and the Divine. Maintaining a creative practice is a foundational resource for me in connecting with Sacred Reality.

It’s a joy to support others in exploring artistic practices as part of their personal spirituality or path in healing. If you’d like to chat about what this might look like for you, reach out for a no obligation free consultation.

Etc.

My pronouns are she/her.

I’m a mother of three young, exasperating, and incredible kids. I live with my spouse in Orem, Utah at the foot of Mount Timpanogos and the stunning Wasatch Range.*

In addition to art, I love connecting with the Divine through singing and spending time outdoors - I’ve made it to the top of a few mountains. I turn to poetry as a primary sacred text. My favorite spiritual practice is laughing.

My Approach

An important assumption I hold as a spiritual director is that of your personal autonomy and internal authority. Contrary to the impression the title "spiritual director" might give, I do not direct anything, except perhaps your attention to questions and possibilities. Your answers, spiritual practices, beliefs, and actions are solely yours. This is essential and of utmost importance.

*The work I do is not separate from the land I live on, and I recognize that appreciating the land means honoring those who were first in relationship with it. This spot of earth I call home is the traditional and ancestral homeland of the Shoshone, Paiute, Goshute, and Ute Tribes. Part of the proceeds from my work are given to the First Nations Development Institute, an organization serving to strengthen and revitalize native communities and cultures.