Spiritual Director, Spiritual Direction Supervisor

Dale Webb

Thank you for this opportunity to share with you my embrace of contemplative spirituality and spiritual direction. Over a significant career in congregational ministry and healthcare chaplaincy, I enjoyed many opportunities to participate in contemplative retreats and gatherings. Along the way, I experienced a wide array of spiritual practices. Brushing up against contemplative spirituality in these ways was enjoyable, but without foundation or structure sufficient to draw me in more deeply. I knew I longed for the depths but had no idea how to enter in. That longing brought me to the Journey Center.

It was the two-year Spiritual Director Formation Program that captured and held my attention. Not only would I learn about myself and my own spiritual path, at the same time I would also discover ways of holding sacred space for others as their spiritual director. Since completing the formation program, I have continued to serve as a spiritual director to individuals and also in group settings. I am richly blessed and profoundly honored to serve in these ways.

Serving as a spiritual director has come with a commitment to supervision. Meeting periodically with a supervisor affords the discipline and the opportunity for me to reflect more deeply on my own experience as a spiritual director and how the Spirit may be calling me to open to growth and transformation in my direction relationships. Because I treasure the richness of gifted supervision, early in 2020 I completed Spiritual Direction Supervision training and am now able to offer supervision to spiritual directors in both individual and group settings.

On a personal note, I am an avid reader, embrace a regular practice of centering prayer, I enjoy nearly all genres of music. I am drawn to celebrate with gratitude the beauty and wonder of creation, which could be from behind the lens of a camera, on a motorcycle ride through the vineyards, or on a quiet walk in solitude along an ocean-side cliff or in a redwood forest, open to the presence and transformation of the Holy.

Dale Webb
Spiritual Director
Spiritual Direction Supervisor
Contemplative Outreach Commissioned Presenter
Contemplative Retreat Facilitator

Spiritual Director

Emily Conway

I obtained my Certificate in Spiritual Direction in 2017 after 18 months of course work and practicums. My training comes from Richmont Graduate University in Atlanta, GA. I also have a Bachelors, Masters, and coursework for a PhD, all in English Literature.

I love welcoming individuals into the quiet space direction creates, so that together we can listen for the holy presence, which has always been a part of them. For me, each direction session is a gift because I get to be with the unfolding of someone’s life. It takes tremendous vulnerability and courage to explore your heart and the Spirit with another person, so I feel incredibly privileged and humbled to create and hold the space for you to do this kind of work.

I am happy to be a director of individuals from a variety of religious and spiritual backgrounds or no religious or spiritual background. Each person’s story is unique and so is the holy’s work in her/their/his life. I am passionate about companioning those who feel that their lives’ narratives fall outside the traditional ones that society often assigns us. As someone who spent many years feeling like she was standing at a window looking in at the rest of the world, I understand what it is like to live with the difference those with non-conforming sexual associations, beliefs, bodies, or other circumstances might experience. I am honored to accompany these individuals on their journeys.

Personally, I am a partner and mother of three, who enjoys reading, handwork, and exercise, particularly, swimming and hiking and Qigong. I am grateful for the transformative powers of the contemplative practices in my life. My favorite form of prayer is meditation, which I practice alone and with groups.

Spiritual Director

Barb Schutt

Barb completed the certification in Spiritual Direction and Contemplative Retreat Leadership from Journey Center Santa Rosa in 2016. She felt called into the ministry of spiritual direction after serving as a mentor to young moms and a coach to pastor’s wives, noticing that many desire a more profound daily experience with God. She retired from a fulfilling 40 year career as an RN, primarily working as a home health care nurse. She is both a student and teacher of prayer and author of the book, Your Journey to a Prayerful Life.

Barb is accompanying several directees who are in ministry, in seminary or who are discerning ways to connect with the Holy One more deeply through the use of Scripture, spiritual practices, Enneagram work, and poetry. She and her husband Dave are privileged to be the parents of two daughters and sons-in-law and grandparents to five delightful grandchildren! Dave and Barb split their time between Pleasant Hill, IA and Surprise, AZ, therefore she does most Spiritual Direction sessions via FaceTime or Zoom. Barb enjoys reading, golfing, walking, playing pickleball, being with family and friends and she welcomes the opportunity to come along side those who are seeking a deeper awareness of God.

Spiritual Director

Caprice Applequist

A few years ago I started my training as a spiritual director, and I was the youngest person in the class by nearly twenty years. I’ve found that few young people are involved in spiritual direction. Yet every time I talk about it with a fellow millennial, they think it sounds wonderful for them. That was definitely my experience.

Spiritual direction pushed me to significantly greater depths in my spiritual life and relationships with others. The gift of spiritual direction has been one of the most helpful resources in my life. I come from an evangelical background, so discovering things like contemplative prayer and holy listening created some good balance in my life.

I love practicing as a spiritual director, because it gives me a chance to see how God moves and works in other people’s lives. Much of my life has been committed to building bridges between the Muslim and Christian worlds, and I am open to people of both faiths as a spiritual director.

Outside of all of that I love baking and listening to podcasts. I also aspire to one day try stand up comedy. I would be delighted to journey with you toward a deeper experience of the one true God. You can find out more about me at www.capricejoyce.com.

Spiritual Director

Valerie Enright

About 15 years ago Valerie experienced a sense of her prayer and faith life changing. It was as though being drawn somewhere, but not really knowing more. During this time she began to meet with a Spiritual Director. In the years that followed, her life of consistency and stability began to slowly dismantle. It was through a series of life losses that she rediscovered a part of herself and new life blessings began to emerge.

In 2010 Valerie began training as a Director of the Spiritual Exercises at the Jesuit Retreat Center in Los Altos. Shortly after, she trained as a volunteer chaplain and then in 2016 completed 2 years training for Spiritual Direction and Contemplative Retreat Leadership from Journey Center Santa Rosa. She offers both individual and group spiritual direction, and the Spiritual Exercises of St Ignatius. Valerie has served as a spiritual director at Journey Center Santa Rosa and currently serves at the Center for Ignatian Spirituality in Sacramento. She has received advanced training in Group spiritual direction, training in Engaging the Arts as Pilgrimage, and attends related workshops.

Now retired from healthcare service, she enjoys spending time with her grand kids, family and friends. Contemplative prayer, nature walks, art and music are some of her favorite practices. While it is her great joy to contemplate God’s self-revelation in the world around her, and to accompany others in their own unfolding life mystery.

Spiritual Director

Bob Kirkham

Bob completed the certification in Spiritual Direction and Contemplative Retreat Leadership from Journey Center Association, Santa Rosa, California. He felt called into the ministry of spiritual direction while praying the Ignatius Spiritual Exercises.

Mentoring young men and incarcerated youth, serving and sitting with homeless and those who received a life changing diagnosis have helped form his identity as a spiritual director.

Retired from the construction industry and a short stint in security, he enjoys spending time with his grandchildren, family and friends. Bob enjoys Centering Prayer and other contemplative prayer practices, nature walks and hikes. He is a commissioned presenter of the Introductory Centering Prayer Workshop for Contemplative Outreach.

Bob will be a companion for your spiritual journey who gives you a safe place to explore where God is active in your life, your deepening relationship with God, no matter where you are on the journey. We will explore the questions that matter most to you and engage in deep discernment, listening closely for the voice of the Spirit in your life.

Bob finds great meaning and considers it an honor and privilege to accompany people as they discern the Spirit’s movement within. He believes that everything in our lives contributes to our ongoing growth, and we benefit immensely when we take time to be present and pay attention. Bob is here to listen, guide and walk with you as you seek the Holy One’s voice in your life.

Email: lopaka107@yahoo.com