Adding a New Dimension to Spiritual Direction Training

Introduction

Spiritual Direction, also known as Spiritual Companioning, explores various practices that develop and deepen a relationship with God, the Divine, or a Higher Power, in accordance with what is most resonant with the directee. It involves a combination of holy listening and asking questions that assist the individual in noticing and discerning the movement of Spirit. Previous scholars have shown that adding Emotional Intelligence and Spiritual Emotional Intelligence to training for religious leaders is a helpful adjunct to the more typical focus on spiritual formation.

Background Story

While many programs train Spiritual Directors in a broad overview of modalities, most do not include Emotional Intelligence (EQ) and Spiritual Emotional Intelligence (SEQ) in their curriculum. Earlier work — Cindy Wigglesworth on spiritual intelligence, and West, Oswald and Guzman (2018) on emotional intelligence in religious leadership — had suggested that this kind of training is a useful adjunct to the usual focus on spiritual formation. What nobody had done was test it inside a spiritual direction program. Dr. Lynette Vaive, DMin, MBA, PCC, took that on as her Doctor of Ministry project through the Graduate Theological Foundation, working with Spiritual Directors in training at the Haden Institute in Hendersonville, North Carolina. As a graduate of the Haden program herself, she wanted to know whether EQ and SEQ would support the individuation and personal development of students preparing for practice. Read the full project paper → Read the companion blog post →

Process

Lynette and Jim Vaive worked with volunteers from three groups of Spiritual Direction students at Haden, beginning in 2024: a low-residential group (n=10), a virtual group (n=7, of whom 6 completed), and a control group (n=12). The two intervention groups went through the work in two phases, each phase the same shape: an assessment, a one-to-one debrief, two training workshops, optional coaching, and weekly reinforcement emails across 10 to 12 weeks. The first phase used the SEI, the Six Seconds Emotional Intelligence assessment, early in the students’ two-year training so that the EQ foundation was laid first. The SEQ phase followed roughly three months later. The control group completed the assessments but received no reports, no debrief, no workshops and no emails. On the instruments: the SEQ adds twenty questions to the SEI and reports three Domains — Awareness, Belonging and Insight — alongside three Drivers (Service, Balance and Direction) and nine Tiles, which are the actionable practices underneath the framework. The SEQ assessment, Profile and Development Report were developed by Jim and Lynette Vaive together with Six Seconds CEO Joshua Freedman and the Spirit of EQ team. Approximately 14 to 16 months into the training, all three groups took the assessment again for post-intervention measurement.

Outcomes and Data

Comparing pre- and post-intervention EQ and SEQ scores:

  • 56% of the low-residential group showed meaningful combined gains, compared with 40% of the control group.
  • All six participants who completed the virtual group showed gains on 30% or more of the measures.
  • All nine SEQ Tiles improved across all three groups, including the control group — which points to a natural alignment between the SEQ framework and spiritual direction training itself.
  • The most engaged participants moved the furthest, in some cases 20 to 30% across multiple measures. Students who took up the practices changed more than those who did not have the capacity to, which is an argument for sustained practice rather than a single workshop.

Chart comparing pre- and post-intervention EQ and SEQ scores across the low residential, virtual and control groups in Lynette Vaive’s Doctor of Ministry study.

Conclusion

These are small groups, and the study was not powered to establish statistical significance. What the data does show is that where participants were able to engage with the learning, the gains were often substantial. Further study at other spiritual direction programs, with different cohorts, is the way to test whether the pattern holds. The full project paper, with the methodology and the complete data, is available here: Read the full project paper → Comments from project participants:

  • Seeing the connection between emotional awareness and spiritual growth was a game changer for me. I would like to continue to learn more.
  • I think learning about EQ and SEQ will help me to be a responsible and helpful spiritual director.
  • I found value in this. Period. And I’m looking forward to drawing upon what I’ve learned—not just with my clients but in my own loved life.

Start a Conversation

Lynette’s doctoral research is the foundation of how Spirit of EQ brings emotional and spiritual intelligence into formation programs.

Read the full project paper →

Read the companion blog post →

If you lead a spiritual direction or formation program and want to know what EQ and SEQ would add to it, we would welcome the conversation.

This is Lynette’s work, so start with her. Book a 60-minute conversation with Dr. Lynette Vaive: calendly.com/lynettespiritofeq/60min

Or with Jim Vaive: calendly.com/jim-792/60min

Or write to lynette@spiritofeq.com or jim@spiritofeq.com.