Spiritual Direction Program
Synergy Wesley Foundation supplements the cost of individual Spiritual Direction for college students through a grant from TMF. We do not employee Spiritual Directors, but we provide referrals to the Directors pictured below, and we pay for the session cost. Spiritual Direction is a one-on-one meeting with a Spiritual Director - a trained listener - where you can explore questions about your life with God. Spiritual Directors can walk with you as you reflect on your spiritual journey and can help you notice where God has been moving along the way, can help you deepen your prayer and spiritual practices, or help you discern where God is calling you in your major or career.
If you are a college student who is interested in Spiritual Direction, you can scroll to the bottom of the page and complete the signup form.
Meet our
Spiritual Directors
Enrique Cintrón
(they/them) Enrique is a queer Puerto Rican nonbinary writer, spiritual director, and digital minister. Born and raised in Philadelphia, they appreciate long walks through cities, people-watching in cafés, and wandering used bookstores - this speaks to Enrique's deep affinity for stories - both telling their own and listening deeply to others'. Enrique attended Temple University and graduated in 2016 with a BA in Religion with a minor in Women's, Gender, and Sexuality Studies. They are a graduate of the Spiritual Direction Practicum offered by Still Harbor, which forms spiritual directors in trauma-informed, anti-oppression oriented practices of listening, prayer, and reflection. Growing up Roman Catholic, they have an immense love for the contemplative and liturgical traditions of Christianity, but are also intimately familiar with the ways the church has harmed LGBTQ+ people. As a spiritual director, they offer spiritual accompaniment for queer and trans folks in their journeys of reclamation and healing from religious harm. Enrique lives in Denver, CO with their partner Chad, and in their spare time, Enrique enjoys embroidery, tending to their growing collection of houseplants, and buying far too many books than they have room for on their shelves.
Laura Fairchild
(she/her) Laura is a Bob's Burger-lovin' Jersey girl who recently moved to New York. She works in Student Life at Iona University, coordinating retreats and other spirituality programs. Laura studied accounting at Kean University and was highly involved in a Christian campus ministry. She eventually sought additional education and training at Princeton Theological Seminary, where she learned to think critically about the theological beliefs taught in her faith context (a predominantly Black Baptist church). Her education helped to deepen and mature the expression of my faith and understanding of God.
Currently Laura finds spiritual nourishment through Quaker spirituality. In a spiritual direction session with Laura, you can expect an emphasis on your inner or direct experience with God as she offers supportive and nonjudgmental listening, prayer, and affirmation. Laura previously worked as a hospital chaplain and is comfortable discussing many topics. She hopes to create a space where students feel welcome, valued, and supported.
Samantha E. Lioi
(she/her) Samantha loves to be outdoors, among trees and waters and creatures that remind her she is part of this beautiful earth. Nature is where she most easily feels inhabited by God and the gratitude that flows with that. She grew up evangelical and found a more life-giving home in Mennonite Church USA during college and her early twenties. It was during college that she discovered the freedom of doing less to make space for silence and stillness, for being outside, and allowing her spirit and body to move at the same pace. She came out to herself and others slowly, during her thirties. Samantha says, “Experience (and modeling from people I trust) have shown me the truth that in welcoming all parts of ourselves, we deepen our capacity for loving compassion.”
Samantha enters spiritual direction with the assumption that the Spirit of Love is moving all of us to be more free, fully alive, and at peace with ourselves, each other, the earth, and the Creator. Her approach is contemplative and experiential. “In a session, I may ask you to pause and inwardly invite the Divine (however you name that relationship/reality) into a situation or question you’ve been describing. At another time, I may ask you to be aware of what you’re experiencing in your body, perhaps connected with an emotion or experience you’ve described. I may ask you what your desire is or what you need or hope for from God/the Divine in a given circumstance. I welcome doubts, unknowing, and “all that is unresolved” as rich soil for the relationship with the Sacred to grow.”
Aaron Manes
(he/him) Aaron is located in Richardson, Texas, and is available to meet with students in-person. Aaron says, “Rumi, Rohr, Merton and Julian of Norwich all say something akin to ‘God comes to us disguised as our lives.’ This has been so true for me and I am hopeful that every new day I will connect with my history, my community and my story enough to find that connection with the Holy. Just after college my personal faith went through a deconstruction in the midst of the early-progressive church movement. This journey has been a part of my call to Spiritual Direction and leading faithful ragamuffins and pilgrims to find new faith experiences. Honestly, I just couldn’t let go of God or maybe God wouldn’t let go of me, either way I am thankful. In the moment I wouldn’t have wanted to feel distant from God but after living through it, I would welcome it all again.”
Aaron’s spiritual direction practice includes people of all walks of life. He works with many people around faith deconstruction/reconstruction, recovery, spiritual practices, the Christian mystics, and has advanced training with the enneagram.
Hailey Mitsui
(she/her) Hailey is a Spiritual Director and Embodiment Coach. She works with individuals, groups and communities at the intersection of spirituality, identity, justice and healing.
In addition to the traditional practice of "Holy Listening", Hailey incorporates embodiment work and ancestral healing into her spiritual direction sessions.
Her desire is to create a sacred space for questioning, anger, grief, joy, reassurance and exploration.
Hailey is based on Duwamish land (also known as Seattle, WA) and sees clients in-person and virtually. You can learn more about her and her practice at haileymitsui.com or on instagram @haileymitsui.
Matt Nightingale
(he/him) Matt is a pastor and spiritual director from the San Francisco Bay Area. Matt says, “I tell people I'm ‘deeply Christian and profoundly gay.’ It took me literally decades to figure out how to reconcile these two central parts of my identity, and now I do a lot of work with other people who are figuring all of that out for themselves. I had a whole first life as a ‘straight’ evangelical worship pastor, so I have a (very friendly) former wife and four amazing young adult kids. I’m very fortunate and grateful. I have found contemplative spirituality to be very healing as I’ve come out as gay and as I’ve come out of evangelicalism into a broader expression of Christianity.”
If you do Spiritual Direction with Matt, he says, “We’ll be listening to God together, trying to notice where God is already at work in the everyday stuff of your life. I think of myself as a friend for the spiritual journey. I’m not really the director…God is. I’m just along for the ride, to encourage and support, to point out things you may not notice for yourself. From the minute we start talking, the whole hour is really a type of prayer… we are doing our best to be open to God, to listen and pay attention, to trust and to follow. It’s always fascinating to see what happens.”
You can find Matt on Twitter and Instagram at @mattnightingale.