Barbara Grant

For most of my life, I worked as a teacher and a high school principal in the field of Adult Education. I received my Bachelor of Education from University of Toronto and my Masters of Education from the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education in the field of adult education. I am a certified teacher in Ontario, British Columbia and Alberta. I retired from teaching in 2006 and worked as a sessional in the Faculty of Education at the University of Calgary.

After my retirement from teaching I felt called to accompany others in spiritual companioning. I went to Naramata to study in the Pacific Jubilee, Soul Guiding Program to become a spiritual director, and during that period began to work in Campus Ministry at the University of Calgary. I completed a Masters of Theological Studies from St. Stephens College, U of A in the spring of 2019, which included 3 units of Clinical Practical Education in a Hospital setting to become a Spiritual Health Practitioner.

The intention of spiritual accompaniment is to concentrate principally but not entirely on spiritual practices. Each person has a particular worldview and meaningful life concerns. The practice consists of awakening contextual and ultimate meaning in life. Effective spiritual health has therapeutic outcomes.

My work as a Spiritual Companion provides a non-anxious presence that seeks to promote health and wellness, while appreciating that the human condition has multiple complexities including challenges, crises, illness, suffering, pain and grief. As a consequence, an effective intervention may facilitate symptoms of spiritual distress towards acceptance, inclusion and transcendence so that healing can take place. My work is grounded in Christian practice, but best described as interfaith and affirming, having companioned LGBTQ2S individuals and families.

In my practice of spiritual companionship, I include dream work, the Enneagram, conscious aging, spontaneous prayer, and contemplative and mindfulness practices. I am an active member of Calgary Spiritual Companions. I am available to companion in person or by remote technology.

Pronouns: she/her
Availability: In person or remotely
Contact information: [email protected]; 403-992-1421
Fee Structure: Sliding fee scale

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I was blind from the womb, and from blindness insight came;
and a world of the known I built through wondering why;
and the light, unfathomed, with knowledge emerged ablaze
through a heart that saved what others, unseeing, destroy;
with thoughts like the flowers on earth, and words that I taught lightly to tread when the thoughts came full of thorns.

Bashir of Amir 8^th century