For those who want to go deeper in their faith, the Church offers a distinctive form of personal care and counsel through its ministry of spiritual direction. A person engages in prayerful reflection about their life with a fellow Christian, who may or may not be a priest, over a period of time, seeking the guidance of the Holy Spirit.

Spiritual direction sometimes begins as crisis management, but invariably it broadens into a holistic appreciation of a person's life and faith. In the ancient Celtic Church, and still in some church circles, such a wise counsellor was called a 'soul friend'.

The clergy are always glad to see a person on such a basis, or to help them find a 'soul friend' with whom they can talk in confidence.