Spiritual Direction

Coracle Associates

Offering Ministry as a Coracle Associate

Coracle has been a vehicle for many to offer their unique gifts in ministry.  We seek to empower ‘spiritual entrepreneurs’ who would benefit from our non-profit status, back-end support, and fundraising platform to further their journeys of creative faithfulness.  If you sense God is calling you to step more fully into your unique self, offering, and vision, but you are daunted by some of the logistics and administrative burdens that come with striking out on your own, we invite you to consider becoming a Coracle Associate.

To take the first steps towards becoming a Coracle Associate, reach out for a conversation with our Executive Director, Bill Haley.  Each person’s vision will be unique, so each person’s process will be unique!

As Coracle is a 501c3 governed by a board of directors, it should be understood that the board is responsible for establishing and updating policies for the organization from time to time.  Many of those will not directly affect associates or spiritual directors, but when they do, such things will be communicated promptly, and Associates are always welcome to speak into the organization.

Current Coracle Associates

Kit Elmer

Are you feeling lonely, frustrated, like life is just too much sometimes? Are you looking for a safe place to be able to bring your hurt, your questions, your hopes? Or are you longing to have deeper intimacy and a more meaningful life with God?

We all have deep desires and longings even if we don’t know it!  Sometimes we just feel like there’s something missing and we want to have a deeper understanding of God or a deeper experience with God. Sometimes we are carrying wounds from our past and wonder how God might meet us in those places of pain and desire.

Kit invites you to come and bring those desires and all that weighs you down to a safe place where these things can be explored with God. She would love to listen to your unique story. Often there is great freedom in discovering the connection between the wounds of your past and your current pain or dissatisfaction with life.

Kit feels that it is a privilege to listen to her clients and to seek God together for what’s next in their lives. She believes very much that healing can be a vital part of our stories, that it is a process and she is committed to helping others navigate the various challenges of life.

She understands through her own life experience that there is so much pain and yet there is so much hope. Wherever you are in your journey, Kit would love to come alongside you to explore what hope you looks like in your life.

Kit has been a Spiritual Coach for over 10 years and has over 23 years of experience in ministry. She has a Master’s Degree in counseling and a Spiritual Formation Certificate from the Transforming Center.

Kit is married and has 2 grown children and 2 grandsons. She and her husband love to hike the forest behind their home with their dog and enjoy God’s beauty in nature whenever and wherever they can.

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Kit Elmer

Kit Elmer

Tracey Meeks

Tracey loves to accompany others on their journey with God.  In addition to teaching and leading retreats, Tracey has accompanied others through spiritual direction, guided contemplative practices, and sabbatical coaching, among other things.  After losing her husband 23 years ago, her journey with grief has led to walking with others on this sacred journey as well.

One of the things she is most excited about these days is joining with others through developmental spiritual direction/soul care.  This has also been a part of her own healing journey.  In the words of Sarah Herring, “In the pathway of our lives, we all have uneven places where our foundations were not well built.  Trauma and losses can be like diversions or rocky places where we get stuck again and again.  By going back to the early affirmations of a healthy life, empowered by the Holy Spirit, we can encounter God as He brings truth, repair, and well-being to our souls. Developmental Soul Care is an invitation to just such a journey into wholeness.  We call it The Pathway Home. The use of spiritual, creative, and life practices invite the Presence of God to bring profound experiences of His love and safety. Over time, this can offer repair for the uneven places in our foundations, as new neuro-pathways of experience are built.”

Tracey has served on leadership teams offering year-long spiritual formation and soul care retreats.  She received training in spiritual formation through Kavannah House and training in spiritual direction through Sustainable Faith.  She has continued her training in Formational Prayer through Healing Care Ministries and Developmental Spiritual Direction and Soul Care through The Pathway Home.

During the pandemic, Tracey moved to Virginia Beach to live close to her son, daughter, and son-in-law.  She is now thoroughly enjoying being a grandmother and newly married to Brad (a friend from many years ago in college at JMU!).

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Tracey Meeks

Tracey Meeks

Barbara Ryan

Barbara Dixon Ryan grew up in Montgomery County, Maryland on the “wrong side” of the Potomac, but she got to Virginia as fast as she could. She earned a B.A. at Bucknell University and a J.D. at UVA. While in law school she met and married her pastor, Skip Ryan.

Barbara practiced family law in Charlottesville before giving birth to Chris, Carey Beth, and Rebekah. Bekah was born with a seizure disorder that foreshadowed severe developmental challenges. Barbara suspended her law practice to work through her grief while being a mommy/therapist finally reaching the land of deep trust, enabling her to become a “wounded healer” for those facing “hard” providences. The Ryans moved to Dallas, Texas for 26 years where Barb fed on and shared the word of God, leading retreats and support groups. She audited many courses from Westminster Theological Seminary on the Dynamics of Biblical Change. She is an A.B.S. Level One Trauma counselor, is trained in Gottman Marriage and Couples in Recovery techniques, is a Life Coach, a Certified Family Recovery Specialist and a Certified Substance Abuse Counselor-A.  Barbara has published a booklet, When Someone You Love Is Addicted To Something You Hate, which is available on Amazon (Here).

Barbara’s life verse is Isaiah 50:4:  The Lord God has given me the tongue of one who has been taught, so that I may know how to sustain with a word, him that is weary. 

Barbara feels called to use God’s word, much study, and her life experience to be a minister of encouragement in the following four areas:

  • Individuals with addiction-related concerns;
  • Parents raising or caring for special, difficult or adopted children;
  • Couples facing more extreme marital challenges; and
  • Young women seeking mentorship and discipleship.

Barbara’s hobbies include:  reading, writing poetry and prose, learning, walking and talking with friends in the beauty of God’s creation, biking, kayaking, and exploring! 

Feel free to contact her to set up a time to see if she can be of encouragement to you in the particulars of your situation.

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Barbara Ryan

Barbara Ryan