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Guide XIII-209

Julian Meetings

Hilary Wakeman1973England
A 39 · L 42 · M 1920 interventions in the Trinity explorer
Client cardCompare
[source: …] where a claim comes from[uncertain] not confirmed in a primary source[synthesis] the writer's reconstruction

1. Introduction

Version followed: The Julian Meetings (JM) as the movement describes itself on its own website (home page, "About Meetings", FAQs and "Contemplative Prayer and Meditation" pages), with history from the University of Birmingham Cadbury Research Library archive record; clinical material from the sources listed under Sources.

What it is. The Julian Meetings are not a therapy but a lay, ecumenical Christian movement: a network of small, autonomous local groups that meet regularly to share silent contemplative prayer, plus individual members who pray alone. The movement states its aim as fostering the teaching and practice of contemplative prayer and meditation within the Christian tradition, encouraging people to practise in daily life and to find the approach that suits them, and supporting the local meetings. It describes itself as Christian and ecumenical, welcoming "those of all faiths and none" who respect the Christian context. It teaches no single method. [source: JM home page; JM About Meetings; JM FAQs]

Origins. The JM began in 1973 after a letter from "our founder" in English church papers; eleven areas set up contemplative prayer groups, which grew into a network the movement's own site puts at about 150 meetings. [source: JM home page] The archive record dates the first eleven groups to 1973 in England, Scotland and Wales, records an advisory group formed in 1975 that included Hilary Wakeman, and a first weekend retreat in 1976 that became annual; it also records a postal group from 1974 and the JM Magazine, published three times a year from 1974. [source: Archives Hub, Cadbury Research Library MS903] Wikipedia names Hilary Wakeman, an Anglican later among the first women ordained priest in the Church of England (1994), as the founder [uncertain: secondary, unverified]. The JM site says Hilary Wakeman wrote about the beginnings in the preface to Circles of Silence. The movement is named after Julian of Norwich, the fourteenth-century English mystic, but says it does not exist to promote her and has no link to other organisations using her name. [source: JM FAQs]

How change happens, as the movement frames it. In the JM's words, contemplative prayer is waiting on God, listening and opening oneself in silent awareness, sometimes called "prayer of the heart". The FAQs say Julian's teaching that the highest prayer is simply waiting on God underpins the approach. Its summary is four words: Stillness, Silence, Simplicity, Surrender, with surrender meaning that the initiative is left to God rather than controlled by the person praying. The practitioner is told not to expect anything to happen. Regular group meetings are said to give encouragement, reduce isolation, make silence easier to keep, and offer a place to talk about difficulties in prayer. [source: JM FAQs; JM Contemplative Prayer and Meditation] These are the tradition's theological claims, reported as the movement holds them, not as clinical mechanisms. For the psychotherapist, the practice matters as part of a client's religious life: a source of meaning, community and coping, and sometimes a setting for difficult experiences. The therapist's job is to understand it, support client-led integration, and spot problems, not to teach prayer. [synthesis]

Health claims. The JM pages consulted make no health or treatment claims. Contemplative prayer should not be presented as treating physical or mental illness; the evidence on Christian contemplative prayer groups specifically is thin [uncertain: not verified]. [synthesis]

2. Framework

A. The movement's own structure (as published). [source: JM About Meetings; JM FAQs; JM home page]

  • Two settings that complement each other. Personal daily prayer, and the regular group meeting. The JM says personal and group prayer "should complement and enhance each other".
  • The meeting. Usually up to about 15 people, meeting regularly in a home, church, chapel or other suitable place; some meet online or in hybrid form. If a group often has more than a dozen or so, it may split. There is no minimum size.
  • Format of a meeting. (1) A member opens with a brief reading, which need not be from Scripture, and/or a short piece of music; (2) a period of silent contemplative prayer, usually 30 minutes, not less than 20, longer if the group decides, never interrupted; (3) a member closes the silence with another short reading and/or music; (4) usually tea, coffee and conversation for those who want it. Members take turns to open and close, and anyone may decline.
  • Organisation. No set leadership and minimal organisation. Each meeting runs itself; two meeting-appointed contacts (First and Second Contact) handle venue, publicity and enquiries and are needed to register a meeting. A Council gives advice. Individual membership is free; attending a meeting does not make someone a member.
  • Single-pointedness. A meeting exists only for shared contemplative prayer and the JM aims; it takes up no social, political or charitable causes as a group.
  • Further steps offered. Quiet days and retreats; booklets, recordings and a magazine; guidance on starting a meeting; safeguarding guidance.
  • No stages or grades. There are no published phases of progress, levels, courses, teacher certification or initiation. Nothing is taught under confidentiality; all guidance is public.

B. The psychotherapist's work alongside it. [synthesis; assessment grounded in DSM-5 CFI supplementary modules; ethics in APA Ethics Code]

No session counts are given by any source; work fits inside whatever therapy the client is already receiving.

  1. Assessment and consent. Goal: learn what the JM and contemplative prayer mean to the client, and whether the client wants this part of life in therapy. Tools: core CFI plus the Spirituality, Religion and Moral Traditions module. Move on when the client has said, in their own words, what role prayer plays and what they want from therapy about it.
  2. Client-led integration. Goal: let the client's practice support treatment goals where the client wishes (for example, the meeting as a regular source of community; the prayer word as a familiar way to steady attention), with the therapist as a curious collaborator, not a teacher. Move on when a shared plan exists or the client prefers to keep prayer separate.
  3. Monitoring. Goal: notice benefits and difficulties (strong emotions in silence, fear of silence, scrupulosity, unusual experiences). Continue throughout.
  4. Referral and collaboration. Goal: link the client, with consent, to the right person for spiritual questions (their minister, a spiritual director, meeting contacts) and to medical or specialist care for clinical questions.
  5. Review. Goal: check whether prayer-related work is helping, and adjust or stop it.

Moving between phases. Move forward only on the client's say-so; step back to assessment if new difficulties appear (for example, panic in silence, intrusive religious doubts, signs of mania or psychosis). [synthesis]

3. Guiding principles

From the movement (as it states them). [source: JM home page; JM About Meetings; JM FAQs; JM Contemplative Prayer and Meditation]

  • Simple, small, single-pointed, adaptable, open to all. Practical meaning: expect a low-key, informal group, not a programme; a referral is to a gathering, not a course.
  • No particular method. Practical meaning: do not assume the client follows a fixed technique; ask what they actually do.
  • Stillness, Silence, Simplicity, Surrender. Practical meaning: the goal is receptive presence before God as the client understands it, not relaxation targets or performance.
  • No expectation of results. Practical meaning: reframe "nothing happened" as normal within the tradition, not as failure.
  • Gently return when the mind wanders. Practical meaning: wandering is expected; the response is gentle return, not self-criticism.
  • Personal and group prayer complement each other. Practical meaning: explore both settings when assessing support.
  • Ecumenical and lay-led, no set leadership. Practical meaning: there is no guru or authorised teacher; spiritual authority for the client usually sits with their own church or a spiritual director.
  • Respect for the Christian context; welcome to all faiths and none. Practical meaning: a non-churchgoing client may still attend if they respect the setting.
  • Silence can be hard for some. The JM says silence can feel frightening or threatening, especially to people who have known silence as punishment or hostility, and that emotions may surface; it suggests speaking with a trusted Christian friend or pastor. Practical meaning: screen for this and plan with the client.

For the therapist. [source: APA Ethics Code; DSM-5 CFI supplementary modules; Lindahl et al. 2017, PLOS ONE; Farias et al. 2020, Acta Psychiatrica Scandinavica; synthesis where marked]

  • Client-led, in the client's own language. Use the client's words (God, the Lord, the silence, prayer word). Practical meaning: never introduce prayer or religious content the client has not brought. [synthesis]
  • Attribute, do not adjudicate. Practical meaning: speak of God, grace or Julian's teaching as the client and tradition hold them, neither affirming nor dismissing them. [synthesis]
  • Stay in the therapist's role. The therapist is not a spiritual director, prayer leader or confessor. Practical meaning: do not lead prayer or join the client's meeting; avoid overlapping roles that could impair objectivity (APA 3.05).
  • Competence with religion. Where religion is essential to effective services, get the training or consultation needed, or refer (APA 2.01); respect religious difference and guard against bias (Principle E); do not discriminate on religion (3.01). Practical meaning: seek consultation if unfamiliar with Christian contemplative practice. Published spiritual and religious competencies (Vieten et al. 2013) are a further guide [uncertain: not verified].
  • Informed consent. Practical meaning: if prayer-related work enters therapy, explain what it involves, its limits and alternatives, and that it is optional (APA 10.01).
  • Own beliefs in check. Practical meaning: notice your own religious or non-religious commitments; seek consultation if they may impair work (APA 2.06); self-disclose only briefly and only for the client's benefit. [synthesis]
  • Do no harm with silence. Practical meaning: contemplative practice can bring adverse experiences (anxiety, depression, unusual perceptions), including in people with no psychiatric history; monitor, and inform. (APA 3.04; Farias et al. 2020, Acta Psychiatrica Scandinavica; Lindahl et al. 2017, PLOS ONE)
  • Collaborate. Practical meaning: with consent, work with clergy, spiritual directors or doctors when that helps the client (APA 3.09).

4. Intervention inventory

Part A gives the practices as the Julian Meetings publish them, so the therapist knows what the client is doing. They are the client's religious practices, not therapist techniques: the therapist does not teach or lead them. Part B is the psychotherapist's own work. Example language is the therapist's, labelled (illustrative).

Part A. Practices as the movement publishes them

A1. The Julian Meeting (gathered silence)

  • Purpose and when used: Regular shared silent prayer; the movement says company makes silence easier to keep, eases isolation, supports discipline and gives a place to talk about difficulties in prayer. [source: JM About Meetings; JM FAQs]
  • Steps (as published): A member opens with a short reading (Scripture or other) and/or brief music; the group keeps uninterrupted silence, usually 30 minutes and not less than 20; a member closes with a reading and/or music; optional tea and conversation. Members take turns to open and close. Online and hybrid meetings exist. [source: JM About Meetings; JM FAQs] The JM describes the group silence as having an intensity that "can only be experienced and shared". [source: JM Contemplative Prayer and Meditation]
  • Example language (illustrative): "What is it like for you, sitting in that silence with the others? What do you take away from the tea afterwards?"
  • Watch for: Benefit signs: the client reports belonging, steadiness, looking forward to it. Concern signs: dread before meetings, panic or flashbacks in the 20–30 minutes of silence, feeling unable to leave the room mid-silence, distress afterwards. The format does not interrupt the silence, so a distressed client may feel trapped; plan an exit (sitting near the door, telling a contact beforehand). [synthesis]

A2. Lead-in through a short text (focus word or phrase)

  • Purpose and when used: To move into silence; the JM says words should open the person to God rather than prompt thinking about God. [source: JM Contemplative Prayer and Meditation]
  • Steps (as published): Choose a short passage of Scripture, a poem or religious text (shorter is preferred); hold one word, phrase or image from it as the focus; when the mind wanders, gently come back to it. [source: JM Contemplative Prayer and Meditation]
  • Example language (illustrative): "Is there a phrase you tend to carry into the silence? What does it mean to you?"
  • Watch for: Texts that trigger shame or fear (for example passages about judgement in a client with scrupulosity or religious trauma); clients who turn the lead-in into analytical rumination. [synthesis]

A3. The prayer word ("mantra")

  • Purpose and when used: To steady attention during the silence. [source: JM Contemplative Prayer and Meditation]
  • Steps (as published): Repeat a word or short phrase slowly in the mind throughout the silence, "usually repeated in rhythm with your breathing". Examples the JM gives are openly published Christian phrases such as "Jesus", "Maranatha" (glossed by the JM as "come Lord Jesus"), "Lord have mercy" and "Be still and know that I am God". The word is chosen by the person; nothing is given by initiation and no breath pattern, count or holding of the breath is taught. [source: JM Contemplative Prayer and Meditation]
  • Example language (illustrative): "When you say your word inwardly, how does it feel: comforting, effortful, or something else?"
  • Watch for: Repetition turning into a compulsion (must be said perfectly, restarted if 'wrong', said to neutralise a bad thought): consider scrupulosity (B6). Breath-focus making some clients anxious or dizzy: the client can let the word go free of the breath. [synthesis]

A4. Sensory and symbolic focus

  • Purpose and when used: An alternative focus for those who find words hard, or for bilingual or multi-faith groups. [source: JM Contemplative Prayer and Meditation]
  • Steps (as published): Use a candle, a picture or icon, or a small object held in the hand; music, a gong or a singing bowl can lead into and out of the silence without words. Some use the scent of herbs, flowers or incense, but the JM advises against incense or strong scents in groups because of allergy and asthma. [source: JM Contemplative Prayer and Meditation]
  • Example language (illustrative): "You mentioned holding a small cross. What does having something in your hand do for you during the silence?"
  • Watch for: A held object or open eyes on a candle are already grounding aids; they may suit clients who dissociate in silence. Sudden sounds (a gong) may startle clients with hyperarousal. [synthesis]

A5. Stillness, Silence, Simplicity, Surrender; handling distraction

  • Purpose and when used: The movement's summary of contemplation; distinguishes active meditation (engaging mind and imagination, as in studying a painting) from receptive contemplation (resting before God). The JM advises not to worry too much about the difference. [source: JM FAQs]
  • Steps (as published): Be still in body (no movement or noise that would distract others); expect the mind to wander and return to the focus; do not expect anything to happen; be thankful and persevere, since "all things happen in God's time, not ours". [source: JM Contemplative Prayer and Meditation]
  • Example language (illustrative): "When your mind wanders and you come back, what tone do you use with yourself: gentle, or harsh?"
  • Watch for: Self-criticism about wandering, or reading 'nothing happened' as spiritual failure or abandonment by God; physical stillness that is actually freeze or shutdown. [synthesis]

A6. Personal daily practice

  • Purpose and when used: To "just BE, alone, with God" between meetings. [source: JM Contemplative Prayer and Meditation]
  • Steps (as published): Choose a time of day that fits family and work and when one is alert; two shorter times may be more practical than one long one; set aside a place (a corner with a cross, icon, candle or flowers, a chapel, a garden); use a soft alarm so the end does not startle. No personal duration is prescribed. [source: JM Contemplative Prayer and Meditation]
  • Example language (illustrative): "What would a realistic rhythm look like for you this month, given everything else going on?"
  • Watch for: Rigid, guilt-driven schedules; sharp increases in time spent in silence during a mental-health crisis; use of practice to avoid problems the client has brought to therapy. [synthesis]

A7. Prayer through repetitive tasks and the outdoors

  • Purpose and when used: Some people focus better through activity. [source: JM Contemplative Prayer and Meditation]
  • Steps (as published): Weaving, knitting, embroidery, painting, repetitive cooking or woodwork, walking, gardening or being by the sea may serve as a way into prayer. [source: JM Contemplative Prayer and Meditation]
  • Example language (illustrative): "Are there everyday activities where you feel most at prayer?"
  • Watch for: A useful option for clients who find sitting silence too activating. [synthesis]

A8. Quiet days, retreats and resources

  • Purpose and when used: Longer or deeper experience of silence; learning. [source: JM home page; Archives Hub]
  • What is published: Quiet days and retreats (an annual weekend retreat dates from 1976); booklets (titles include A Brief Introduction to Contemplative Prayer, Some Basics of Contemplative Prayer, Going Into Silence and Coming Out, Approaching Silence, Voices from the Silence), audio and video recordings, a magazine, and safeguarding guidance. [source: JM Contemplative Prayer and Meditation; JM home page] Retreat content and length vary and are set by organisers [uncertain: not verified].
  • Example language (illustrative): "Before the retreat, shall we think about what support you'd want if difficult feelings come up?"
  • Watch for: Longer or more intensive silence raises the chance of challenging experiences (see B4); plan before, check in after. [synthesis, drawing on Lindahl et al. 2017, PLOS ONE]

A9. Joining or starting a meeting

  • Purpose and when used: Access to community. [source: JM FAQs; JM About Meetings]
  • What is published: Anyone may join a meeting found on the JM map, or start one using JM guidance; two contacts register it. The JM advises care when meetings are run by clergy or parish staff, to protect the ecumenical character and lay leadership. [source: JM FAQs]
  • Example language (illustrative): "If you'd like to try a meeting, what would help you feel comfortable going the first time?"
  • Watch for: The therapist suggests, never arranges, attendance; a client in acute distress may need stabilisation before starting a new group practice. [synthesis]

Part B. The psychotherapist's work

B1. Cultural and spiritual assessment (CFI and its religion module)

  • Purpose and when to use: At intake or when the client mentions prayer or the JM; to learn how the tradition shapes the problem, stress and coping. [source: DSM-5 CFI Supplementary Modules]
  • Steps: (1) Use the core CFI. (2) Add the Spirituality, Religion and Moral Traditions module (16 questions), which covers: the client's traditions and community ties; the tradition's role in daily life, family and decisions; private and communal practices and their importance; whether the tradition has helped with the problem (leaders, texts, prayer, ritual); and whether religious matters have added stress, distress, discrimination or conflict. Use the client's own term; if none, the module's general wording. The APA allows clinicians to reproduce the modules for use with their patients; do not adapt the items for other uses without permission. [source: DSM-5 CFI Supplementary Modules] (3) Ask specifically about the JM: how often, how long the silence, whether alone or in a group, online or in person, what happens inside the silence. [synthesis]
  • Example language (illustrative): "Some people find their faith helps with what they're going through, and some find it adds pressure. How is it for you?"
  • Watch for: Working when the client describes prayer in their own terms and you have a shared picture; not working if the client feels examined or judged. The CFI supports, but does not replace, clinical diagnosis. [source: DSM-5 CFI Supplementary Modules]

B2. Exploring meaning

  • Purpose and when to use: When the client values the practice; to understand what silence, waiting on God, or Julian of Norwich mean in their life. [synthesis]
  • Steps: (1) Invite the client's story of how they came to contemplative prayer. (2) Ask what the four words (stillness, silence, simplicity, surrender) mean to them, attributing them to the movement. (3) Link meanings to therapy goals only as the client wishes. [synthesis, using JM FAQs]
  • Example language (illustrative): "You said the meeting is where you 'wait on God'. What is that waiting like for you these days?"
  • Watch for: Surrender heard as passivity in the face of abuse or danger; meaning that has shifted from comfort to threat. [synthesis]

B3. Client-led integration with consent

  • Purpose and when to use: When the client asks to bring their practice into therapy. [synthesis; consent standard from APA 10.01]
  • Steps: (1) Clarify what the client wants (to talk about prayer; to use their prayer word as a coping aid between sessions; to begin or end a session with a moment of silence they lead). (2) Explain your role: you will not lead prayer or act as spiritual director; the practice stays theirs. (3) Agree a small, specific step and how you will review it. (4) Record consent. (5) Review at the next session and stop if unhelpful. [synthesis]
  • Example language (illustrative): "I'm happy for you to bring your prayer word into how you cope this week. You're the expert on your prayer; my part is helping you notice what it does for your mood and sleep."
  • Watch for: Pressure (felt or real) to adopt the therapist's beliefs, or the therapist's discomfort steering the work; dependence on the therapist for spiritual approval. [synthesis]

B4. Monitoring and responding to adverse experiences

  • Purpose and when to use: Throughout, and especially around retreats or increased practice. Meditation-related challenges are documented: a review of 83 studies reported adverse events in about 8% of people who try meditation, most often anxiety, depression and cognitive anomalies, including in people with no prior mental-health history. [source: Farias et al. 2020, Acta Psychiatrica Scandinavica] A study of Western Buddhist meditators described 59 kinds of challenging experience across seven domains (cognitive, perceptual, affective, somatic, conative, sense of self, social), such as fear, panic, loss of emotion, hypersensitivity to light or sound, insomnia and involuntary movement, lasting from days to over a decade. [source: Lindahl et al. 2017, PLOS ONE] These studies did not examine Christian contemplative prayer; applying them to JM practice is an inference [synthesis].
  • Steps: (1) Before a retreat or a big increase in practice, ask about trauma history, current mood, sleep, psychotic or bipolar history, and support. [synthesis] (2) Ask routinely: "Has anything in the silence been unsettling?" (3) If difficulties arise: reduce the dose (shorter or fewer silences, eyes open, activity-based prayer as in A7), use grounding (feet on the floor, holding an object, naming things in the room), keep sleep and routine regular, and keep social contact. [synthesis] (4) Normalise without dismissing: such experiences are recognised and not the person's fault. [source: Lindahl et al. 2017, PLOS ONE] (5) With consent, involve a spiritual director, minister or meeting contact who knows contemplative practice. (6) For persistent difficulty, refer to specialist support; Cheetah House offers consultations, a care team and support groups for meditators in distress and training for clinicians. [source: Cheetah House Resources]
  • Example language (illustrative): "What you're describing can happen with silent prayer. It doesn't mean you're doing it wrong. For now, would it help to keep the silences shorter and keep your eyes open?"
  • Watch for: Working: symptoms settle with reduced dose and grounding. Escalate if sleep loss, panic, depersonalisation, suicidal thoughts or loss of functioning persist. Never instruct the client to stop a religious practice; offer options and let them decide with their spiritual adviser. [synthesis]

B5. Trauma-sensitive adaptation

  • Purpose and when to use: For clients who find silence threatening; the JM itself notes this is more likely in people who have known silence as punishment or hostility. [source: JM Contemplative Prayer and Meditation]
  • Steps: (1) Ask what silence has meant in the client's history. (2) Offer choices the movement already allows: shorter times alone, eyes open on a candle or icon, a held object, music or activity-based prayer, sitting near the exit in a meeting, telling a contact beforehand. [source for options: JM Contemplative Prayer and Meditation; framing: synthesis] (3) Teach a personal plan to step out of the silence safely. (4) Trauma-sensitive mindfulness (Treleaven 2018) is a published adaptation of these principles for meditation [uncertain: not verified]. See also Domain IV trauma-sensitive yoga.
  • Example language (illustrative): "You get to decide how much silence feels right. Some days that might be two minutes with your eyes open."
  • Watch for: Flashbacks, numbing, dissociation; a client forcing themselves to sit through distress because surrender is understood as endurance. [synthesis]

B6. Telling spiritual experience apart from illness

  • Purpose and when to use: When the client reports unusual experiences (presence of God, a sense of nothingness, voices, visions, "dark night" desolation). [synthesis]
  • Steps: (1) Ask what the experience means within the client's tradition, and whether their minister or community would see it as usual. (2) Assess function: sleep, eating, work, relationships, insight, distress. (3) Screen for psychosis, mania, depression and dissociation in the usual way. (4) Where the focus is a religious or spiritual problem without disorder, DSM-5-TR lists Religious or Spiritual Problem among conditions that may be a focus of clinical attention (code Z65.8). (5) If illness is possible, arrange medical or psychiatric assessment; spiritual and clinical views can both stand. [synthesis]
  • Example language (illustrative): "How does your church understand experiences like this? And how is it affecting your sleep and day-to-day life?"
  • Watch for: Not pathologising normal religious experience, and not missing illness because content is religious. [synthesis]

B7. Scrupulosity around prayer

  • Purpose and when to use: When prayer is driven by fear: compulsive praying, constant reassurance-seeking from faith leaders, intrusive thoughts the client is ashamed to disclose. Communities may read a compulsive need to pray as devotion, and scrupulosity is often missed as OCD. [source: IOCDF blog, McKee]
  • Steps: (1) Assess for OCD. (2) Distinguish the client's chosen practice from compulsions (praying to neutralise a thought, restarting the prayer word until it is 'right'). (3) Offer ERP; with consent, consult the client's minister or a trusted faith leader to agree what faithful practice looks like, so exposures target compulsions, not faith itself. (4) Work with faith leaders so they can recognise when clinical help is needed. [source for clinician-faith leader collaboration: IOCDF blog, McKee; ERP adaptation steps: synthesis]
  • Example language (illustrative): "Let's separate the prayer you want to keep from the praying OCD demands. Would you be willing for us to check that line with your minister?"
  • Watch for: Reassurance-seeking moving onto the therapist; exposures that feel like attacks on faith (a sign to recalibrate with the religious adviser). [synthesis]

B8. Referral and collaboration

  • Purpose and when to use: For spiritual questions outside therapy's role, or when coordination helps. [source: APA 3.09, 2.01]
  • Steps: (1) Ask whom the client trusts spiritually: their minister, a spiritual director, a meeting contact. The JM itself points people with strong emotions to a trusted Christian friend or pastor. [source: JM Contemplative Prayer and Meditation] (2) Get written consent before any contact; agree what will and won't be shared. (3) Keep roles clear: the therapist handles clinical work; spiritual guidance stays with the adviser. (4) Route physical health questions to the client's doctor. [synthesis]
  • Example language (illustrative): "That sounds like a question for someone who knows contemplative prayer well. Is there someone in your church you'd trust with it?"
  • Watch for: Collaboration that pressures the client, or confidentiality slips. [synthesis]

B9. Group dynamics, safeguarding and religious trauma

  • Purpose and when to use: When the client describes pressure or harm in any religious group, or is leaving one. [synthesis]
  • Steps: (1) Note the JM's published structure: no set leadership, free membership, no fees for attendance, minimal organisation and single-pointedness, with safeguarding guidance on its website. [source: JM home page; JM FAQs] Controversies or misconduct concerning the JM: none found in the sources consulted. (2) Still ask, for any group: freedom to leave, control over time, money or relationships, secrecy, punishment for doubt. (3) For religious trauma, follow the client's goals, whether to stay, change or leave; Cheetah House lists a religious trauma guide [source: Cheetah House Resources]. (4) Follow safeguarding duties if a child or adult at risk is involved. [synthesis]
  • Example language (illustrative): "Do you feel free to miss a meeting, or to say you see things differently?"
  • Watch for: Projecting other groups' problems onto a low-structure movement; equally, not overlooking a specific local problem. [synthesis]

B10. Secular and clinical adaptations

  • Purpose and when to use: If the client wants attention training without religious framing, or the therapist is asked to provide meditation-based treatment. [synthesis]
  • Steps: Do not secularise the client's prayer. Offer a separate, named evidence-based programme (Domain II: MBSR, MBCT, MSC, CFT) delivered by trained staff, or refer; see Domain VII for spiritually integrated and contemplative psychotherapy, and Domain IV for trauma-sensitive yoga. The JM publishes no clinical adaptation. [synthesis]
  • Example language (illustrative): "There's a mindfulness course with no religious content if you want that alongside your prayer, rather than instead of it."
  • Watch for: Clients feeling their prayer has been taken over or reduced to a technique. [synthesis]

B11. Role, boundaries and self-disclosure

  • Purpose and when to use: Always. [source: APA 3.05, 2.06, 2.01, Principle E]
  • Steps: (1) Do not lead prayer, attend the client's meeting, or act as spiritual director. (2) If you attend Julian Meetings yourself, avoid the client's group and consider multiple-relationship risks (APA 3.05). (3) Answer questions about your own beliefs briefly and return to the client. (4) Seek consultation where your own commitments may bias you (APA 2.06; Principle E). [source: APA Ethics Code; steps as applied: synthesis]
  • Example language (illustrative): "My own beliefs matter less here than yours. What's behind the question?"
  • Watch for: Over- or under-engaging with religious content to manage the therapist's own discomfort. [synthesis]

5. Handling problems

The JM sources address only a few of these (silence feeling frightening, emotions surfacing, distraction, expecting results). Everything else here is [synthesis] unless a source is named.

  • "Nothing happens; I'm failing at prayer." The JM says to expect nothing, gently return to the focus, and persevere, since things happen "in God's time". [source: JM Contemplative Prayer and Meditation] Response: explore the self-critical voice; check for depression (anhedonia can feel like spiritual dryness); suggest the client discuss dryness with a spiritual director. Example (illustrative): "Your movement says not to expect anything. What does your inner critic say instead?" [synthesis]
  • Silence feels frightening or unsafe. The JM recognises this, especially where silence was used as punishment or hostility. [source: JM Contemplative Prayer and Meditation] Response: B5 options (shorter, eyes open, held object, music- or activity-based prayer, exit plan); work on the underlying trauma in therapy before longer silences. [synthesis]
  • Overwhelm: strong emotion during or after a meeting. The JM suggests talking with a trusted Christian friend or pastor. [source: JM Contemplative Prayer and Meditation] Response: grounding, dose reduction, sleep and routine, a debrief plan; screen for risk if distress is severe; see B4. [synthesis]
  • Unusual or persistent experiences after a retreat. Response: B4 and B6; medical or psychiatric assessment if sleep loss, agitation, perceptual changes or suicidal thoughts persist; consider specialist meditation-difficulty support (Cheetah House). [source: Cheetah House Resources; Lindahl et al. 2017, PLOS ONE; synthesis]
  • Compulsive or fearful praying. Response: B7; avoid giving reassurance; ERP agreed with the client's religious adviser. [source: IOCDF blog; synthesis]
  • Non-adherence: client stops going to meetings or praying. Response: do not prescribe religious practice. Ask what changed (low mood, a rift in the group, doubt, life demands). Treat it as information, not failure. [synthesis]
  • Resistance to talking about faith in therapy. Response: respect it; say the door is open; revisit only if the client brings it back. [synthesis]
  • Client asks the therapist to pray with them or lead a silence. Response: thank them, explain the role boundary, and offer to hold space while the client prays briefly if that fits your setting and ethics, or encourage them to pray before or after the session. [synthesis; APA 3.05]
  • Rupture over beliefs (client senses disapproval or proselytising). Response: name it, invite the client's feelings, clarify that you have no stake in their beliefs; seek consultation if your own views are involved (APA 2.06; Principle E). [synthesis]
  • Conflict in the meeting or church. Response: help the client think through options (raising it with the meeting contacts, trying another meeting, an online meeting, praying alone); remember meetings are autonomous with no set leader. [source for structure: JM About Meetings; response: synthesis]
  • Doubt, loss of faith or leaving. Response: follow the client's direction; no outcome is the goal. Support grief for lost community. [synthesis]
  • Using prayer to avoid treatment or medical care. Response: explore with respect; the JM makes no health claims; route medical questions to the client's doctor; involve the spiritual adviser if the client wishes. [synthesis]
  • Safeguarding concerns in any group setting. Response: follow your local safeguarding procedures; the JM publishes its own safeguarding guidance. [source: JM home page; synthesis]
  • Online or hybrid meetings feel disconnected or exposing. Response: discuss camera use, privacy and an exit plan, as for in-person meetings. [synthesis]

Sources

Web sources:

Books and papers cited:

  • Lindahl, J. R., et al. (2017). The varieties of contemplative experience: A mixed-methods study of meditation-related challenges in Western Buddhists. PLOS ONE.
  • Farias, M., et al. (2020). Adverse events in meditation practices and meditation-based therapies: a systematic review. Acta Psychiatrica Scandinavica.
  • Circles of Silence: Explorations in Prayer with Julian Meetings, preface by Hilary Wakeman.
  • Wakeman, H. Circles of Stillness. [uncertain: secondary, unverified]
  • Julian of Norwich, Revelations of Divine Love (fourteenth century).
  • Treleaven, D. A. (2018). Trauma-Sensitive Mindfulness. [uncertain: not verified]
  • Vieten, C., et al. (2013). Spiritual and religious competencies for psychologists. [uncertain: not verified]
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