What does it mean to be in right relationship as a minister?
This four-day intensive explores the essential skills of embodied attunement and ethical discernment that ministers, guides, and psychedelic facilitators need when holding sacred space. During this experiential intensive, we integrate wisdom from ecophilosophy, phenomenology, and Traditional Ecological Knowledge. Participants will practice embodied ways of knowing and attune to the more than human world to develop authentic ethical practices grounded in somatic and intuitive knowledge in service to our human practices.
Participants will learn to:
- Navigate verbal and non-verbal consent through embodied attunement
- Recognize and respond to vulnerability with proportionate care
- Integrate somatic and intuitive knowledge into ethical decision-making
- Apply ancestral and contemporary wisdom from more than human communities
- Develop practical skills for maintaining right relationship across power dynamics
Grounded in Wisdom Traditions:
Drawing from ecophilosophy, phenomenology, and contemporary bioethics as well as traditional indigenous discernment council practices, this course offers ministers sophisticated tools for navigating the complex relational ethics of sacred space holding terrain.
Learning from Living Systems:
We explore how ecosystems model consent, boundaries, and mutual care. Through direct engagement with the more than human world, students discover ancient and new ways of being human that inform professional practice. Plants and animals become teachers in understanding reciprocal relationships and embodied ethics.
Experiential Format:
This intensive combines theoretical grounding with community practice through somatic exercises, case study work, and direct engagement with the wild animate beings who, through community, create ecosystems. Students develop personal frameworks for ethical discernment that honor both professional standards and the sacred nature of ministerial relationship.
Course Structure:
- Preparation: Online session July 1st at 3-5:30 PM PT / 6-8:30 PM ET
- Intensive: Four days in Oakland, CA July 9-12
- Integration: Online session July 22nd at 3-5:30 PM PT / 6-8:30 PM ET
Tuition
The July (2 unit) Intensive costs $2000. There is a $50 discount for payment in full.
Join us for this transformative exploration of what it means to be human in right relationship with one another and all life. Develop the embodied wisdom and ethical sophistication required for authentic ministerial practice.
This is one course in a larger series of four courses that lead to a Graduate Certificate in Relational Ethics for Expanded States of Consciousness. This can be taken as an individual course or for those working towards certification. The next course is a 3 credit hour live virtual class beginning Fall 2026. The entire certification includes an additional in person intensive exploring ethics and shadow work in January 2027, and a final advanced virtual course in Spring 2027.
For future terms, each 2-Unit Intensive costs $2000 and each 3 Unit Semester-long course costs $1800 each.
Tuition for the full certificate (10 Units) costs $6000 total.
We’re offering a special bundled two-intensive bundle!
Tuition discount for CSP ministers and ministry seminary students: July + January In-person Intensive bundle: Enroll in both by July 1st 2026 for $3000.
For more details on the Relational Ethics Certificate, please visit https://sacredpractices.org/ethics/
Course Structure
Meet Your Instructor
Dr. Andi Chatburn is a Hospice and Palliative Care physician and Healthcare Ethics Consultant-Certified (HEC-C) who served for a decade, and was the Regional Senior Director for Ethics at Providence Health in Washington and Montana. In 2024, she transitioned to By The Bay Health in California, where she practices end of life care while continuing her work as a Spiritual Director and independent Bioethicist.
Throughout her career at Providence, she chaired and led over a dozen ethics committees. She also developed and taught a comprehensive Ethics Curriculum Training Program covering seven specialized courses—from pediatric ethics to end-of-life care—reaching hundreds of healthcare professionals.
Her academic experience includes Clinical Instructor positions in Biomedical Ethics at Washington University's Elson S. Floyd School of Medicine and Pacific Northwest University School of Osteopathic Medicine. As a spiritual care provider and ordained minister, she combines spiritual wisdom with clinical excellence to address healthcare's most complex ethical challenges. Dr. Chatburn has provided compassionate care and education for chaplains serving hospitals across the Pacific Inland Northwest. She also served as a Spiritual Director for many healthcare executives, consulting on leadership formation using the Jesuit model.
Currently a second-year seminary student with the Congregation for Sacred Practices, she is completing her PhD in Philosophy at California Institute for Integral Studies, focusing on Ecology, Spirituality, and Religion. This unique combination brings unprecedented interdisciplinary depth to bioethics education and practice.