YELLOWKNIFE - Spiritual companion. It sounds like somebody a movie star might have in their entourage next to their private chef, jet pilot, and masseuse.

Now Yellowknife has its very own spiritual advisor and she is available to anyone who might need her - no need to be a Northern Paris Hilton.

Wilda Wedgerfield is a spiritual companion. She helps people work out what is lacking in their spiritual lives, she said. - Erika Sherk/NNSL photo

Wilda Wedgerfield, 67, began offering her services as a spiritual companion last fall.

It's a bit like counselling on one's spirituality, she said, except that a spiritual companion or director does not offer advice. They help people develop their relationship with God, she said.

"A spiritual director does not tell someone what to do or how to do it," she said. "It's just to help that person find their own inner strength."

According to a pamphlet published by Spiritual Directors International, an association of spiritual companions worldwide to which Wedgerfield belongs, the name spiritual director is a bit of a misnomer.

"It's really not about being directed," reads the brochure. "Rather it is very much about being encouraged to draw closer to God."

"We all have what we need inside," said Wedgerfield. "I help people to bring that out and discover it within themselves."

Wedgerfield said she became interested in spiritual directing when she found a pamphlet for a training program at a Christian school while on a trip.

She graduated last May from the spiritual director program at Haden Institute, a spiritual learning centre in Niagara Falls.

The program involved two years of correspondence study with four-week long intensive courses at the school.

There Wedgerfield took courses such as "The application of Jungian psychology in spiritual direction" and "Identifying the feminine with the Divine Image."

It was an intense learning experience, she said.

She now works with four regular clients in Yellowknife, and has been speaking to others who are considering spiritual direction, she said.

People are often curious about what she does, she said, and she invites them to come and speak to her and find out what it's all about.

Wedgerfield meets with her clients about once a month. Sessions last for one-hour and cost $25 to $40, depending on what each person decides to pay.

They talk about the client's life and what concerns they have with their spiritual life, she said.

Wedgerfield belongs to the Catholic church, but said that spiritual direction is non-denominational.

She knows of other spiritual directors who have non-Christian clients, she said.