Starting out with the curse-blessing of the original dysfunctional family, Stephen emerged from his Manchester working class background to grow his hair long and wander around Europe like a lot of his generation did in the 60’s. He drifted into nursing, and by conventional measures made a success of it, following the first Masters programme at Manchester University and eventually becoming the first consultant nurse in the NHS in 1986. He got into conference speaking and course-leading internationally, shuffled around in academia, made TV programmes, wrote lots of books and research papers about nursing, advised governments and WHO and the Royal College of Nursing, and matured his craft in the nursing practice of older people culminating in leading a radical nursing development unit that influenced nursing far and wide. He gathered lots of glittering prizes along the way to add letters before and after his name, which appealed greatly to the Enneatype 3 personality he carries around with him. Thus, all the usual trappings of an acclaimed career were in place. A hand-break turn in self-perception and a reawakening of the mysticism long suppressed since childhood took him in a different direction in the 90’s – exploring spirituality as it related to himself, health care, the environment and as service to others. He trained with some eminent teachers, including at the Interfaith Seminary, and was mentored most deeply by Ram Dass and Jean Sayre-Adams. He is a member of the Iona Community, finds a kinship in the deep silent worship of Quaker meetings and is just about hanging on to his bit-part in the Anglican tradition. His books have explored spirituality and health, pilgrimage, poetry and include a quartet of spiritual guidance, Coming Home, Contemplation, Burnout and, latterly, Heartfullness. The last of these is the culmination of decades of work and the teachings offered in the Kentigern School for Contemplatives (www.kentigern.org.uk). The Burnout book, summarised his early participation as one of the founders of the Sacred Space Foundation (www.sacredpsace.org.uk) in providing retreat opportunities and spiritual direction initially to health care practitioners and now to people from all walks of life. He continues support for carers through his leadership in the diocese of the Caring for the Carer’s programme, providing retreat and renewal opportunities for health care staff locally and beyond. He has led and co-lead retreats in many parts of the world, not least the Coming Home retreats at the St. Columba Hotel on Iona over two decades. He loves the island; it is a second home to him and knows it well 45 years of familiarity with it. A life of Kentigern/Mungo, a local saint, was published in 2020 and offers a pilgrimage route around the Northern Fells of Cumbria. He works with the church and local communities exploring the application of Deep Adaptation to the climate crisis; Fugue, published in late 2023, examines the relevance of the spiritual life to that polycrisis. This has recently been made into a documentary (see https://vimeo.com/ondemand/fugueforaspirituallife). He’s a Fellow and visiting prof’ at the University of Cumbria which offers a degree of input still to the academic world, as well as conferring some vague respectability to his work. He lives with his partner in the English Lake District, enjoys grandfatherhood, beekeeping and his organic garden and at nearly 75 still finds working as a trustee and spiritual director for the Sacred Space Foundation a joy.
Note re: interfaith ministry – I offer ceremonies, but only to friends and family. My primary ministry is as a spiritual director, mentor and retreat facilitator in the contemplative Way.
Rev. Prof. Stephen G Wright PhD FRCN MBE