Meet our Staff:
Lori Ferrell - Executive Director
Lori and her husband Pete met at Asbury Seminary in Kentucky, and then spent 2004-2014 working and living in Southeast Asia. After reaching burnout they made an intentional decision to take a Sabbatical year in Chiang Mai, Thailand from 2013-2014. Lori began meeting with a spiritual director, read Surrender to Love by David Benner and regularly walked her favorite labyrinth in Chiang Mai—all of this marking a significant turning point in her life towards healing and wholeness. She began to know her identity as God’s beloved—not marked by what she did (or didn’t do). This was a life-changing season, and after relocating to Vero Beach in 2014 she found herself drawn to pursue becoming a spiritual director. She completed her spiritual direction training through Selah in 2018. Her heart is cultivating safe sacred space to listen to the heart of the one she is sitting with, and helping them notice Spirit’s invitation for them.
In addition to Spiritual direction training, Lori has completed Supervision training from the Companioning Center, Yoga teacher training (200 hour YTT) with the Yoga Abbey and Enneagram training from the Pax Center. She believes in an embodied spirituality.
Currently Lori resides in Vero Beach, Florida with her husband, one of her two sons, and their dog Ruby. When she is not at the Center she enjoys one-on-one conversations with soul friends, beauty in nature, a good cup of coffee, paddle boarding and going on long walks.
Lori can be reached by e-mail: lori@centerforspiritualcare.org
Mary Burkins - Office Administrator
Mary has been working for the Center for Spiritual Care since February 2019. She and her late husband, Jim, had been active members of the Center when Jim passed away in December of 2018. It was then that Mary decided to leave teaching for a while. Before working at the Center, Mary spent over 15 years teaching in preschool, elementary and middle schools, and over 21 years working in social service positions. Over 12 of those 21 years were spent at the Substance Awareness Center of IRC.
Mary works alongside Lori Ferrell, the Executive Director, to help maintain the operation of the Center and promote its well-being. Additionally, Mary is both a Prayer Chaplain and a Sunday School Teacher at Unity Spiritual Center of Vero Beach.
Mary can be reached at 772-567-1233 or by email at info@centerforspiritualcare.org.