COMPANION & COMMUNION
Andy Pelander
I approach my work with clients as neither guru nor expert, but as one who walks alongside bearing witness to what I see, hear, and sense as we are together in it.
I don’t come as one with it figured out but as a listener and learner— a fellow journey-person. I am, like you, a kind of pilgrim... looking toward home.
What I bring is curiosity, patience, and desire to make safe space for courageous, sacred conversation. I can combine intentional, practiced listening and a love for holding story with my own rich and formative life experiences. Any steadiness and empathy that I bring to my work— any intuition and discernment— and anything I offer or invite flows from my own travel through valleys— the struggle and disappointments; the feeling stuck, inadequate, and alone. And also from my heart’s abiding eye for beauty.
I welcome big feelings, honest questions, and open-heartedness.
I haven’t been everywhere but I have, as they say, been there. I know what it’s like and how it feels— to be grateful and to have deep, unmet longing; to feel misunderstood. I know about big disruptions and detours. About being scared. About having to wait. About wondering if you're enough, if you belong, if you're safe, if you matter. I know what it is to suffer and grieve, to be steamrolled by loss and confusion, and to do the slow, lonely work of naming trauma and pain. I, too, have asked, What now? Is this it? Why am I doing this? Will anyone get it? Does anyone see me?
I am intimately acquainted with seasons of thriving and suffering— consolation and desolation— in my own life and in the lives of others. And I’ve also experienced the significant healing and renewed vision that can come from partnering with trusted and supportive companions along the way.
With my Spiritual Director hat on, I work to help people sense the presence and movement of God in their lives right now, with focused listening and curiosity. As a Coach, I love any opportunity to help someone see, learn, and enjoy themselves more fully, make connections, implement life-giving rhythms and practices, process grief, lean into tension, and wade through gray areas. I am passionate about companioning others in the in-between spaces that so often come with lots of unknowns and a sense of isolation.
I value relational space that is safe, kind, confidential, non-judgmental, generous in spirit, and unhurried.
Walking with others through life's more acute transitions, whether in celebration or sadness, is a privilege and honor for me. And the joy comes as we move toward fuller self-awareness, deeper grounding and anchoring within yourself and your relationships, and the confidence and freedom needed to be present, loving, and deliberate within all your most valued realms. It delights me to help you ask anything you need to, and to listen for what you’ve longed to hear.
Experience + Education
For nearly 25 years I have come alongside others as a pastor, spiritual director, and hospitality professional. I am an Anglican priest (the Diocese of Churches for the Sake of Others), and have served communities in Cambridge, MA, the Bay Area, and in Seattle, where I planted and led a church for 15 years. And, practicing care and hospitality in another lane, I have worked in premiere and fine dining— first within the Union Square Hospitality Group in NYC and currently at Canlis, focused on staff care and development. Nearly all my work, you might say, has centered on the Table as a place of welcome, savoring, and honoring, i.e. love of neighbor.
I have been given in life to spaces where the objective is human belonging, connection, and celebrated dignity.
I am a writer and speaker, have deep experience providing care and counsel in one-on-one and small group settings, hold a Certificate in Spiritual Direction, a master's degree in theology and soul care from Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary, and a bachelor's in written and visual communication. I’m a cancer survivor and a half-brother.
More importantly, I have, by grace, been married to my best friend for 20 years, am Dad to three nearly grown kids whom I adore and admire, and I am the fun uncle. I also, in middle age, have some of the most enduring friendships in the world, where I’ve been taught how to love, play, and to rest.