8 April 2017

Angeles Garcia
Spiritual Director at St. Benedicts Church
Paola Montalvo Ayala
I. Introduction
Angeles Garcia is a spiritual director at St. Benedicts Church in Johns Creek. We began the
interview by discussing her role at the church. The Spiritual Director is a volunteer role; as a
retiree, Angeles has the opportunity to dedicate a significant portion of her time to the church,
walking alongside and mentoring other parishioners as they seek to grow in their spirituality.
While she is not a trained counselor, Angeles interacts with a number of adults who ask her for
advice and direction in their families, jobs, and faiths.
II. Analysis
Angeles told me that the main difference between adults in young and late adulthood is in the
causes of their stress. According to her experience, young adults and older adults seem to have
the same reactions to stress, she told me: many of them withdraw from their friends if they feel
overcome by stress, while others still have physical symptoms like headaches, sore muscles, or
getting sick more often. This may differ in severity an older person whose immune system is
already weakened may have a much more negative to physical symptoms than a young person,
for example but overall the symptoms are similar. The causes of stress, however, vary across
the lifespan. Because of her role as a spiritual director, Angeles largely interacts with people who
are struggling in their faith. This in itself is both a cause and an effect of stress. Some stressors
for the young people she has worked with include parental expectations, access to financial
resources, and concerns over platonic and romantic relationships. On the other hand, the older
adults Angeles has worked with are more likely to be stressed about health challenges or their
careers.
III. Personal Impact
I enjoyed speaking to Angeles because she has a thoughtful understanding of how to utilize faith
and companionship to help adults face challenges in their own lives. I was very comfortable in
conducting the interview and it was apparent that Angeles takes her role very seriously, even
though she is volunteering her time. Angeles was very insightful, a side effect of the sheer
number of people who she has listened to and supported in her time at St. Benedicts Church.
IV. Future Social Work
I think the greatest lesson I learned from this interview was the value of informal supports. I
often think that the best way to help someone with stress is to encourage them to seek out a
counselor or therapist. While it is good to pair clients with mental health professionals, there are
a number of reasons why someone may not want to: perhaps they cannot afford it or they have
attached some stigma to therapy. However, as a social worker I hope to work with clients to help
them find the informal supports which already exist in their environment, such as an individual
in Angeles role, who can provide help in a way that makes positive change and comfort the
clients priority.