The Tree of Life Spirituality Program is a contemplative, ecumenical journey grounded in the Christian spiritual tradition. Established in 1980 at Wollaston Theological College and held under the auspices of the Anglican Diocese of Perth, the program offers a spacious and attentive path for those longing to deepen their relationship with the Divine and to live more consciously from their spiritual centre.
Participants are supported in cultivating a grounded, prayerful life through practices of prayer, meditation, contemplation, and spiritual disciplines. Along the way, many find greater clarity, inner freedom, and a deepening capacity for listening — to God, to themselves, and to others. The program gently forms both heart and soul, nurturing spiritual maturity and confidence while growing the ability to companion others with wisdom, compassion, and discernment.
The richness of the Christian spiritual tradition is explored through Scripture and the writings of the early Church, the desert and monastic streams, medieval and mystical movements, and contemporary expressions of faith. Engagement with process and psychodynamics — including the Enneagram and Myers-Briggs — supports personal insight, emotional awareness, and growth in self-knowledge. Spiritual formation and spiritual direction are offered through teaching, shared reflection, and supervised practice, helping participants integrate spirituality into daily life and ministry.
The journey unfolds across four weekends each year for four years, gathering in February, May, August, and November at the St John of God Retreat Centre. Each weekend is held within a gentle rhythm of teaching, prayer, worship, reflection, and small-group sharing in the Anglican tradition — creating a safe, nourishing space for deep listening and transformation.
The Tree of Life Graduate Enrichment Program invites graduates to return and continue the journey — a place to remain connected, grounded, and spiritually alive. Graduates return as fellow pilgrims, finding renewal in the familiar rhythms of prayer, reflection, and discernment. Small groups offer an intimate and trusted space for shared wisdom, contemplative practice, and ongoing formation, fostering belonging, friendship, and the freedom to keep asking the sacred questions that shape and sustain a life of faith.
For further information, please contact The Reverend Judy Van Rossum, judithaclay1@bigpond.com
Judy is an Anglican priest, spiritual director, and supervisor, formed in the Christian contemplative and Ignatian traditions, and a giver of the Spiritual Exercises of St Ignatius. Drawing on these understandings and practices, Judy hopes that people will notice God in all things, thereby integrating their faith with lived experience. Her greatest desire is that people’s spiritual journeys are adventures of continued growth and learning, in which questions are explored with trust, wisdom, and thoughtful reflection, and where prayer undergirds and nurtures all of life. At the heart of Judy’s work is the belief that each person is uniquely loved and called to discover their creative self, and that we are invited to live with integrity and freedom, awakening more fully into the person God has lovingly created us to be.
Judy is also a wife, mother, and grandmother, and shares home life with a much-loved Labrador named Rosie. When not accompanying others in spiritual direction or at Tree of Life, she enjoys being at home, pottering in the garden and kitchen, walking, and spending time with family and friends.
As Director of the Tree of Life Spirituality Program, Judy brings a heart for the program, which has been formative in her own life. She brings all of her life experience to this work, along with her hopes and dreams for the program’s continued flourishing.
