Mentorship - Anam Cara

As a mentor, I add experience to skills learned to offer guidance to others when they ask for help in day-to-day issues and challenges in life. This is an Anam Cara style of mentorship. 

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Anam Cara is an anglicisation of the Irish word ‘anamchara’, an age-old notion meaning 'soul friend'. Anam Cara holds deep significance in the Celtic tradition.

It symbolises a unique and transformative relationship that goes beyond mere companionship and can transcend time.

Monastic Origins

The origins of Anam Cara lie in Irish monasticism. The name was given to a monk’s teacher, companion, or spiritual guide. They provided illumination on the path of spiritual growth. I desperately needed such guidance in my first year at a Trappist monastery. 

I went on to enjoy a profoundly nourishing relationship with my own Anam Cara, some 40 years my senior, until his death. What helped me above all was his simple, open presence and complete lack of judgment.

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Having spent some 21 years in enclosed monastic life, beginning at Mount St Bernard Abbey in Leicestershire, later including an Irish one, and making profession in the Netherlands, I left in 2011. The abbey closed in 2025.

Now no longer a monk, I can't even call myself Christian anymore, yet I remain spiritual in an open-minded and down-to-earth kind of way. I feel a call to share with others what I had the privilege to learn and become. I feel happy if others benefit.

Rooted in Peace

Life inside a monastery can be humourous at times. As "laundryboss", I had managed to dye all the community's underwear pink - with the help of a red t-shirt. I was summoned to the abbot's office and reprimanded. I couldn't help smiling to myself when I realised the abbot was probably wearing pink knickerbockers as he was scolding me.

Many come to a monastery to feel its peace, as people warm their hands by a wood-burner. Little do they know that it is the monks who are burning inside. Peace is a fire.

When & Where

I'm available by appointment online or at the Temple Lodge Club in Hammersmith. The charge is £30 an hour, excluding room hire.

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Dru certainly has the ability to help people 'see through the fog' better understand their underlying issues and identify ways forward. Not only can he express complex emotions in clear language, he is also a great listener!

- David Sear, Magazine Editor


Andrew has a remarkable capacity, unique in my experience, of presenting inner stress in vivid, cartoon-like drawings, very different from the typical art products of many I have worked with. His dream-work, likewise, characteristically presents vivid, simple imagery within what can be complex patterns. I estimate this potential will prove a considerable asset in working in depth with clients.

- Rev. Basil E. Hobbs, Retired Chaplain to the British Army, Clinical Theology Association

For more info contact: peers.esq@gmail.com

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