Hi everybody!

We are your Youth Caucus peer chaplains, Caleb and Elesa, and we can’t wait to meet you all in Columbus in June! We, along with the rest of the Youth Caucus staff, are looking forward to working with all of you to provide logistical and spiritual support for you to grow and become more involved in Unitarian Universalism throughout the course of General Assembly (GA). Whether you’ve been to GA before or not, it can, and most likely will, at times be both exciting and overwhelming. That’s perfectly normal and we’re here to support you throughout this incredibly immersive experience!

Here are some tips and resources that you can utilize at GA:

A chaplain is someone for you to talk to. A sort of spiritually equipped peer mediator. We have training in listening, crisis intervention and non-directive helping. We are here to provide you with an outlet for feelings and a compassionate presence. We won’t give you advice to solve a problem, but rather we will listen to you and help you come up with solutions yourself.

There are also amazing adult chaplains for the Youth Caucus! They are Shari and Andrew and they’re super friendly and would love to talk with you at any time.

You can call us anytime at GA at 617-948-6432. This phone number will be active from June 22nd through June 26th.

Come to a chaplain if. . .

• you’re feeling lonely
• you don’t know how to handle a situation
• you’re really excited about all of the rad things going on at GA
• you’re having difficulties with another GA attendee
• you want to talk about a workshop
• you want to talk about something that happened a while ago but is still upsetting you
• something scary just happened
• something super great just happened!
• you’re uncomfortable with something at GA
• you have a conflict that you’d like us to bring up with the rest of the Youth Caucus Staff
• you miss your parent/friend/significant other/pet
• you’re worried about somebody
• you just want someone to talk

We will have a friendship table in the Youth Caucus room you can visit anytime the space is open. The friendship table is a cool place to sit if you’d like some company and you can:

• play a board game!
• draw a picture!
• write something to put on the Good Deeds Wall or the Meetup Board!
• meet up for a meal!
• check in with a chaplain!
• find new friends!

At the friendship table in the Youth Caucus room you will be able to find a chaplain during each Youth Caucus programming slot. We ask that you don’t use the friendship table during Youth Caucus workshops and instead participate in the workshop that’s going on, but if you need to find a chaplain during a workshop that’s a good place to meet up with them.

Self care…

• GA is a marathon not a sprint, pace yourself
• don’t feel like you have to do everything, but try some new things!
• drink water, eat, take showers, brush your teeth
• check in with your sponsor, let them know if there’s anything they can do to help better your GA experience
• let the Youth Caucus Staff know if there’s anything they can do to help improve your experience at GA
• take time to sleep! Programming starts early and ends late and we want to be energized throughout!
• talk to someone post-programming or whenever you feel you need to to de-brief

Even if you can do it ALL yourself, it never hurts to get support when you need (or want) it.