Contact the Pastoral Care Team!
Confidential email: pastoralcare@cuc.ca
The CUC’s Pastoral Care Team for Young Adults offers flexible and accessible care and support that young adults can access anywhere, whether or not they are currently connected to a congregation or minister. Our three Pastoral Care Team members are ministers with experience providing care and supportive listening, with a special interest in supporting young adults through the many ups and downs of life. Pastoral care can be provided by phone, through Zoom video, or by text.
Read on to learn more about our young adult pastoral care program.
What is Pastoral Care?
Pastoral care is the way we offer support and compassion to each other in community, and it’s a wonderful part of Unitarian Universalist ministry. The Pastoral Care Team offers one type of pastoral care: supportive listening.
Our goal is to listen and affirm, to help you come up with your own solutions and strategies for moving forward, instead of offering specific advice. Pastoral care isn’t counselling or therapy but is care focused on your emotional and spiritual wellbeing. The Pastoral Care Team will be glad to hear from you, whether you are going through a tough time, want to share good news, or need some support with discernment and decision making.
PCT members were chosen for their passion, their kind and caring personalities, and their comfort dealing with a wide range of issues. They welcome requests from people of all identities and backgrounds. This service is designed for young adults, but no one will ask your age. If you identify as a young adult, you are welcome to contact the Pastoral Care Team.
What support does the Pastoral Care Team provide?
The PCT responds to email requests and will offer to set up a confidential 1-on-1 phone or Zoom (video conference) conversation with you. They may also correspond with you by text, if that’s how you’d like to chat.
In addition to conversations and deep listening, the PCT can help with:
– connecting you with a local Unitarian minister or lay pastoral care team
– connecting you with young adult groups and online Unitarian communities
– information about regional and national young adult events that can provide meaningful friendships and connections
– when needed, recommending mental health services, professional counselling and other supports that can help you move forward
At your first meeting, one of the ministers will talk to you about the kind of support they can offer, and the boundaries of this pastoral care program.
Contacting the Pastoral Care Team
** If you are in an emergency situation, or are at risk of hurting yourself, please contact a crisis line to get help. The Pastoral Care Team can also be a resource for you, but is not able to provide emergency care. | Crisis Services Canada has a toll free number, text support and live chat that you can access right away, 24/7. If you are in a crisis, please contact them by phone at 1-833-456-4566 or by text at 45645. |
You can contact the PCT by email and one of the members will be in touch within 24 hours to set up a time to meet. The team will try to offer care as soon as possible, based on the urgency of your request, and usually within 2-3 days of getting your message.
By email: pastoralcare@cuc.ca
In your message, please include:
– your name
– how you’d like to be contacted – a phone number or email address
– a short summary of what you’d like to talk to the PCT about
– how urgent your request is
– times when someone can reach you
Confidentiality:
All requests and meetings with the team are confidential – between you and your support person. However, there are a few cases where the Pastoral Care Team is required to inform CUC staff and take further action:
– a threat or report of harm to yourself
– a threat or report of harm to others
– disclosure of child abuse or suspected harm to a minor (anyone under 18)
In each case, the Pastoral Care Team and the designated CUC Staff will work with you to determine and take the next steps, which may include connecting you with local services and supports.
Who is on the Pastoral Care Team?
Rev. Lynn Harrison (she/her) currently serves as Associate Minister at First Unitarian Congregation of Toronto, where pastoral care is one of the most significant and enriching aspects of her ministry. In her six years as a parish minister, and in her prior experience as a hospital chaplain, Lynn has provided spiritual care to a diverse range of young adults, including many with IBPOC and LGBTQ identities. Also the parent of two young adults, Lynn is highly attuned to the unique challenges young adults face today especially in light of the Covid-19 pandemic and the climate crisis. She is grateful for this opportunity to provide support to UU young adults across Canada.
Arran Morton (he/him/they/them) currently lives in Victoria, BC – though he is from Scotland originally and came to Victoria the ‘scenic route’. He deeply values his queer and trans communities and whenever possible he is near the ocean and the trees.
Arran is Director of Spiritual Exploration and Lea
rning for Children and Youth at First Unitarian Church of Victoria (currently on parental leave) and is a Unitarian Universalist Ministerial Candidate, currently doing a Masters of Divinity, focusing on earth-based spiritualties, at Cherry Hill Seminary. His previous work
focused on love-based building community and has included developing training and facilitation on issues related to healthy relationships, sexuality, conflict resolution and restorative justice/practices.
Rev. Diane Rollert (she/her/elle) currently serves as minister of the Unitarian Church of Montreal. She is active in social justice work and serves as a multifaith chaplain at Concordia University. Originally from the US, she has fully embraced Quebec and Canada as her home. She served for many years as a religious educator in Concord, Massachusetts. It was through her work with families, children and youth that she found her call to ministry. Her experience includes hospital chaplaincy with young adult cancer patients, as well as coaching and collaboration with young adults. Her masters thesis focused on a spiritual response to the intersection of mental health and addiction. She brings much pastoral compassion to the joys and challenges of young adulthood — drawing from her own life experiences and those of her two young adult children. Her grandchildren will tell you that she has many superpowers.
Rev. Meghann Robern (she/her) is a white, cisgender, queer, fat, disabled colonizer who lives in Winnipeg on Treaty One territory with her talented and beautiful wife, their two theatre kids, and two ridiculously large dogs. She is an unrepentant nerd who likes to talk about how speculative fiction and art can transform lives, and she especially enjoys redemption tales, monster movies, and raging against late-stage capitalism. She lives with long COVID, ADHD, chronic pain, and diabetes, and as a member of the sandwich generation she has direct experience in caring for both youth and elders at the same time.
After serving in UU congregations across North America for ten years, she is now a community-focused minister while working towards her Ph.D. at the University of Manitoba. Her freelance work as an educator and consultant centres on helping people dismantle systems of oppression through Affect Theory and developing emotional intelligence. She co-authored the CUC Polyamory Task Force Report and served on the Executive Team for the UU Ministers of Canada for four years. In addition to our CUC YA Pastoral Care Team, she volunteers as chaplain to the Good Officers for Liberal Religious Educators Association and as a Vocational Advisor for the UU Ministerial Formation Network.
Rev. Christopher Wulff (he/him) lives in Vancouver, BC with his wife Ariel Hunt-Brondwin and their kids, Ro
wan and Benjamin. A fifth-generation Canadian Unitarian, Rev. Christopher has previously worked for the UUA in membership, growth and outreach, and is an OWL trainer of trainers at every level. Issues of reproductive, gender, and racial justice are a focus in his justice work, alongside a lifetime of working on environmental issues.
Rev. Christopher dropped out of Queens University (a few times) during his BA, and many years later, after working with community organizations serving low income folks and newcomers to Canada, completed his Masters of Divinity at the University of Toronto in a multifaith and liberal Christian setting. He did his congregational internship in Victoria and then served for two years as Minister of the Westside UU Congregation in West
Seattle before returning to Canada. He is currently working intensively on healing during a period of deep depression, doing pastoral support in a local hospital while discerning what comes next for him in Ministry, and doing as much singing in community as possible.
Do you have a general question about the Pastoral Care Team, or this CUC program? Please contact Casey Stainsby at casey.stainsby@cuc.ca