Online Connections by and for Disabled UUs This Week (June 9-14):

This week, EqUUal Access adopts the theme, “Ready”

Notes

1) NOW AVAILABLE — EA Pastoral Conversation

Tuesdays at 1 pm Eastern, 10 am Pacific.

These are challenging, often difficult times.  Stress, anxiety, worry, fear, difficulty sleeping or eating, and emotions that can overwhelm, these are what many people, including UUs with disabilities, are experiencing in response to immensely hard new realities.

EqUUal Access is piloting a trial online outreach effort for our community folx to access supportive, pastoral conversation with a UU minister.  We are going to attempt to make two options available for pastoral conversation; one is going to be a small group (up to 5 individuals) with a UU minister, and the other, one-to-one conversation with a UU minister.

These two different ways of having supportive conversation will hopefully create safe space for individuals who seek an empathetic listener to what’s happening around and to them.  Using Zoom’s ‘break out room’ feature, we’ll use two private “pastoral pods” (the small group and meeting one-to-one). This will contain the conversation to those pods, though anonymity will not be possible.

Note: Only those participants who arrive in the Zoom ‘waiting room’ by the start time will be ‘admitted’ to the larger zoom room to enter one of the pastoral conversation options.

Rev. Helen and Rev. Barbara (week one pastors) will welcome all in the zoom room and ask which “pastoral pod” (break out room) each person prefers (one-to-one or group).  Up to five individuals may join one of the ministers for a 45 minute talking circle which will begin with forming a simple group covenant for the duration of the sharing time.  And, up to three other individuals may opt to have one-to-one conversation (each of 20 minutes duration) with the other minister (some waiting involved for the second and third individuals — so make tea, read, sing….).