Advanced Advisor Training

High school was a place for me to gain academic knowledge, but I went to my Unitarian Universalist youth group for social knowledge and spiritual and emotional support. There were only eight to ten of us that met, but it was the perfect number to get to know each other in depth. Through Unitarian Universalist programming I developed leadership skills including speaking in front of a large group, problem solving and fostering leadership in others. Three important mentors for me were my two youth advisors and the director of religious education at my church. The youth program, my peers and my mentors had a tremendous impact on my social and spiritual development. Before the end of my time in youth group I was certain that someday I also wanted to be a youth advisor. However, one significant requirement to become a Unitarian Universalist youth advisor is to be 25 years old, so I have a few more years to go.

In the meantime, I volunteered to become a conference trainer for the Unitarian Universalist youth advisor trainings. Through volunteering I could serve the youth community as well as begin to train myself at becoming better at ministry with youth. The Unitarian Universalist Association (UUA) provides trainings for youth advisors to gain new skills and experience. The UUA offers basic, as well as advanced advisor trainings. In April 2005 I attended the training of trainers for Advanced Advisor Trainings (AAT), to learn how to facilitate the conferences. The model for the training is to have one adult co-facilitator, aged 25 or older, and one youth co-facilitator, aged 14 to 20. The training is led in this way to model healthy youth/adult relations. During the training we all received binders with lesson plans for all of the activities as well as other resources. We went through the activities as if we were advisors taking the training, but also received coaching as to how and why they led the activities the way they were.

Finally during this summer of 2007 I co-led my first AAT. I was paired with another adult and we began communicating about the then-upcoming conference. We had support from regional coordinators from where the conference was being held as well as support from UUA staff in planning the function details of the conferences. Our main job as co-leaders was the content (as opposed to food, housing and registration). Communication got off to a rocky start due to both of our busy schedules, but eventually we got a chance to catch up. Prep work for the conference was mainly reviewing curriculum (by this point it had been two years since the training of trainers). Other jobs that had to be done before the training were coordinating roles between the two of us, securing supplies, and finding out background information regarding the region the conference was being held in and the advisors who were going to be there. My co-leader and I discussed our facilitations styles and how we could envision them working well together. However, when it got down to it, there was always more we could have done, but the conference was going to happen whether we felt 100% ready or not.

I arrived at the site the Friday morning and the conference was held from Friday night to Sunday morning. The co-leader and I met to finish coordinating which one of us was leading each activity. I learned so much from this person as a facilitator. She had an ability to bring all the elements of our discussions together so they had continuity and relativity. It was amazing to watch her facilitate, because she let the conversations have a life of their own, but she still led us through a clear path. She had led a few of these conferences before so she told me I could do as many of the activities as I wanted so that I could gain more experience. She proved to be such a wonderful support person to have as I was leading that by the end of the weekend I had no fear going into any of the activities. We would take turns facilitating discussion and writing on the board, or other support tasks.

I ended up being responsible for a little over half of the programming. We agreed that I would head the anti-oppression programming for the weekend. Recently there has been a shift in the anti-oppression programming offered by the UUA from a confrontational standpoint to self-examination. The three hours that we spent talking about anti-oppression were broken up into lecture, self-reflection, small group discussion, whole group discussion and role-play. I felt really proud about how it went and got some great feedback on it. One participant commented, “The presentation of anti-racism/anti-oppression was the best I’ve seen at a training. A sometimes negative subject was presented as objectively as it can be in a non-guilt inducing way. Refreshing.” One aspect that I had to work on for this section of the conference was not rushing the process. The training is very curriculum based, but I found that if I rushed through the meaning was lost and the anti-oppression curriculum is crucial not to rush through. Despite being trained in similar ways regarding anti-oppression, this was my first time leading a group through the process of examining oppression.

I learned a lot through the process of leading the conference, especially regarding teaching. I learned that having confidence while public speaking is crucial and that “ums” and uhs” should be spared. I learned how to follow lesson plans and I got practice at amending them as you go. There were many activities that we changed in order to best suit the needs of the participants and to stay within the time restraints. I experienced team leading within the context of a healthy relationship and balanced partnership. I was reminded that you don’t have to have all the answers to questions; you just have to get the questions flowing.

If I were going to do the process over again I would begin reviewing the materials sooner, as well as have more communication with my co-leader sooner. Also, I would get more sleep! It was an empowering experience to have 8 elders looking to me for guidance, and to have them feel that their needs were met by the end of the conference.