July 21-27, 2024

SUUSI Healthy Relations Team Charter

Affirmed by the SUUSI Board on April 27, 2024

General Purpose

The purpose of the Healthy Relations Team (HeaRT) is to support SUUSI participants in living into the SUUSI mission of invoking the best within us and our Unitarian Universalist principle to affirm and promote the inherent worth and dignity of all people.

Recognizing that systems of power, privilege, and oppression have traditionally created barriers for persons and groups with particular identities, ages, abilities, and histories, the Healthy Relations Team will serve the SUUSI community by listening and engaging with people who have experienced harm while engaging with SUUSI or SUUSI staff as we strive to live into our best selves.

Who is HeaRT?

Healthy Relations Team volunteers are recruited and hired through a collaborative process between the SUUSI Board President, the SUUSI Director, and the Nurture Staff Director, and is initiated by the Nurture Staff Director. Each Healthy Relations Team volunteer is trained in conflict resolution and mediation practices.

The Healthy Relations Team will report to the SUUSI Board President, SUUSI Director, and Nurture Staff Director (i.e. the Leadership Team) the generalities of the issues and engagements in which they have been involved, and will make recommendations as to any actions that may need to be taken by SUUSI leadership. The HeaRT will consult with the Leadership Team when issues may need to be formally reported as a grievance or incident.

Staffing

The Healthy Relations Team shall consist of seven volunteers. Each will receive half credit for serving as SUUSI staff. Two members will agree to serve in between SUUSIs and they will receive a full staff credit. All members will be asked to serve on the Team for three (3) years. The members will have their terms staggered to ensure continuity through member transitions.

Every effort will be made to staff the team with people who hold a variety of identities related to age, gender, sexuality, race and ethnicity. Members of the Healthy Relations Team may not serve on the SUUSI Board or Core Staff while serving on the Team. Schedules for being on-call will be developed in collaboration with the Nurture Staff Director. Ministers who serve on HeaRT will not serve the community in an official ministerial capacity, such as Ministers of the Day or Worship leaders.

Leadership

Each year, the Team will select one person from among their team to serve as the lead member of HeaRT for that year. This person will be the primary contact for the Board President, the SUUSI Director, and the Nurture Staff Director.

Function and Responsibilities

The lead member of the Team will arrive at SUUSI on Friday so they can meet with the Board President, SUUSI Director, and Nurture Staff Director to be briefed on any issues or concerns that may have arisen or may be of concern, and to develop their schedule for the week. The remaining members of the Team will arrive on Saturday.

Accountability

The Healthy Relations Team is accountable to the SUUSI Community, and will report regularly to the Community regarding the general aspects of issues that have come before the team. 

Communication

The Team will speak with one voice regarding any recommended actions for grievances that are brought to them.

The HeaRT will communicate regularly with the Nurture Staff Director during SUUSI and will have at least one meeting with the Board President, the SUUSI Director, and the Nurture Staff Director during the week of SUUSI. They will provide a report to the SUUSI Board, the SUUSI Director, and the Nurture Staff Director within a month of the end of SUUSI that summarizes the issues experienced within the Community and any possible recommendations for the following SUUSI.

The Team will communicate with the SUUSI Community about the Covenant, the purpose of the HeaRT, and the ways in which we can more meaningfully support people in our community who are part of traditionally oppressed populations via the daily NUUS, during worship services, and other venues and events during SUUSI. 

Authority

The Healthy Relations Team has no authority to remove SUUSI participants from the Community.Should participants refuse to engage with HeaRT or when a shared resolution is not attainable between the participants engaged in  a repair and reconciliation process, the Team may recommend that an ad hoc Board team be formed as stated in the SUUSI policies Section 6.1.E.

Should an incident come before the Healthy Relations Team that involves any member of the Board of Trustees or Core Staff, they will have the authority to engage them in a process of mediation and will not be subjected to intimidation.

Should an incident come before the Board of Trustees, the SUUSI Director, or the Nurture Staff Director in which a member of the Healthy Relations Team has engaged in behaviors that have caused emotional, spiritual, or physical harm to someone in the community, the Board President, the SUUSI Director and the Nurture Staff Director will listen to and engage with the people involved to seek repair and reconciliation and determine the best course of action with regard to that person’s status on the Team.