CL – Cabin Time: Part 1
Cabin Times
Once a day at camp, usually at night directly following club, the speaker will instruct you from up front to return to your cabin and take time to discuss what you’ve heard him say. We call this cabin time, and it often becomes campers’ favourite part of the week. Not every day do they have the opportunity to seriously discuss, in a safe environment things that matter most in life? Here is a key principle to making it work:
Remember your role. You are here to create a safe place for young people to discuss and disclose. You are a facilitator and a friend. Remind yourself that you are not the Christ, you are not the Holy Spirit, you are not a camper. And now you can add to that list: you are not the camp speaker. It isn’t your job to give the club talk a second time. Here are the responsibilities associated with your role. As friend and facilitator you:
- Help set and enforce ground rules
- Open the discussion
- Ask quality questions
- Help campers clarify their thoughts and feelings
- Draw everyone into the discussion
- Listen carefully and keep notes for future reference.
Your Responsibilities in Cabin Time
Watch Wiley Scott gives some great tips for setting up a good cabin time.
Help set and enforce ground rules. The first time you meet for cabin time, ask the group to suggest ground rules for discussion, and then fill in what is missing from this list:
- We sit in a circle on the floor; no lying on beds or sitting where we can’t see your wonderful face.
- Everything said here remains here. Confidentiality is a must. However, if you disclose something that reveals a threat to your safety or well-being, it is the leader’s responsibility to communicate that to someone who can help you. But you will be included in that process with utmost sensitivity to you and your situation.
- We respect one another by listening when others are talking and by refusing to make fun of someone else’s comments or questions.
As the week progresses, you may have to remind your cabin of the cabin time ground rules. If these have been established from the beginning, and if the campers have been included in the formation of those rules, it will make it much easier to firmly enforce them as the week goes by.
A note on confidentiality:
There are times when you need to discuss with another leader or the head cabin leader something that has been said in cabin time. Use caution and discretion in doing so.
Note: Young Life Australia is a mandatory reporting agency. Therefore if a young person discloses that they have been harmed or are currently in danger you are required to report that to the head cabin leaders in order that Young Life can report to the relevant government authorities.
- Make sure you are in a place where no campers will overhear the conversation.
- Talk about situations and not names whenever possible.
- Check your motives and make sure you are operating from a desire to serve and not a need to control. There have been instances in the past where campers have overheard leaders talking about cabin time and it has ruined the discussion for the rest of the week.
Birthing Babies
Further Reading: Short Sheets for Cabin Leaders #7 – #13
