One of our brightest ministers is in need of our help.

You may not know the Rev. Caitlin Cotter Coillberg personally, but it is likely you have read one of her stories or liturgical writings on Worship Web, implemented one of her curriculum for teaching our new values or for the climate day of action, used one of her rituals for a glitter blessing or to honor the death of a companion animal or end of a wanted pregnancy, had your youth supported by her as a chaplain, had her guidance on creating an action of immediate witness when she served on our Commission for Social Witness, heard her preaching as minister of the week at Star Island or at your congregation, or watched her dance or do spoken word poetry as part of a worship service at General Assembly. 

Through a series of difficult ministry transitions, and navigating childrearing, neurodivergence, injuries, and chronic illnesses, the Rev. Caitlin Cotter Coillberg has come to a critical juncture where she must take unpaid medical leave.

For those who don’t know Caitlin's story, she is a lifelong Unitarian Universalist from Tennessee – she was a leader in YRUU, in her home congregation, at The Mountain conference and retreat center, and for the Interfaith and Unitarian Universalist communities of her undergraduate college. She heard her call to ministry in youth and young adult spaces, and has been organizing worship and gatherings for Unitarian Universalists, as well as serving on Unitarian Universalist committees and boards, for 25 years now. She enters ministry from the heart of our faith movement, and has served as a Unitarian Universalist Religious Professional for 15 years. She is creative and committed to our faith movement, has a passion for multigenerational community, inclusion, and the work of liberation, and with the right supports could continue to be a shining star in our faith.

But she’s not had the right supports – in part because our congregational polity makes it hard to maintain support in ministerial transitions.  

Caitlin has been managing burnout, grief, and chronic illness for some years now- through a traumatic second trimester pregnancy loss followed by a move to West Virginia, an otherwise healthy pregnancy made difficult by undiagnosed Hypermobile Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome, and a settled ministry that ended right before she was able to take a sabbatical when she became the first parish minister serving a Unitarian Universalist congregation to come out publicly as Autistic and ADHD. Her move to the DC metro area came with a fantastic position in a loving congregation, but during that position she contracted Long COVID with Postural Orthostatic Tachycharia Syndrome (POTS), and then that job ended suddenly due budgeting concerns. Again, the sabbatical she had earned was cancelled. And the Thursday before General Assembly she suddenly found herself facing a summer, not of vacations, study leave, curriculum writing and sabbatical planning, but of ending a ministry while conducting a job search. She took an acting position at a large congregation that has been able to offer the health insurance her family needed (since her spouse was also laid off), but has also added stress.

There has been a prolonged and delayed opportunity for the emotional and spiritual healing Caitlin needs. Due to various factors (including being targeted by a conservative hate group), Caitlin’s transgender nonbinary spouse has been laid off multiple times in recent years, and multiple long job searches have eaten up the family’s small savings. Caitlin is the primary breadwinner, and has pushed through everything from concussions to pericarditis, on top of her chronic illnesses and disabilities, to support her family and fulfill her calling. She has burned out to the point of being unable to care for her neurodivergent young children, let alone herself.  

This week, Caitlin’s doctor ordered twelve weeks of medical leave – and while this leave is medically necessary, it would be mostly unpaid. Without her income, her family cannot pay their bills or pay for groceries, let alone access the resources they and Caitlin need.

We have estimated that the costs of the leave, along with support for her healing, will amount to $20,000.

We know a lot of people are in need, and there are mutual aid requests all the time. But we are in danger of losing one of our brightest and best if we can't give her the confidence to take the break she so desperately needs.

Any amount is welcome. It all helps.

Learn more from Caitlin here: https://www.instagram.com/p/DWtpfUUlVmV/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link&igsh=MzRlODBiNWFlZA==