The Thing About Jellyfish: A Resource Guide

Curated by Berkeley Rep’s In Dialogue initiative, this guide seeks to empower our audiences, connect the work on our stage to the work of our community partners, and provoke civic engagement. You’ll get to know some local organizations providing youth with programs that empower, uplift, and heal. You’ll also find some resources that offer support for adults guiding your family through grief. After reading, we hope that you take a step, no matter how small, toward building a bright future for the next generation.

Build community for bereaved youth and families with Sunset Youth Services Grief Circles

Sunset Youth Services Grief Circles, formerly known as Josie’s Place for Bereaved Youth and Families, provides facilitated peer-support groups to children, teens, young adults, and caregivers in the San Francisco Bay Area who are grieving the death of a parent, sibling, close relative, or friend. Their groups offer a safe environment for the expression of feelings and thoughts about the death of a loved one.

• SYS Grief Circles offers support to bereaved young people (ages 6–24) and their caregivers. To enroll in a grief circle, email josiesplace@sunsetyouthservices.org.
• Help SYS Grief Circles sustain this work by making a donation.
• Interested in volunteering as a peer grief facilitator for children, teens, and/or young adults? Email josiesplace@sunsetyouthservices.org.

Process through writing with 826 Valencia

826 Valencia is a nonprofit organization dedicated to supporting under-resourced students ages 6–18 with their creative and expository writing skills, and to helping teachers inspire their students to write.

• Writing can be a powerful tool when working through feelings of grief, sadness, or anger. Guide your child through this writing exercise, developed by Asia Calcagno for elementary and secondary students.
• Access free writing prompts, lessons, projects, and more for every grade through 826 Digital from the 826 Network, the largest youth writing network in the United States.
• Support your child’s writing at home with recommendations from this tip sheet — available in English and in Spanish.

Support young writers with Chapter 510

Chapter 510 is a made-in-Oakland youth writing, bookmaking, and publishing center. Chapter 510’s teaching artists and volunteers work side by side with educators to provide a safe space and supportive community so Black, brown, and queer youth ages 8–19 can bravely write.

• Support expansive imaginations by purchasing youth-written books at Chapter 510’s Department of Make Believe.
• Empower a young writer by registering them for one of Chapter 510’s free writing workshops.
• Create a safe space for young voices by volunteering as a writing mentor.

Uplift young theatre makers with Berkeley Rep’s School of Theatre

The teen programs from Berkeley Rep’s School of Theatre cultivate the next generation of theatre audiences and professionals, preparing them to think critically and creatively about theatre arts through engaging programming and training opportunities.

• Come to the High School Theatre Festival, featuring short plays created by youth through devised theatre techniques, performed on Berkeley Rep’s Peet’s stage Mar 17 at 7:30pm.
• Nominate your student or mentee for the Young Writers of Color Collective (YWoCC), a year-long playwriting program for emerging writers of color in grades 10–12.
• Follow the Teen Leadership Council on Instagram to learn about Berkeley Rep’s youth-led programming including Teen Night, an opportunity for high schoolers across the Bay Area to see a Berkeley Rep show, meet other theatre-loving teens, and engage with theatre professionals.

Learn more about jellyfish with the California Academy of Sciences

The California Academy of Sciences is an aquarium, planetarium, rainforest, and natural history museum in the heart of San Francisco’s Golden Gate Park — and a powerful voice for biodiversity research and exploration, environmental education, and sustainability across the globe.

• Visit the Steinhart Aquarium to see jellyfish in person.
• Introduce your high schooler to the Academy’s Youth Programs, including Careers in Science, a multi-year, year-round, paid internship and youth development program for San Francisco high school students who come from communities underrepresented in STEM, including girls and students of color.