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Youth Offending Team
Volunteers
Mentoring
Definition
Mentoring can be defined in number of ways and includes the following:
"A one-to-one, non judgmental relationship, in which an individual voluntarily gives time to support and encourage another" or "Support, assistance, advice and guidance by one person to another in order to achieve an objective or several objectives over a period of time."
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Do you want to become a Mentor?
What is Mentoring about?
Mentoring is about being a role model to the young person who may not know any other adults other than those in authority or fulfilling paid role in their lives.
A mentoring relationship is typically developed at a time of transition in the young person's life for a significant and sustained period of time.
What is the aim of the mentoring relationship?
For the Mentee ie the young person, it is an opportunity for him/her to explore ideas, discuss issues affecting and worrying him/her, to look at alternative solutions and ultimately to make choices which don’t involve offending.
For the Mentor i.e. Volunteer, it is an opportunity to support a young person, to listen without judgement, to offer your experiences and suggest possible actions or give advice based upon what the young person wants to achieve. As the Mentor you will also be able to empower the Mentee to make positive choices about themselves and thereby ensuring that he/she has the opportunities, information and resources, to enable him/her to make positive changes to his/her life.
What is the role of the Mentee?
The Mentee has a right to be:
- treated with respect
- to express his/her feelings and opinions
- be listened to and taken seriously
- ask for what he/she wants
- ask for information
- make mistakes
- change his/her mind
The Mentee also has the responsibilities of treating others with respect and to fully participate in the solution of his/her problems
What is the role of the Mentor?
The role of the Mentor includes supporting the young person while he/she develops new life skills and sets their own goals for the future as well as to help the young person to take the first step in pursuing those goals
The Mentor must understand that the young person is about emotions, feelings, values and things that have happened to them before you got there and the experiences they’ve had. Assumptions should not be made that a Mentor’s experience would be a positive choice for a young person.
The Mentor must be comfortable with themselves and with who they are. They must be able to step away from themselves and their own concerns when supporting the young person.
Mentors should be honest, committed and respectful of their mentees. The mentoring relationship should be built upon trust, respect, support, encouragement, commitment to and belief in the young person.
The Mentoring Relationship
- The Mentor must be there, be approachable and accessible to the young person
- The Mentor and Mentee must establish a rapport
- The Mentor must follow up issues, remembering details over time
- The Mentor must be consistent
- The Mentor and Mentee must build up trust
- The Mentor must be able to give and receive feedback
- The Mentor must be able to handle conflict
- The Mentor must be able to challenge issues appropriately
How will Mentors benefit?
Mentors benefit from both training and experience. All Mentors will be given full training, which will develop communication skills and equip them to assess people and situations and make important decisions. These and other skills should be easily transferable into most work situations.