- You will be mentoring a Black or Brown person aged between 10 -25. We’ve seen the positive impact on young Black and Brown people when they have a mentor who they can relate to, who shares and understands their experience.
- Being a mentor who can relate to their experience as Black or Brown person you will support your mentee to help them to achieve and identify goals, supporting them to get to where they want to be. You will encouraging your mentee to consider future options, and assist them in achieving their goals, helping to navigate the barriers to inclusion.
- With the additional qualities of relatability and understanding, you will develop a trusting, supportive and non-judgemental relationship, by providing emotional, social and practical support to boost confidence and independence.
- You will support your mentee to make social connections with their local community, services or groups.
- We ask volunteers to commit to delivering mentoring 1–2-hour a week, over a period of 24 sessions. Through mentee and mentor testimonies we have seen the positive impact holding sessions in person vs online has, and so we would ask any perspective volunteers to be prepared to be available for all in person sessions should this be the required need of your mentee.
- You will be contributing to making the voices of our Black and Brown Youth Advisory Council members, to not only be heard, but to be a reality. They told us that diversity in mentoring matters, and they want to see more of it. They felt that having mentors who look like them brings a different approach, relatability and understanding to their mentoring experience.
- You will enjoy knowing that your mentoring will make a difference, with 9 out of 10 of the young people we work with saying that having a mentor has significantly improved their life, your skills and experiences are needed and will have a positive impact.
- You can find joy in being that someone in a young persons life that perhaps you wish you had, someone who can inspire, support and motivate a young person who looks like or identifies with you.
- You will have fun, as you laugh, reflect and overcome challenges together, igniting imagination, and being inspired by your mentee as you join on their journey to positive change.
- Through our comprehensive training and ongoing support, you will develop skills in positive psychology and coaching style techniques to effectively support someone to making steps towards positive change. Training areas covered include, safeguarding, confidentiality, the person-centred approach, the growth mindset, mentoring, inclusion, maintaining professional boundaries and more
- You will gain transferable skills relevant for personal and professional development, this includes but is not limited to team working, empathetic leadership, organisation, growth mindset and adaptive communication styles and approaches.
- You may be matched with an individual from a different culture, age, or gender to yourselves, allowing you to gain an understanding of life from a perspective different to your own.
- Through our compulsory monthly group supervision, these online sessions will provide you with the opportunity to share your journey and support others though your learning.
Being an organisation who actively ensures the people we serve are heard and considered in the operation of what we do, we asked our Youth Advisory Council what qualities they feel a mentor should have and we couldn’t agree more!
• Mindfulness – “as a mentor you need to be open minded, you need to always be mindful about what your mentee is feeling so they don’t feel like they are forced, or the session is about you”
• Good listener – “asking good questions and being genuinely interested, so your mentee feels more welcome and cared for”
• Patient – “as a mentee, having a mentor can feel strict at first, and they might need some time before getting into the flow of sessions”
• Relatable – “understanding your mentees’ interests or experiences and being able to share your experiences with them”
Your individuality and your life experience is what makes you unique and there is no one size fits, we ask for your time and committed to help others on their journey to Unfold their full potential and we’ll help you with the rest.
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