GR8 MATES Youth Mentor Program

67. Funding cuts and innovative solutions

2009-02-05T11:17:00.000+11:00

2009 is upon us and, not unexpectedly, our funding has been cut. This has meant that the GR8 MATES program has had to cease while plans are put in place for the development of the program in the future.

Fortunately, GR8 MATES has received a one year grant from the Federal Government to pilot a new program with a strong career focus. The program will be school-based, but, instead of catering for the students who are beginning to disengage from school, it is open to any students aged 13 to 19 who want to follow one of the professions or trades identified as a skill shortage area in Australia (a list of these is provided). The program will only operate for about 14 weeks for each match and it will also involve group mentoring. I sense the mentors will be more like coaches than genuine mentors, one of my concerns about this type of program.

Overall the government wants 90 students mentored by at least 30 mentors.

The new GR8 MATES 4 Students program has been launched. There will be more of a career focus, as mentioned, and all mentors and students will be issued with the new Student's Manual. We hope to have a couple of mentors mentor a group of students while the other relationships will be 1:1 at this stage.

The email link could become a key component of this new program - time will tell.

The funding is nowhere near sufficient to cover the cost of setting up and running an effective youth mentoring program, but thanks to the fact that GR8 MATES is already established and being Program Coordinator is only part of my job, it is possible to run this new pilot.

We will also be aiming to recruit semi-retired and retired people with experience in a number of trades, as well as folk with experience in the health industry. Therein will be the challenge.

66. Some comments from parents about the mentoring journey

2008-12-09T10:00:00.000+11:00

Receiving written feedback from parents has been a major challenge and we have not succeeded in this area at all. Parents were sent a 'Parent Exit Survey', which was relatively straightforward to complete. A stamped addressed envelope was included.

Some parents verbally commented on how much their child had benefitted from having a mentor.

Some of the mentees came from homes that were clearly not functioning too well. Although all mentees had to have written parents' permission to participate in the program, that was about as much as the parents were involved in the program.

“[My son] has benefited enormously. He has a more positive attitude to his schooling career and is generally more focused. He has chosen appropriate decisions when interacting with his peers. I think it’s a very valuable program and instills confidence, self-pride and power to achieve. EXCELLENT.”

“Has helped [my daughter] become work oriented, self-confident, self-motivated. The program has also given my daughter an independent view of the workplace.”

“Good, wise influence. The caring influence being added to [my son’s] growing up was priceless. Thanks for your efforts.”

“My daughter seems very confident and can control situations in her life a lot better.”

“[My son] was having some problems dealing with boys that were taunting/stirring him up. [His mentor] was able to provide an adult male perspective and help him through it. Many other things too. [My son] enjoyed the opportunity to discuss things confidentially with an adult male he trusted – would have liked it to go longer.”

65. What mentees thought about the mentoring journey

2008-12-09T09:53:00.001+11:00

GR8 MATES mentees were aged 14 or 15 and embarked on the mentoring journey for between 6 and 9 months.

The main focus of the program was on increasing school retention, while exploring possible career pathways.

Mentees met with their mentors for one hour a week, at school, during the school term (semester).

Some of their comments follow:

“[My mentor] has helped me through good times and bad and has helped me cope. She has also helped me with what my goal is in life and things I need to do to achieve becoming a teacher…[the program] has heaps of different aspects and it is brilliant …it is perfect the way it is.”

“[My mentor] gave me a lot of confidence. He told me about my self-worth and my values. I was extremely lucky to get him as a mentor. I liked that I had someone to talk to whenever I needed to, through email and face to face. I realized throughout the journey my career goals and opportunities.”

“My mentor has helped me analyse myself and the careers I’m interested in and helped me to find better time managing skills. I liked having someone to talk to about life in general, and having someone who can relate to certain things has been helpful and fun.”

“She has really helped me with managing my time. She has also been a great help with finding information about my career and how to achieve it. I enjoyed the whole thing.”

“She has helped me find what I’d like to do when I’m older and set a goal, as well as helping me find work experience at good places J”

“Because I am 100% sure about where I’m going in life and have gained many valuable skills that will help me achieve my goals… gained a friend.”

“It was just good to be able to talk to someone about anything.”

“He has helped sort through my life and make right decisions when it comes to work related things. Very awesome person. Really been good with him.”

“[She] helped me gain self-confidence, realize what I wanted to do in the future, how I was going to get there and has helped me achieve my goals.”

“She told me things I just wanted to hear.”

“Helped find the jobs I like …talking about jobs…”

“I now understand what I want to do in life…I enjoyed it all.”

“She has opened my mind to the opportunities and still has more I’d love to learn from her. She took me to a Career Psychologist showing me what I am best at. She has helped open my mind J …it is a good program.”

“[She] has helped me become more confident in myself and I hope that I have made a positive impact on her life as well. I wish her all the best …talking about each other’s lives, resolving issues and having a good laugh. I liked everything. I think it was a great idea. Thank you for allowing me to have this experience.”

“Helped me with job opportunities eg, work experience.”

“She has helped me write my Resume. She organized work experience. Good rapport.”

“[She] has helped me with a lot of things…having someone to talk to.”

“He has been there if I needed to talk …make it last longer.”

“[She] has taught me to control my anger and shown me the importance of a good career.”

64. What mentors thought about the mentoring journey

2008-12-09T09:47:00.001+11:00

I have spent the past few weeks evaluating our three GR8 MATES youth mentoring pilot programs and have been blown away by the results. The programs have surpassed all my expectations and, if the funding arrives, there are about 19 of the current mentors ready to mentor again in 2009.

The mentees were aged between 14 and 15, beginning to disengage from school in many respects.

The mentoring journey lasted between 6 and 9 months.

Volunteer mentors were aged 21 and over.

“[My mentee] began the program wanting to leave school at the end of the year and lacking in confidence. She now believes there are a lot of opportunities out there suited to her talents and is keen to go on to Year 12.”

“We discussed training options for going in to child care and, based on what I knew about her, was able to direct her into a way that would get her to achieve her goal. I enjoyed the program overall.”

“We widened the range of possibilities for future studies and careers. Initially he was only looking at Paramedics, but is also now looking at Business Studies as an alternative. I think the program is a wonderful initiative and would be happy to write testimony or speak about it to other possible mentors.”

“Helped keep him moving forward …support from staff was excellent and [I enjoyed] the freedom within the program scope to find the path that best suited mentee.”

“I do believe I have helped him become a bit more focused on what and where he wants to go with his life.”

“Perhaps the ground work was put down for future mentoring.”

“I believe that [my mentee] has developed during the time we have been spending together. I believe that the formal part of the program was a bit short – although I understand that the intention is to extend it which will be great. The program is very well put together. Robin is an excellent facilitator and his passion for young people is inspirational.”

“I noticed a general change in attitude over the time. [My mentee] became more positive overall. Coordinator and support/training was fantastic.”

“Able to introduce [her] to someone whose support enabled her to identify her strengths and weaknesses and career preferences. The fact that she will return to the school in 2009 is a plus, as she had earlier planned to move schools.”

“His attitude has changed and is happier with himself and has made new friends.”

“I think [he] has become more positive, more engaged at school. I really enjoyed him starting to open up to me. He doesn’t talk much to his family, so it was very rewarding.”

“Hopefully I have given [him] ideas, challenges, options, to think about his future. The school has been great, so has Robin. Great job. Great program. We could do with more funding to make sure this is always available for more kids, more schools and is around long into the future. More people like Robin.”

“Introduced some hard realities of leaving school Yr10 vYR12; took practical step in taking [him] to work place; relaxed approach, taking day to day issues as they come; reflected on links to family, both work and relationships.”

“Helped [him] focus on priorities and actions taking you closer or away from your goals. Better time management awareness. Some public speaking tips. A wonderful experience. I really enjoyed it and got a lot from it.”

“I enjoyed the training, meeting other mentors from varied areas of the community, the matching process and getting to know my mentee. I introduced the idea of Graphic Art to [him]. An area that he is very interested in and didn’t know was available as a career path.”

“I believe I encouraged [her] to see herself in a more positive light, which is good. However, I did not manage to encourage her enough so that she plans on staying longer at school.”

“She is having more emotional days than in the beginning, which I see as her identifying her thoughts and how and why to deal with them. Her marks and organization have improved. [I enjoyed] watching the growth of a young community member; learning how to deal with varying emotions …occasionally her emotional rollercoaster rides concerned me – that I was losing my way with her – BUT Robin always set me on the right way again.”

“I feel that I have made a small difference in her life. She is a very shy girl who maybe didn’t have a lot of confidence in herself. She is slowly gaining confidence and starting to believe in herself. I enjoyed seeing her grow over the last few months even though it was small changes… The support that is given during the process such as comments about how Robin could see a change in her.”

“Through the many activities and discussions we have shared, I have seen a development in his confidence, resilience, self-esteem and self-assurance. He is developing a strength to manage his behavior, his time, his skills and abilities. He is beginning to vision, dream and realize his brilliant potential! Has been a privilege to be a small part of this. “An outstanding program – with amazing potential for many young people – and mentors too. Needs to be expanded, encouraged and funded/supported by powers that be!”

“We worked through career/goal setting/thinking about people, life and jobs and did role plays and discussed experiences (real and possibilities).”

“His manner came across more confident and positive. He has become very open in conversation with me. Watching him go from so lazy and unmotivated to keen to get an apprenticeship and also seeing him looking forward to us meeting each week.”

“I saw him grow in confidence and self-belief. All the “I don’t know” and “it depends” answers diminished in frequency. There was also a change in his physical appearance – no longer hid behind long hair and he carried himself more confidently. He was always keen to meet together. At times when the going got a bit tough there was always good advice and encouragement. Feedback on how we were making progress was great… discovering career paths – his excitement and motivation when he realized what he wanted to do.”

63. Passing the baton - the power of mentoring

2008-11-10T10:36:00.000+11:00

I had the most amazing moment during the closure of one program last week.

One of the students approached me and asked if the mentees could mentor the new students at the school next year. Well, of course it was not my decision, but I encouraged her to explore this possibility and have subsequently told the School Coordinator about the conversation.

The power of mentoring continues to surprise me. Here, too, was a student who barely could speak to me six months ago, coming along to have this chat and then, as we were packing up, coming to thank me for allowing her to participate in the program.

The school needs young leaders or people of positive influence. What a thought if students who had participated in GR8 MATES could move on to become peer mentors.

I will be spending the next couple of weeks collating all the information I have gathered from these programs, putting together a report for my Board. I already know that the three pilots have been successful - way exceeded my expectations ...... maybe more later.

62. More WOW! Moments as third program closes

2008-11-06T19:49:00.000+11:00

Today will long remain as one of the most memorable days I have had being involved in a youth mentoring program. Sam (not her real name) came back! Sam had basically dropped out of school about seven weeks ago and had moved in with her boyfriend, who was a few years older than her, partly because she was having difficult family issues. Her mentor and I were trying to work out strategies to reach her, but were experiencing problems in this regard.

Last week I was told Sam had returned to school to write her exams. Today Sam appeared for the Celebration event and looked positively radiant! Each of the mentors and students shared something about the GR8 MATES program they had enjoyed.

Sam told us that she had thought she would not be allowed back to school. However, she had approached the acting Principal and had a discussion with him. Sam had decided that she not only wanted to return to school to write her Public Exams next week, but she wanted to stay on and complete her schooling! Her mentor shed a few tears and I think everyone in the room was moved, as Sam has had a tough time.

I spoke to Sam after the function and let her know how proud of her I was, told her that she had made some courageous decisions in recent weeks and also assured her that never again would she have to feel alone. One of her issues was that she didn't feel she had anyone to talk to, but now she realises how important her mentor is in her life and they have agreed to carry on meeting. In addition, I have also offered to be a support to her via email. Sam has moved back home as well and knows she has to work at her relationship with her mum.

There were other great stories of how students had grown through the program and once again I needed little convincing that youth mentoring is highly effective, even though this program was only for six months, probably three months too short.

Some students absolutely did not want to speak publicly, but all gave it a go and some fears about public speaking were destroyed.

Another fantastic highlight for me was when a couple of students approached me and asked if it would be okay for them to mentor new students next year! Clearly this is not my decision, but I gave them every encouragement. How fantastic it was to know that these young lives had been impacted by their mentors in significant ways and now they want to pass on what they have learnt to others. Sam said she would say to any student: "Stay at school! Stay at school! Stay at school!"

What a privilege it has been to be a part of these young lives :-)

61. Fantastic WOW! Moments at Celebration event

2008-11-02T19:07:00.000+11:00

The second of our three GR8 MATES programs finished last week and we enjoyed a great celebration of the mentoring journey. 10 or 11 of the mentors have now committed to mentoring another student next year. One mentor is moving from the area, otherwise would be involved and the other lectures in a Tertiary College, so might not be able to participate due to timetable clashes. Many mentors will stay in touch with their students.

Students shared anything they wished about the journey and the mentors did likewise. The following two testaments to mentors highlight the power of youth mentoring and this after only six months, which I still think is too short.

GR8 MATES Year 10 student’s address to the gathering of mentors and mentees at the celebratory event to mark the end of the program (names have been changed to protect privacy).

Dear Anne

Thank you for all the help and support you have given me over the months we have been together.

You have made me realise that nothing is impossible and I can do anything I aspire to be.

You’ve made me stronger both physically and mentally. Before I met you my anger got the best of me. Now, through your support, anger and depression no longer are part of me.

Now I believe I’m making something of my life and to better my future. You have shown me the importance of a good career and the benefits of a healthy lifestyle.

I could never thank you enough. You are truly the most caring person I’ve ever met and I wish to thank you for your commitment to me. You’ve made me a better person and for that I will never forget you.

Thank you.

James

Year 10 student’s note to her mentor at the conclusion of a GR8 MATES pilot program (names changed to protect identity):

To Jo

I write this letter to thank you Jo because without you I doubt I would have gotton through the year. You’ve been a mentor and a friend, which is more than I could of expected and I also thank you for your patience and guidance and I’m glad to have a mentor who cares as much as you care.

Whether I fail school or not, I also want to give you my deepest gratitude for all your help. It was your time to do with what you wish. Instead you came to my school every [week] and offered me advice and friendship!

Kath

Our third pilot concludes this week and I wonder what will occur at that celebratory event :-)

60. Winding down two programs and learning lessons

2008-10-26T16:22:00.000+11:00

There are an interesting couple of weeks ahead, as two pilot programs come to an end.

Most of the students have now completed their online Student Performer and it is clear that in the majority of mentoring relationships the students have made some significant progress. Almost all of them have a much greater understanding of career pathways and the options open to them, which is one of the major features of the GR8 MATES program. As this has happened, so has their attitude to school and academic studies improved and, in the majority of cases, there also appears to be a growth in self-image, self-confidence and a greater willingness to reveal the 'real me'. I am sure there is a whole lot more and will make an effort to comment more fully on a future blog.

A couple of months ago I decided to write one combined email to the mentors of our three programs each week. Previously I had been writing a separate one to each group. The idea behind the combined one, in addition to the obvious saving of administrative time, was to be an encouragement and reassurance to the mentors, perhaps an opportunity to learn from the efforts of other programs etc. Well, in chatting to a mentor the other day, I came to realise that this was not a good idea, as mentors are busy people and don't read the emails from beginning to end, even when I highlight key points. So, it's clear that a short, sharp email to each group separately is a more effective strategy to ensure effective ongoing training and support.

I have also added a School Cordinator's Program Exit Survey in addition to those for mentors, mentees and parents. I can't believe that I overlooked this earlier :-)

What has been great to see is that thus far 12 of the current group of 19 mentors have indicated they would like to be matched with another student next year. I was not expecting over 50% to volunteer again. Being totally honest, I thought I might be lucky to scrape 25%, but, reading their Exit Surveys, I can see how much they have enjoyed the journey and have valued the level of support they have received from program staff and the School Coordinator - there's a lesson there! A couple also intimated that they feel they have learnt so much, they reckon they could be more effective the next time around.

Tomorrow is the first Celebration of the ending of one of these pilot programs - promises to be an interesting day.

59. Is 6 months too short for a mentoring relationship - some discoveries

2008-10-17T09:55:00.000+11:00

Yesterday some of the students from one of our pilot programs completed their online Student Performer. They had completed this task at the beginning of the mentoring journey and now, six months later, they have completed the exact same task.

I have yet to do a full analysis, but what is revealed is the following:

when mentors have attended training, are aware of what is required of them and consistently turn up, week in and week out at school for a six month period, they can achieve a huge amount.
where the focus has been on encouraging these students to think about their careers and different career pathways, the program has been a resounding success.
far more was achieved in six months than I could ever have hoped for. However, had we been able to start the program at the beginning of this year, which we were unable to do for a number of reasons, I believe these students would have made even more progress and would be in an even better space.
this Student Performer tool from Frontline Solutions has proven to be a fantastic program evaluation tool.

On Wednesday I was about to announce that training would go ahead for the next program, which I wrote about in my previous Blog, when suddenly four potential mentors withdrew, two because of changing work and study situations and a couple unable to commit into 2009 at this stage. So, I have had to cancel the training, but seven of our current mentors have expressed an interest in continuing with another student next year.

This is fantastic news and I have suggested to the school that we go ahead, but with a smaller group, just to keep the momentum going while we await our funding future.

During the next two weeks, we will complete our two pilot programs, with all students and mentors completing the profilers - promises to be an interesting time.

58. Potential dangers of a government funded program

2008-10-09T17:41:00.000+11:00

I have written before that GR8 MATES is linked to a federal funded not-for-profit organisation. In one month our two other pilot programs will be completed.

I am also experiencing the perennial difficulty of recruiting volunteers for another program, mainly because the mentoring program is only part of my job and also because I haven't really had enough time to recruit these volunteers. The school at which we are completing a pilot wants us to run another program next year. So, the idea is to train the mentors before the end of the year, match them and then they will be ready to begin the journey in February 2009.

Thus far three of the current crop of mentors have indicated that they would like to continue next year and I have about six or eight others interested, though none of these have completed Application Forms yet. I will do some phoning on Monday and Tuesday next week, but if I don't have 10 - 15 mentors for the program, I won't go ahead at the moment.

What this could mean, though, is that we will not be able to launch another program until we know whether or not we will be receiving more funding beyond 2009. Our Federal Government has changed, the economy is being hit by the world global recession - is one allowed to use that word? - so the government might decide our programs should be cut. It would be shooting itself in the foot, as we are working at skilling Australia, which is one of their election platforms. However, with all that they know about youth mentoring at the moment, we are justified to feel worried.

Had we been able to access the status that allows us to seek funders from the corporate world and philanthropists etc., which has a special tax break for the donors, we might already be in a position to be self-sustaining. However, as I have mentioned in previous Blogs, it's like climbing Mount Everest.

The next two weeks will be interesting.

Schools open again on Monday and our three programs get under way :-)

57. Nearing the end - a new beginning!

2008-09-29T21:04:00.000+10:00

Well, two programs are almost completed. It's school holidays now. Once term resumes, the two other pilot programs will have three weeks to run. I am still feeling that we could have had another three months with these pilots for them to be more effective, so it will be interesting to see what the results of the end of program online Mentor Profiler and Student Performers are.

I have just completed an analysis of the first pilot's Mentor Profilers and Student Profilers. Both show significant growth in the students' development, while the mentors, as a group, have also shown more signs of positive development than I was expecting. I am awaiting some more feedback to my analysis from the founders of the program. Once I have this, perhaps I will place a summary as a separate blog page.

It is looking like we have lost one student from one of the pilots. She has not been at school for many weeks and thus could be regarded as a student who has disengaged. Not even being a part of the mentoring program persuaded her to stay at school. Sadly, negative peer pressure, self-esteem issues and other personal issues have won the day, let's hope only temporarily, as she has so much more potential than even she seems to realize. She had such a fantastic mentor who was prepared to walk the extra mile for her, but to no avail. Had we started the program in February instead of May perhaps she might still be at school and participating positively in the program - we will never know.

However, there have been more positives in some of the relationships. Mentors accompanied their mentees to the Apprenticeship Expo last week or else had assisted their mentees with Resume writing (CV), so they could deliver these to any potential employers. I suppose a slightly negative point was that some of the youngsters who should have gone to the Expo did not do so. There will be excuses made, but ultimately this lack of energy or determination (possibly self-belief?) to get there would be reasons why they are involved in the GR8 MATES program.

It's also good to hear how mentors are arranging work experience opportunities for their mentees and how they have assisted their mentees with their subject selection for 2009, often because they had been exploring possible careers together.

The second program at the school where we had our first pilot is going so well. There are a couple of disciplinary issues or absences that have slowed down the progress of a couple of relationships, but these mentoring relationships have plenty of time to get going next term. I am thinking that most of the mentors and their students have already got a pretty good connection, a couple have fantastic connections so early in the program, suggesting that those students were totally ready for the mentoring journey. It was good to hear that one student invited his mentor to watch him playing in a school activity, while another mentor has been watching his student playing Soccer matches during weekends. The latter student brought a whole lot of his Soccer medals to school the week before last and was wonderfully affirmed by program staff and his mentor and, I suspect, some of his peers quietly admired his achievements.

Still working on recruiting for the first 2009 program. I am putting together a Power Point presentation for a group of +100 Rotarians next week, desperately hoping that 10% might show an interest in the new program :-)

56. The Mentor as a wise guide

2008-09-21T16:55:00.000+10:00

During this past week I have seen some wonderful examples of the key role of a mentor as a wise guide, some of which I will share in this Blog, simply to give ideas for other mentors who might be battling with their mentees at times.

A number of mentors have been spending time helping their mentees put together their Resumes or C.Vs. This Tuesday night our organisation runs its annual Apprenticeship and Traineeship Expo in Penrith. It is a huge occasion and we are expecting about 3,000 students and their parents to pass through the Expo. There are probably over 80 Apprenticeships and Traineeships on offer for students wanting to move into that area of work. Some will be able to get school-based Apprenticeships and Traineeships, while others will be able to obtain full-time Apprenticeships and Traineeships allowing them to leave school at the end of the year.

Mentors are volunteers. How good it is to hear that some mentors are volunteering their time to accompany their mentees to the Expo. In a couple of cases, where there is a single parent, the mentor has offered to accompany their mentee and the parent to the Expo.

There have been some great emails going back and forth between some mentors and their mentees. I think of one email from the mentee to her mentor, simply saying how much she is looking forward to each session.

Then there was another one full of emotion and all sorts of things being shared. The mentor responded with great wisdom, simply encouraging the mentee to believe in herself as much as she (the mentor) did. Together they will work on strategies in the weeks ahead.

There are still a couple of students who are away from school far too much and this has meant that the mentors have been unable to become involved as much as they might have. I suspect they have felt frustrated, but that's the nature of the school-based mentoring relationship. While it would be easy to arrange for mentors and mentees to share phone numbers in such a program, I am still undecided as to whether or not this is a wise idea and don't seem to have found any other school-based programs that allow this. It would be good to find out if there are any.

55. Positive signs and more planning

2008-09-14T17:48:00.000+10:00

This has been a productive week. One group of mentees completed their Student Online Performer and this has immediately given mentors ideas as to the areas they can explore with their mentees. Many of the students are revealing a great deal of potential, yet their self-belief and self-image will need attention. This is nothing new for a teenager. The fact that they are a little low on self-esteem is one of the reasons they are in the program. What I enjoyed, though, was the positive vibe in the room while the students were completing these Student Performers in the company of their mentors.

A couple of students and their mentors have also embarked on the use of the email facility, which is also fantastic to see. One student has shared all sorts of 'stuff' already and has given the mentor a chance to start encouraging her, building her self-confidence and talking about different things they can do. Another student, only three weeks into the relationship, sent an email to his mentor informing the latter that he was sick and would not be at school for the mentoring session - very positive signs early in this new program. I would love to see more mentors and their students using the email facility like this.

In another program one of the students was chatting to me about some of the things she has been doing with her mentor, mostly exploring career options, work experiences etc. The student commented that GR8 MATES had got her thinking about stuff she would never have thought about. Instead of leaving school at the end of this year, which had been her original plan, she is staying on for a further two years and has all sorts of plans, whilst being more motivated as well.

One school, where the program finishes in late October, has asked if they can run another program next year. However, we will attempt to recruit and train the mentors before the end of the year, match them with the students before the year closes, so they can begin the mentoring journey as soon as schools open in 2009. Pressure now on to recruit the mentors, a major task for the week ahead :-)

54. How am I doing as a mentor?

2008-09-04T11:50:00.000+10:00

The above question has been asked or implied in discussions with some of our mentors in recent weeks. In my weekly email out to all our mentors last week, I wrote:

In recent weeks, I sense that there is one question many mentors are asking themselves, which is quite normal: How am I doing? Sometimes it can be asked another way: Do you think I am making any difference?

Back we go to the training! A reminder that every young person is in a different space and that there is no competition in this mentoring journey. I have watched mentors listen to their mentees telling them that they are adamant they will be leaving school at the end of Year 10. A few weeks later the mentee is equally adamant that he or she is remaining at school until Year 12. A few weeks later the same young person is talking of leaving again at the end of Year 10. Welcome to the world of the teenager!!

Then there is the mentee who wants to become a hairdresser or a mechanic. Off they go to work experience and discover this is not for them. That’s brilliant, as that’s what the work experience is all about. Then it’s back to the drawing board with the mentor to look at other interests etc. and the journey of career exploration begins all over again.

This is what mentoring is all about and it cannot be measured. What is going on is the presence of a wise guide in the life of a young person trying to find his or her way – there is communication, social skill development and so much more occurring.

Then there will be other mentoring relationships where mentors are concerned about possible drug use, too much wagging school (truancy), a mentee with totally different values etc. etc. No mentor will be able to change behavior patterns in a week or two or three. In fact, no mentor will be able to change behavior patterns at all. What the mentor can do is be that non-judgmental, empathetic cheerleader and let the mentee take responsibility for his or her decisions, no matter how painful that might be for the mentor. That is the reality of life and sometimes these young people have to go to the bottom of the pit until they discover they can make different choices. It’s tough, it’s hard and some of them are so caught up in negative behavior patterns they just can’t see a way out. So, we need to sow the resiliency seeds by identifying and naming resilient qualities and encourage them to create a network of support around themselves. Are all mentors doing this?

Every mentor who turns up week in and week out is making a difference in that young person’s life. Have no fear of that! That’s why I believe so passionately in mentoring these young people. 10 years from now something you might have shared with your mentee might suddenly kick in. Had you not been there for the young person, that WOW! moment might never have happened, so that’s something to always keep at the back of your mind.

Planning is under way for 2009. It looks like one of the schools running a pilot program wants another program next year, with the mentors being trained soon so they are able to start at the beginning of next year. More of that another time........

53. The joys and pains of adolescence

2008-08-28T15:05:00.000+10:00

An interesting couple of weeks.

Our new program is up and running and most of the matches seem to have taken off incredibly quickly and well. The beauty of being involved in youth mentoring programs is their unpredictability! I have had a few splutters trying to get the Student Online Performer completed, but I hope to have that done next week. I would prefer it completed before the mentoring relationship is too far down the road, as that gives a better idea of where the students are at when they begin the journey.

There have been some wonderful developments. One student, who was ready to leave school a few months ago, is now absolutely convinced that she needs to complete her final two years of schooling and seems pretty motivated to do so. Her mentor arranged for her to meet another mentor who works at a local tertiary education institution. This visit was a great success and the student commented that she did not know how many options there were for her until that day. Another heads off with her student to visit a small business in the area tomorrow. Yet another took his mentee to visit a few small businesses a couple of weeks ago. The student is now more motivated to move forward with his career planning and is going to ask one of the people he visited if he can have a week of work experience there.

On the flipside of the coin is the reality that students are still adolescents, have all the mood swings etc. etc. One student has spent far too much time away from school. This has hampered the mentoring relationship. The mentor helped arrange a work experience for the student. The student attended two of the four days and that about sums up where this youngster is at. Perhaps, though, the student realised that she was not cut out for that particular profession.

Mentors continually need to be reminded that the students are adolescents and their behaviour patterns are unlikely to change after one 'chat' with their mentor. I will send out a reminder about this when I email all the mentors tomorrow. I fear some mentors beat themselves up because they don't feel they are achieving enough fast enough, or they expect their mentee to change behaviour patterns, forgetting the huge peer pressure and so on. Over and over again I see my role as reminding the mentors that they are seed sowers - patience, patience, patience!

Over and above all this, I am becoming increasingly concerned at the lack of role modelling in far too many families. Parenting skills are woefully lacking ............ then, again, that's also a generalisation.

52. Mentors and the danger of high expectations

2008-08-17T19:21:00.000+10:00

In recent weeks I have had a number of discussions with mentors who have expressed disappointment that their mentees might not have completed a relatively easy task they agreed to see completed when last they met.

During the training I suggest to mentors that they have no expectations of their mentees. Then they will not be disappointed! Most of these students are lacking self-confidence and genuinely believe that they can't achieve much with their lives. This is because of the messages they might have been receiving from parents, peers and teachers. Perhaps it is because they might have a sibling who appears to do well at school, in sport or in some other area and they spend time comparing themselves to this sibling. There are many reasons for these situations, the most common one that I have come across being a mentee living in an unstable, insecure environment.

Anyway, it's been a good time to remind mentors not to have these unreal expectations and rather to use their mentoring sessions to do all the things they and their mentees want to do. While they might not achieve as much in the time available, they might decide to continue meeting one another at the end of the formal program and thus they have some strong foundations on which to build the next leg of their journey. If they quietly persevere, there is a very good chance the young person's self-esteem will be on the rise and then anything becomes possible.

Mentors continue to underestimate the positive effect their weekly appearances for these mentoring sessiomns have on their mentees ie, a volunteer adult consistently turning up week after week to encourage them to reach their potential.

A couple of mentors have organised visits to local businesses or a local tertiary training institution during the past couple of weeks and they are already beginning to see the positives from these excursions.

The beauty of mentoring is that it is so unpredictable!

51. New matching, interesting progress

2008-08-10T17:42:00.000+10:00

A busy week last week. On Tuesday the new group of mentors attended the matching session with the new group of students. There is a lot of flu going around at the moment, so it was not really a surprise that a couple of students were away from school. Then one of the students arrived with a friend. The friend wanted to participate, but did not really know much about the program. Unfortunately the School Coordinator was away at another function, so I had some quick decision-making to do. Another girl had arrived as well and insisted that she was supposed to be there. Her name was not on the list! A mentor from the previous program at the school, who also taught part-time there, came to my rescue. She looked for students who had not arrived. A couple of students said they no longer wanted to participate in the program - they have no idea of the opportunity they will be missing, but we don't want students to participate if they are not keen to do so. Eventually we got under way and I allowed the new students to stay. It was good having two mentors from the previous program participating in this program.

We had plenty of laughter and fun even though I had to condense the program because of the late start. Both mentors and students made their confidential choices at the end and I am processing these at the moment. I am still waiting for the school to inform me as to which students who were away that day will remain in the program. With the matching due to take place on Tuesday, I have little time to get things organised. Hopefully, things will come together.

What have I learnt?

Probably the key points which I will take into future matchings will involve having more students present than mentors and all the paperwork from the students completed and handed in to the School Coordinator. This latter point has been an ongoing issue in all our programs and one we do need to get on top of. Also, it's crucial that the School Coordinator is present.

The two other programs had many highs! Mentors are beginning to arrange visits to local businesses and to the local tertiary institutions their mentees are interested in attending. Another mentor is assisting her mentee, who is working through some difficult issues at the moment, to find work experience for a week, just testing the water with regard to future career possibilities. Another mentee told me that she is now going to stay at school next year. A couple of months ago she was adamant that she was going to leave.

These are a few of the positives from the week gone by. There are more. As the connection between mentor and mentee is firmed up, so there is movement in the type of activities the mentors are beginning to get involved in with their mentees.

50. 'GR8 MATES ROX!'

2008-08-01T15:41:00.000+10:00

Thus wrote a student participating in the GR8 MATES program when the first surveys of our second and third programs were carried out earlier this week. How positive is that!

While there have been a few wobbles as a result of transient students, the programs are settling down and becoming very positive in all respects. Last week the mentors from one of the programs accompanied their mentees to a local Nepean Careers Market where they had the opportunity to visit a variety of stalls covering many possible careers, places of further study, Apprenticeship opportunities and so on. Approximately 6,600 students pass through this event over two days and it is easy for students to waste the time or to feel overwhelmed. Another mentor has assisted a student with the development of a career plan, offering extra time to take the student to a friend of hers who works in this field. On Wednesday night another mentor accompanied her mentee to the student's 2009 subject selection evening at the school and, judging from the emails that have been exchanged since then, this has further cemented the mentoring relationship. Another mentor is planning to introduce her menteee to a high profile sporting organisation towards the end of August if the mentee meets all his school commitments and so I could go on.

12 mentors are preparing for a matching session with students at the local High School where we concluded our first mentoring program recently. This promises to be an interesting occasion.

I shared some points with our mentors earlier today:

· Get out and about. Go for a walk and talk, rather than just settle in a chair and don’t move ie. bring variation into the mentoring meetings. If you move around a bit, this gets the oxygen flowing to the brain and the focus of the student will be consistently good!
· Use the computers for researching, checking emails etc.
· If you are sitting at a table, sit next to one another rather than across from one another. This leads to better communication, you can observe body language etc.
· Preferably sit some way apart from another mentoring pair so you can chat without being overheard.

Small things are being achieved as the program gets under way in these schools. The program only has another 10 weeks to run and it will be interesting to compare the evaluations at the end of the two current programs with those of the first program that took place over 10 months.

49. Celebration of Learning! What a lot of WOW moments!

2008-06-26T17:25:00.001+10:00

Earlier this week the formal part of the first GR8 MATES pilot program came to an end with a Celebration of Learning at the school. A few parents attended, though we did not expect many, as it was held during the middle of a working day. Students and mentors received Certificates for participating in the program and both mentor and mentee shared something about their mentoring journey during the past nine months.

The presentations took a variety of forms. One mentor interviewed his mentee. Three mentees delivered brief Power Point presentations and some simply shared their moments in brief speeches. The power of effective mentoring was the message that shone through each and every presentation. One mentee shared how he was in a really bad space this time last year before joining the program. As a result of the time shared with his mentor, he is now motivated, focused, self-confident and has a definite career path which will include a university degree. He shared how difficult it was to share all his antisocial behaviour issues that were getting him into trouble, but his mentor had pointed out to him that, 'Failure is not a person!' They had processed everything and moved on.

Another mentee shared how her mentor had helped her shape a career path, had assisted her find work experience and had been such a strong support to her, a theme that was echoed by a number of the mentees. Another mentor shared what a privilege it was for her to be allowed to enter her mentee'slife and publicly thanked him for the opportunity to share. A mentee pointed out how much he had enjoyed the time with his mentor, chatting aboutthings he would not have talked to his parents about ....... and so it went on.

Jayden was a young person very unsure of himself when he joined the program. Nine months later he delivered a superb Power Point show of his jouney with his mentor, Margaret. He has given permission for extracts to be used, so here they are straight from his slides:

• When we were getting to know each other, (when we first met) we decided to look at what we had in common, which wasn’t a lot but we did have at least one thing in common and that was that we were both eager to work through this together and complete the tasks we set before us successfully.
• During the journey I changed my mind many times, I changed my mind about what kind of work I want to do, I changed my mind about how I want to live, I changed my mind about going to TAFE [ a tertiary institute] and I hope that all these changes will be for the best.
• I now know, I want to become a vet instead of a scientist, I want to spend less time wasting my time and using the time to help get me through life as a vet.
• I also know now that I don’t want to go to TAFE and with that spare time I will do voluntary work.
• From this mentoring journey I learnt a lot of things, things such as, What I wanted to do for my future career and how I was going to achieve the goals I set for myself. The mentoring journey has also showed me how I could improve my life so I wasted a lot less time on things that didn’t matter and I decided to use that time to help myself achieve my long term goals and I don’t think I could have achieved this without the help of my mentor and this mentoring program.

Jayden’s mentor, Margaret, publicly responded to his presentation and concluded with these words:

• I have enjoyed sharing this journey with Jayden. I have seen him grow in confidence and self-belief. He has made positive changes in his daily life, has discovered a career path that interests him and has become more assertive. I have enjoyed his sense of humour. I wish him well for his future and know that if he continues to believe in himself he will accomplish more than he ever dreamed of.

Marion also allowed me to share a poem she wrote for her mentor which she read out to everyone, another powerful testimony about the power of a mentoring relationship. This poem can be found on the website: http://www.yess.co.nz/ in the 'Mentor' section under the heading, 'Tribute to a Mentor from a Mentee.' Free to download for anyone wishing to share with a group of mentors in training or simply needing some encouragement.

And so I could go on - a memorable day which ended with a large feast enjoyed by one and all.

Letters were sent out to all mentors, mentees and the mentees' parents informing them that the formal part of the program has ended. A number of mentors will continue to meet regularly with their mentees until the end of the year and most appear keen to stay in touch.

I still need to collate all the Exit Surveys and other material completed at the end of the journey and will post some conclusions at a later date.

That same night the training ended for the next group of mentors beginning a new program at the same school. They are keen, motivated and anxious at the same time. We have to conclude the post-training mentor interviews when I return from two weeks leave :-) and then it's all go!!

48. First Program early evaluation results

2008-06-20T21:14:00.000+10:00

The first pilot project of the GR8 MATES program comes to an end next week. This past week has been a time for reflection, completing Mentor Exit Surveys, Mentee Exit Surveys and the online Mentor Profiler and Student Performer. Although it's too early to make any conclusive statements, it is not too early to say that this first program has been a resounding success. Students who have completed the Student Performer online have shown growth in many areas. Early signs are showing that those students who have grown in self-confidence are beginning to make strides to reach their potential. As there has been more of a leaning towards school retention and the development of career pathways in this program, it is good to see how much more confident most students appear to be in these areas. I need to do a lot more work on the evaluations etc., but there is enough evidence to suggest that a school-based youth mentoring program like GR8 MATES can be life-changing for young people who have plenty of self-doubt and, perhaps, are beginning to disengage from school.

I am looking forward to seeing how the mentors have fared in the Mentor Profiler and hope that most of them will complete this during the forthcoming weekend.

The two other programs are becoming more settled. In one of the schools another mentee has left the school, so we are awaiting the paperwork from another student. Mentors involved in these processes are showing great patience and restraint, as it would be all too easy for them to walk away from the program. I keep all mentors informed of developments in the three programs via a weekly email note and the feedback about these tends to be positive. It's a small way of continually reminding them that they are valued.

On Tuesday night the next batch of mentors will complete their training. School holidays follows and then the matching process will begin in early August. I have had confirmation from the outgoing group of mentors that almost all want to continue in the program, if not in August then when we run another program in 2009.

47. Preparing for closure and some public speaking

2008-06-13T16:42:00.000+10:00

The first GR8 MATES program will be concluding in a couple of weeks. One of our mentors gave a brief presentation on public speaking to the students, as each will be sharing something about their mentoring experience in the final Celebration of Learning event. 6 Hot Tips - Public Speaking can be found in the Peer Mentor section of the website (http://www.yess.co.nz/) .

After the presentation, mentors had a few minutes to chat about what they and their mentees would say when our video crew came around to interview them. The video crew are made up of Year 11 students (penultimate year of school). I met with them an hour earlier and told them of my plans to have a three minute video clip for the GR8 MATES website. During the mentoring session they visited the mentoring pairs and each participant shared something in 30 - 45 seconds. Next week the mentees will be completing their on-line Student Performer and the video team will film some of that as well as the Celebration of Learning. I am hoping that they will end up making two or three video clips we could use on a variety of occasions :-).

Anyway, I was chatting to a mentor and a mentee prior to the video clip being shot. We were talking about the Celebration of Learning and Simon, the mentee (not his real name), was saying that he intended to 'wing it' ie, make up his speech on the day. His mentor and I smiled. When it came to filming Simon, he froze! Highly amusing and I hope he has learnt something from that experience.

Most mentors commented that the public speaking presentation had been well-timed, as it had helped their mentees prepare more thoroughly for the video shoot.

At the end of the mentoring session one of the mentees came up to me to have a chat. He had been working with his mentor on management of time skills and had come to the conclusion that he was wasting far too much time, not allocating enough time to academic studies and needed to do something about it - lots of learning continues!

We have decided to allow mentors to invite their husbands and wives (where applicable) to the Celebration of Learning and it will be good if some are able to attend. One mentor has reminded me earlier today to invite someone from the local community newspaper - smart thinking and something I nearly overlooked. A reminder to develop a checklist for this Celebration of Learning for future reference.

The two other programs are getting under way slowly. I have had to remind the mentors not to be phased if their mentees are not responding to the email yet. Still early days and the connection between mentor and mentee is not there yet in the majority of cases.

In the one program the school has decided to give one of the mentees, who kept being away from school, a final chance to participate in the program, a good decision which we hope will pay off in the long-term.

I have also been preparing all the Parent, Mentor and Mentee Exit Surveys, whilst continuing to raise the profile of GR8 MATES by exploring different possibilities for future funding.

Yesterday a 10th school approached us keen for GR8 MATES to be included there. This morning the 11th school approached me for inclusion. The need is certainly there!!

46. Expansion plans - doing the hard yards!!

2008-06-08T17:10:00.000+10:00

I am also at the point where we have to kickstart a major campaign to raise funds if we wish to see GR8 MATES going beyond the pilot stage. It is a tough call, as the demand for mentors of these young people is considerably greater than many people realise. And, as the economy starts slowing down and parents experience more problems paying the mortgage, people are made redundant etc., this, too will impact on these young lives. Australia has been experiencing boom times in recent years. One is not allowed to mention the words ' possible recession', but I am a realist and I can already see the signs - people battling to meet mortgage payments, more smaller businesses closing down, others cutting back their workforce or not employing new staff when others leave etc. Western Sydney, where GR8 MATES operates, is an area with many, many of these battlers. In addition, each time I enter schools to give presentations on career topics, as well as to supervise the mentoring programs, I am struck by the number of young people clearly lacking significant adults in their lives, parents with effective parenting skills etc. and this is becoming quite a burden. So if we can create an army of trained volunteer adult mentors, we will be able to encourage more and more young people to keep going after their dreams, learning how to make some sacrifices to reach these dreams, understanding the need to work hard and to keep on keeping on and so much more.

The Steering Committee is coming together slowly but surely and I expect things to kick in once I return from leave in mid-July. All I do know is that I am reaching the limit of what I can realistically be expected to do if we want to run a quality program.

I spent part of Friday sending out Query letters to organisations, businesses, Foundations etc. just to find out whether or not they would even consider an application. My thinking is that if the application stands to gain about $1,000 it might not be worthwhile completing the Application forms. This is because it takes a couple of hours each time at least to complete these forms and one has more than a 50% chance of being rejected - how to manage one's time effectively remains the challenge.

Somehow I have to galvanise people to get behind GR8 MATES and am keen to work with a team of people to achieve this.

45. Mentoring and seed sowing

2008-06-08T16:35:00.000+10:00

A more settled week in many respects with the different mentoring programs this week. The mentor training is going well and we are having some great discussions in preparation for the mentoring journey which will start in early August (July is a holiday time here). I would like to spend more time developing new material for the training, but it's all a question of priorities at the moment.

Our first program that is drawing to a close sees so many positives each week. Just in the small things like a mentor being overawed at the response of a mentee to a challenge the previous week, a response that was way beyond what the mentor was expecting; or a mentor reporting that her mentee, who had been reluctant to participate in the Celebration of Learning, is now discussing what she will be sharing. Arrangements are being made for one of our mentors, with Toastmasters experience, to share some tips on public speaking with all the mentees this week. So, not only is it an opportunity to prepare for their final Celebration of Learning function in two weeks time, but they also receive a free life skills lesson. In addition, I hope to be meeting with three or four students involved in the school's video program, as they will make a three minute video/DVD which we can add to our website, use for training and recruiting of mentors in the future. Possibly the only disappointing point is that a couple of students have intimated that they don't want their parents to attend the final Celebration of Learning, a sad reflection on domestic issues.

The two new programs are more settled. In the one, it looks as though one of the mentees is moving school so will be lost to the program, while another mentee is seldom at school and missing too many sessions, which means we have an enthusiastic mentor unable to begin mentoring, while some other needy student would be benefiting from this time with a significant adult in his or her life. Looks like we will bring two new students into the program this week.

The good news is that our web-based email system is now working. I provide the mentors and mentees with a Password and an ID and they lock into the system and share emails with one another. All emails are monitored and, in a way, it gives me a chance to encourage, offer some ongoing training etc. to the mentors when they have some curly issues to deal with. I am also going to be able to create some new case studies for the training using some of the issues which get raised in this forum.

I have been giving a lot of thought to the email, as it is still in the experimental phase and has not yet been used by all mentors as effectively as it could have been used. Having said that, there is no pressure on either the mentor or the mentee to use the email and perhaps some won't use it because it is being monitored - fair enough. There are also always mentors who believe they have all the experience and the answers and are reluctant to discuss their mentoring relationship with anyone. When they do so, it's at a superficial level. That's one reason for regular surveys - keeps program staff in touch with what's going on. Over the years I have found these to be the relationships that might have had some success, though possibly not as much as if there had been a team supporting the mentor on the mentoring journey, brainstorming issues, sharing ideas etc. This is why the debrief session is usually so valuable. Just this last week during the debrief I was chatting to a mentor who said she would have liked to have had an exchange of mobile phone numbers, as she might have been able to intervene to stop her mentee ending a recent work experience. We don't allow the sharing of such information in the interests of safety and security of both parties. However, as I pointed out to her, that does not mean we can't revisit this and even give it a trial for a month in the latter part of a mentoring journey if there is no breach of Child Safety regulations etc. Maybe we can explore a more flexible approach in the future. This is why we have pilot programs. They allow us the chance to explore, experiment and discover what makes for the most effective mentoring.

Back to the email. Given that the majority of mentees are lacking in self-confidence, have limited knowledge about goal getting, have average to poor management of time skills and sometimes lack support from home, the email can bridge some of these gaps eg, small tasks can be set between the mentor and the mentee and the latter can check in at an agreed time before the next mentoring session to report on his or her progress. This not only develops a feeling of accountability, but is affirmation that the mentor cares for the mentee and is keen to see that mentee reach their potential. As is happening at the moment, one mentee is offloading some relationship stuff with the mentor and that is creating a strong connection between the two. The mentor is learning how to respond by taking the emotion out of the reply and being the 'wise guide', aware that the mentor's role is not to 'fix' anything. I think there is heaps of potential in this email system where students and mentors have access to it. Although all students will have access via their school library computers, they are also lazy about checking the email through that particular system.

Three weeks into the new programs, some mentors have already made significant strides, while others are quietly establishing the connection with their mentees who have more troubled, challenging issues they are dealing with. I keep reminding them all, that their time together is a time when seeds are being sown that will be nurtured and watered in life's journey during the weeks, months and years ahead. Fascinating to observe from the outside.

How I salute these wonderful volunteers each week and never take anything for granted!!

44. OooH! Aaah! OW! WOW! moments this week

2008-05-30T17:03:00.000+10:00

What a week it has been for GR8 MATES. Plenty of potentially positive events, some wobbles, some heavy reflection ..... no rest for the wicked running a youth mentoring program.

Our newly established programs are still trying to find their legs. Mentors are being incredibly patient, tolerant and understanding. With a couple of mentees in one program 'appearing' to be truanting from school, it makes it difficult to involve them fully in the mentoring program and to expect busy mentors to hang around waiting for something to happen. I expect we will make some decisions next week as to whether or not to replace these youngsters. One reason is simply because the program only has a six month time limit and we want to work with students who want to be engaged at school for that period of time, giving themselves another chance to explore career options, other education options etc. It's going to be a tough call, as the young people who are 'possibly' truanting would clearly benefit from the mentoring program.

Students have been completing the Student Performer, the on-line assessment tool, and that continues to reveal heaps about these young people. One point that seems to be coming out of this activity is that a number of students are almost at the cross-roads with regard to life choices. They clearly have potential, are still battling to see the relevance of school, yet have no career pathways to travel down. The result is that they are drifting, definitely in danger of making the wrong choices which they could live to regret. Absolutely the right time to have a mentor move alongside them.

A wonderful WOW! moment took place earlier in the week. Students at this school were involved in writing exams and mentors were waiting for a couple of students to finish. Another mentee, who is keen to obtain an Apprenticeship and leave school at the end of the year, arrived to link up with his mentor. I jokingly said that Joe (not his real name) doesn't 'do' exams. His mentor reiterated the point with additional humor. I then made the comment to Joe that Angela (not her real name) was fast becoming his hero, taking sides like that. He smiled, gently placed a hand on her shoulder and said with the utmost sincerity, "She is my hero!" A young lad, disengaging from school not too long ago, is now self-motivated and trying to turn things around. His mentor commented later that she was so touched by this gesture, as it was his way of acknowledging the fact that she cares about him and the choices he makes with his life. We live for those golden gem mentoring moments.

There are a couple of other mentees going through difficult relationship issues, opening up to their mentors only a few weeks into the mentoring journey. Again, the non-judgmental, wise guide doing his or her level best to be empathetic is shining through. And so I could go on ....

At our first pilot school we are busy planning the final closure event, entitled a Celebration of Learning, about which I will write more at a later date. We are also exploring the possibility of some students from that school making a three minute video of the mentoring journey which we can include on our website for marketing and recruiting purposes. Meanwhile the 12 mentors for the next program at that school are being trained and there is now a good chance that a couple of the current mentors will each choose to mentor another student. At least three of the current mentors are going to continue mentoring their mentees until the end of the year, a wonderful gesture!!

I have been writing my mid-year report and am seeing the signs that perhaps I will soon be over-reaching myself (is there such a phrase?). I will not be able to sustain the GR8 MATES program on my own ie, finding funding, setting up a Steering Committee, completing all the admin to ensure the program meets internationally credible Quality Assurance Standards and recruiting possibly up to 60 mentors during the next few months, training them so they are ready to start in February 2009 and then supervising them all. So, I am busy reviewing the way the program is structured, exploring ways the schools can take on some fairly minor changes to the admin and putting together the Job Description (too strong a word) for a Volunteer Team Leader from within the mentoring group who would preferably be someone already involved in mentoring within the GR8 MATES program. This, after all, is what pilot programs are for.

My concern? GR8 Mates will gain momentum and I will be burnt out in the process :-(

I have had some interest from mentors wanting to serve on the Steering Committee and, this afternoon, shared ideas with another mentor who might volunteer to edit a new Blog page and quarterly newsletters etc. for the program.

In reality what I am trying to do is to recruit people on the ground who will become part of the building of this GR8 MATES program, so there is a whole group of people who will catch, shape and grow the GR8 MATES vision. Thus, if we are able to receive some meaningful funding support (I put in another application today, but need more time to do more work in this area - does that sound familiar?) we will be ready to kickstart the expansion of the program.

43. New Programs launched and new training begins

2008-05-21T11:37:00.000+10:00

Well, we finally have our three programs up and running! Earlier this week the mentors sat with their mentees while the latter completed the Student Performer, the on-line tool we use at the beginning and end of the mentoring journey to track the personal development of the mentees. The mentors also complete their own on-line Profiler after the training and at the end of the mentoring journey.

Most mentors said they found it really valuable observing this process and learnt heaps about their mentees. Some had computer glitches, so they still have to complete the Performer. Their mentors were so impressive though. They pulled out the Student Manual and sat doing some of the 'getting to know u' activities and had a great time. I went through the completed Performers and did a quick analysis of each, which I fed back to the respective mentors to add to their own perspectives. As I commented to quite a few mentors, their mentees have entered the mentoring journey at such a good time. Some of these students look as though they are about to take off (in a positive way), but have social issues, inconsistent approaches to their academic studies, management of time and prioritising shortfalls. With the assistance of their mentors, they have a really good chance of plugging these gaps before the challenge becomes 'too hard'. Other mentors will have considerably more work to do to encourage their mentees simply to start believing in themselves.

Sadly, it looks as though one of the students who was supposed to join the program has disengaged from school. Lots of personal issues. As I said to the School Coordinator, we were probably one month too late for this young person. If she had been locked into the program a month ago, I reckon she would have had a better chance of reaching her potential. Now I wait to see if she has actually left school. If not, I have offered to spend a few sessions with her, while the mentors are mentoring their mentees, doing some of the activities in the Student Manual - the best option I can offer.

Last night was the second evening of the new training program, attended by 12 mentors. One mentor had withdrawn, as he felt he was overcommitting himself and indicated he would reconsider joining in 2009. The training seemed to go well and it's so good to experience the positive buzz around the training area, even better knowing that we have an almost 50% male/female ratio of mentors - progress!!!! :-)

42. Death of a mentor ... the value of networking ...can't say enough about it

2008-05-18T15:19:00.000+10:00

It has been a busy week, but one of the highlights was jumping into my car and heading off on a two hour drive to meet the Coordinator of another youth mentoring program. GR8 MATES is modelled on the Plan-it Youth program which this Coordinator is involved with. I had been encouraged to meet up with her quite some time ago, but decided not to until the first GR8 MATES program was well under way. I reasoned that then we would have things to talk about, I would have heaps more pertinent questions to ask and, possibly, I could also share some of my experiences :-)

I arrived at one of the host schools to link up with her, just in time to say 'hello' to the departing group of mentors. The program has about 8 - 12 mentors in each of the 14 schools where it operates. What I didn't know until after the mentors had departed was that this particular group had just had a very tough session, as one of the mentors had been knocked over by a motor vehicle the previous weekend and had died from the injuries sustained.

How had this been handled by the school and the Coordinator? Well, the mentors had gathered together a little earlier at the school. The mentee, accompanied by a friend, had joined these mentors and, together, they had held a minute's silence, remembering the mentor and had a brief time of sharing positives about her as well. The mentee has been offered counselling etc. by the school and will participate in the end of program celebration should she wish to do so. If her parents allowed her to attend the funeral she would do so as well. I was touched by the empathetic way the Coordinator and this team of mentors had offered such immediate support to this young girl. While this untimely death had thrown all the well-laid out plans of the Coordinator, she had accepted that it was a priority, had to sort out the program's involvement in the funeral and would get back to her other work once this was all sorted. A great example to me of how to deal with a similar situation which no mentor coordinator would wish on anyone.

We had a fantastic couple of hours and, rather selfishly, as I said to her, this was perfect timing for me. GR8 MATES now has three programs operating, nine more schools want to run the program and I will not be able to launch one more program without making some changes. While I picked away at her program with question after question, she willingly shared with me all her relevant experiences. Most important she shared ideas as to how the program could expand with the use of volunteers. As already mentioned, she has programs operating in 14 schools, developed over six years, and uses volunteers extensively to manage and run the programs in these different schools. The School Coordinator clearly has a very important role to play and, as we all know, without the Principal's support, no program is likely to be long-lasting.

I was advised to be careful about who I allow to do the training and to make sure that the participating schools are fully aware of their commitments before deciding to participate. Obviously she can't do everything and the schools have to know that from the beginning. She likes them to feel self-empowering in the partnership, though I might not adopt that approach, as GR8 MATES is still new and our Policies and Procedures are still being worked on, so we can write more specifics into the program at this point.

It was also made clear to me the urgency of setting up our Steering Committee so that I did not have to feel overwhelmed by the task at hand. She had come close to burn-out twice already and was learning how to let her Committee make decisions in the knowledge that she simply cannot do everything! It sounded as if her Committee was a relatively new addition to the program and is still a 'work in progress'.

So, I drove home with plenty to think about. Next day, as I opened my emails at the office, there was one from one of the local Neighborhood Centres I have been working with in recent months, suggesting we get together to discuss the composition of the Steering Committee and how they might be able to assist. Perfect timing!!

Not being one who likes reinventing the wheel, I was enormously grateful that another Coordinator from a well-established program was happy to share with me. We have agreed to keep in touch. Of course, the day after I had met with her I had a further list of questions to ask. We will be talking again tomorrow :-), this time by phone.

And, in case you think I was just taking, taking, taking - not true! I left her with a copy of our Policies and Procedures on the understanding that it is still a 'work in progress' - she seemed interested in adapting our Mentor Log sheet for her program - as well as some of my published material.

41. And the third new program gets under way

2008-05-18T15:06:00.000+10:00

On Thursday the third GR8 MATES program got under way in one of our Hawkesbury Schools and what a great time it was, too. One of the new mentors phoned me early in the day to say she had had an altercation with a horse the previous day and was at one of the local hospitals waiting to see the doctor, as the damage was around her eye. I suggested that her health was more important than anything else and that she should not panic about making the mentor matching session, but we would make a plan for her to meet up with her mentee on another day.

I received a couple of text messages as I was driving to the school, informing me that this mentor was on her way! While she obviously arrived late, it was a wonderful example to the students of how committed these mentors are to the program. She and her mentee got on wonderfully well, which was awesome to see .....

It looked as though most of the other matches also got off to a good start, although it's way too early to jump to any conclusions. Certainly all the pairs were eagerly engrossed in discussion after they had both signed the Mentor and Mentee Contracts respectively. I asked the mentors to go through the contracts with their mentees, pointing out to both that, like a job, one has to get used to making commitments and, by signing the Contracts, they were making a commitment to positively participate in the program A small life skill!

Gathering with the mentors for some snacks and a debrief after the session, there was a very positive vibe and I was already seeing the brainstorming of possibilities to make the mentoring journey a wonderful experience for all concerned.

Sadly, for the mentoring program (just being selfish!), there is a teachers' Industrial Action day planned for Thursday next week, so we will not be able to meet. It's only sad, as the time these mentors will be spending with their mentees is relatively short (six months) and every hour missed could be used in a positive way to encourage a young person to reach their potential.

40. Mentors meet mentees - a new journey begins, but!!!!!

2008-05-12T21:01:00.000+10:00

Our second program began today with a bang! One mentor phoned me early in the day to check that her mentee was at school, as she had a particularly busy day and did not want to travel to the school if he was not there. He was at school, so all was good!

However, when I arrived at the school I discovered that the School Coordinator, who had been sick last week, was still away and the other Senior Management teacher who would have assisted was also sick! Fortunately, the Principal was up to speed with the program and together we got things sorted out, not without incident though.

The young lad about whom I had phoned earlier in the day was now absent - seemed like he was playing truant, nothing to do with the mentoring program. Another mentee was not at school, relationship and other issues confusing her young life. No-one knew where she was. Another had relationship issues that he was not dealing well with and had failed to appear.

As our program targets students beginning to disengage from school, mentors saw the reality of that today. However, I felt sorry for them, as they had travelled the distance yet were very understanding. Again, I learnt my lesson about double-checking that the students were at school prior to mentors arriving at the school. When I returned to the office, I immediately contacted the other school where the mentors meet their mentees on Thursday and asked the School Coordinator to put in place a plan to check the presence of students prior to the mentors arriving :-)

As I say, the mentors were very understanding, no doubt disappointed though, as they have been rearing to begin the mentoring journeys.

For the rest, the first session appeared to go incredibly well, some mentors expressing amazement that some of the mentees opened up so quickly and readily.

As I sit reflecting on the occasion, I cannot help but appreciate how so many young people need these non-judgmental mentors in their lives. Stories are too personal to place on this Blog, but I am hoping that there are going to be some awesome life-changing moments in the months ahead - watch this space :-)

39. Third program launch and a Parent WOW moment!

2008-05-11T17:21:00.000+10:00

Our third program matching session took place on Thursday. A small group of 7 mentors and mentees. When I arrived at the school the mentees were sitting around - better to say lounging around - in the library waiting for everyone to arrive. I made a comment about them looking fast asleep and some responded and shared the humor.

Once the matching session began, they began to perk up. When I did a fun activity - they are all fun actually - some were a little disinterested, then they rose to the challenge and then they were all involved. Wonderful to see the transformation taking place in the space of 30 or so minutes. As I have probably mentioned before, so many of these young people are lacking in ambition, self-belief and so much more. We have done the matching now and mentors meet with mentees for the first time next week. Then, just as we get the program under way, we miss the next week because of teacher industrial action ... grrr!! Not for me to comment on this, just to ask those organising such action not to get in the way of the GR8 MATES mentor program, as every minute these youngsters spend with their mentors could be potentially life-changing :-)

I returned to work and found an email from another mentor. She was going to hear her mentee sing that night at the school and wasn't sure how to approach the mentee's parents. Indeed, she wasn't sure that her mentee actually wanted her to meet her parents! What should she do? Well, I suggested that she let the mentee take the lead and, if she was introduced to the parents, also let them take the lead to assess how much they knew about the mentoring program etc. etc. I tried to encourage the mentor not to go over the top with enthusiasm about her mentee and to be careful that the parents didn't feel threatened in any way by the mentoring relationship, even though they had given their daughter permission to participate!

Next morning the mentor sent me an email. She hadn't seen my email prior to leaving for the show, but in the end it didn't matter. She proceeded to tell me that the mentee had introduced her to her parents. The mentee's mum expressed her gratitude to the mentor for all she was doing; mum had noticed the positive changes in her daughter in recent months etc. etc. and she invited the mentee to sit with the family for the second part of the evening. If there was a Cloud 99, the mentor was higher than that. She even forgot to tell me how the mentee's vocal performance was!!

Again, it's a wonderful tale to tell, when less than a month ago the selfsame mentee was questioning the value of the mentoring relationship. Now she does not want it to end! A little help from her mentor in offering some work experience at her child's playschool, a consistently caring and encouraging attitude, some positive email messages - a combination of these have transformed this mentoring relationship. A WOW moment for the mentor, the mentee, the mentee's parents and for the GR8 MATES program indeed!!

38. Recruiting mentors - the power of sharing information

2008-05-07T09:47:00.000+10:00

Last week I mentioned that I had been speaking to a small Neighborhood group of semi-retired and retired people and hoped that I would have 4 or 5 new mentors for the training I begin for a fourth program next week.

As I write up this blog page, I have just signed on another mentor from that group, making the total from that meeting 7!! Quite awesome. I now have 13 mentors for the training, which meets our target of between 10 and 15 mentors for each program. One mentor I have already trained will be joining this program when we are ready to begin the mentoring journey and I hope one or two other current mentors might participate as well.

Why is this important? Well, thanks to the wonderful lady who works at the Neighborhood centre, I have been able to achieve major inroads into a section of the population that would make GR8 mentors! 47% of that population are evidently retired or semi-retired. And there are possibilities of the Neighborhood Centre being involved in other programs we run as well.

Yet of even more importance is the networking with other organisations and people globally. I have been advised to create something on Face Book and some of the other sites, but I don't have that sort of time. Instead I affiliate to the Mentor Exchange Listserv (see my links page on my website http://www.yess.co.nz/) and through the sharing of information I have gained some excellent resources. Thanks, Mike and your team!! :-) What I am doing is putting into practice what all the research is saying ie, different presentations for different groups. So for this Neighborhood meeting, I stressed that we wanted their expertise, that young people really value being with them and learning from them, that the group is always meeting as a group at the school, so there is a great opportunity to bond, build community etc. and lots more.

I am not that good at chasing up people about anything, but I am glad that I contacted this person recommended to me by the Principal of the school where we are running the mentoring program. Perseverance pays off.

37. A new program gets under way - it's challenging!

2008-05-07T09:27:00.000+10:00

Earlier this week I ran the mentor and mentee matching session at one of the schools where we are launching our GR8 MATES program. We had plenty of fun and the activities that took place were totally non-threatening and aimed at helping mentors and mentees find similar interests, values etc. One mentee muttered to the School Coordinator that he didn't see how grey-haired old people could help him and then, a short while later, chose two 'grey-haired' old people in his choice of three for the mentoring role!!

This particular group of students has so little ambition. Most don't have a clue what they want to do with their lives; most have very few people they look up to and admire, yet they all have potential and this wonderful new group of mentors will encourage them to see this.

We had a few students unable to attend the matching session as they had other school commitments or were away. This made the matching a bit of a juggling act, but I ended up comparing similar interests etc. which both parties had expressed in their Interest Surveys. No complaints received thus far, so I am feeling optimistic.

This school is a challenge, yet they have some fantastically dedicated and committed staff and a Principal doing his level best to encourage the students to see all the possibilities out there for them. Having the mentors, all successful people in their own right, arriving each week at the school, will itself be a positive development.

My only concern is that 6 months is going to be too short for these mentoring relationships, especially because the mentors will be trying to cover a lot of ground to help these youngsters make wise choices about their futures. However, it is a pilot program, so it's all a learning curve!

While we were involved in the matching session, a few students put their heads through the door to find out what was going on. When told, they wanted to know why they could not participate? That's the sort of response that we want to hear isn't it?

Tomorrow I run the matching session for the third new program. A smaller group with different dynamics. Could be interesting.

36. More WOW moments this week! Life-changing perhaps?

2008-05-07T09:12:00.001+10:00

Yesterday was another wonderful day with the mentors and their mentees. Many of the mentees are heading off next week on a week of work experience and mentors have been actively helping this process.

One of the challenges many adolescents have to deal with is fear ie, fear about making that phone call to the person they want to speak to about a possible work experience opportunity; fear because they might be rejected by an employer and so much more. Yesterday a mentor sat with her mentee as the latter confirmed her work experience opportunity. The mentee phoned the company and first had to deal with someone who knew nothing about this. The mentee was passed on to two other people before she finally got things sorted. She was so happy after completing this process and acknowledged that she had, indeed, overcome that fear and how much easier it was having her mentor there to encourage her. The mentee is also becoming highly motivated about the possibility of teaching as a career thanks to the work she and the mentor are doing together. Both the mentor and the mentee were bubbling with enthusiasm about their plans for the next few weeks.

In my last post I mentioned a mentor who felt she was battling with her mentee. Well, yesterday was a life-changing moment, I am sure. The mentee, who has been very much one of those 'it's too hard!' youngsters, announced that he had organised his work experience since seeing his mentor last week; he personally went to sort out some other arrangements with the Careers Adviser yesterday with no help from his mentor and he shared some other information with his mentor about personal changes in his life. I think a young life is quietly crossing the bridge to great progress thanks to the persistence of his mentor believing in him.

And the young lad who is heading off to work experience next week is so pumped and ready to go and also told his mentor that he would like to stay in touch when the mentoring program officially ends in late June. His mentor also discovered quite by chance, as she was doing some work at her local church, that her mentee attends youth group there, something he had never mentioned. They chatted about that yesterday and had a good laugh! It is reassuring to know that the mentee is attending the youth group as he will be mixing with more positive role models.

Mentees are beginning to mutter that they don't want the program to end and want to keep meeting with their mentors. I think we are in for an interesting couple of months.

35. School is back and all the WOW! moments

2008-04-30T17:36:00.000+10:00

Yesterday the mentors and mentees met for their final term or semester. There was a wonderful buzz in the room after the mentees had returned to class and soon it was obvious why this was the case.

It was a catch-up session, yet mentors were just blown away at what mentees were doing and saying eg, one mentee told her mentor that she would be staying at school next year rather than leaving, which had been her original plan. She still had to tell her parents, but wanted the mentor to know. Higher school retention is one of the GR8 MATES goals. This mentor is now working through different career choices with the mentee. Another has a mentee heading off to work experience in a couple of weeks and he is soooooo motivated for this. He has used his initiative to set up the work experience and wants to be offered an apprenticeship at the end of his week of work experience. His mentor is sharing ways to make this possible. Three months ago this mentee was drifting, demotivated, desperate to leave school. Now he has a purpose! Another program goal achieved. Another received the most awesome email message after the mentoring session, the mentee saying how much she had enjoyed the mentoring relationship and was excited about some of the future career matters they were planning together. Yet another informed her mentor that she would be making some phone calls to a potential employer - 6 weeks ago that would not have happened. The mentor was still in shock, I think, as she shared this. Another mentor is battling with her mentee who announced yesterday that he wanted to leave school. There is no way he is ready to do so and we discussed strategies to help him see the options available to him. This mentor has achieved so much with her mentee, yet battles to see it. The School Coordinator and I can see it and tell her as such - how important it is to affirm these mentors! A brief email from that mentee to his mentor overnight just saying how much he had enjoyed catching up again after the holidays, said heaps! And, so I can go on ........ as all the mentors were leaving, the Principal came out of his office. He stood there and greeted the mentors and then told me that he was about to ask how things had gone, but he had seen the mentors involved in animated discussions, really pumped up, so he knew the answer!

Now I am trying to recruit for another program at that school. Training is due to start in a couple of weeks and I would like a few more mentors. With the help of the local Neighborhood Centre, a group gathered this morning for an orientation. If 4 or 5 of these retired folk come on board that would be brilliant. I wish I had more time to do the recruiting.

Our other two programs get under way next week .... more on that later.

34. And then there were questions about the future of youth mentoring in Australia

2008-04-21T16:35:00.000+10:00

No sooner was there some encouragement about the possibility of youth mentoring expanding in Australia, than an article appeared in today's newspaper suggesting that one of the most successful youth mentoring programs in New South Wales could be scrapped because of a lack of funding. No decision has been taken yet, but the program is totally dependent on State funding and the local State government seems to be doing its level best to cut funding for the most worthwhile causes!!

This particular program under threat is the Plan-It Youth program, the program on which GR8 MATES has been based.

It will be a great tragedy if all the good work done by those who have pioneered this program is not supported.

Yet again it underlines the importance of being able to obtain donor support and not become totally dependent on government funding, though this is not easy either. GR8 MATES is still exploring the donor options, but we know it is going to be a tough journey to walk unless some benevolent philanthropist with a heart for young people decides to invest in the program.

Watch this space ............

33. Australia waking up to the importance of mentoring?

2008-04-21T16:07:00.000+10:00

During the past weekend, new Prime Minister, Kevin Rudd, has held a 2020 Summit attended by 1000 delegates from around Australia. The purpose was to put on the table some Big Ideas for the future development of Australia. As with all such summits, there was criticism of the selection of the delegates, not a true representation of the Australian population, Kevin Rudd wanting to be photographed with the Who's Who of Australia, predictable ideas being placed on the table, many of which were Labour Party thoughts anyway, too much time listening to politicians stroking their own egos and so on.

From the reports I have read, I was amazed there was not more of a focus on the education of our young people. There are serious issues in a society when one is constantly hearing about the teenage binge drinking, more and more abuse of drugs, increasingly violent and antisocial behaviour of too many of our young people, a lack of respect for authority figures and so much more. The family unit is disintegrating more and more and we have to listen to the vocal few, who receive far too much media coverage in my opinion, championing everything BUT what global research seems to suggest is the key to a strong, prosperous, stable society ie, the nuclear family. Indeed, last week there was even a suggestion that schools no longer be allowed to use the word 'mum' and 'dad' ... thankfully, quickly shot down, though where will this end, I wonder? Anyway, it seemed as if much of this was ignored by the Big Ideas people, though I hope I am incorrect.

Coming out of the summit were quite a few references to mentoring programs. While sometimes the word was incorrectly used, at other times it was positively suggested and that is encouraging. It will be interesting to see whether anything comes out of this, once again because the government will be wanting quick-fix solutions to win votes for the next election. That's not a cynical statement, but a true one, which is a sad reflection of society in a way. Are we all falling into the instant gratification syndrome, I am wondering more and more?

I was conducting a Career Transition Survey pilot in one of our local schools towards the end of last term. The idea behind this survey, to be completed by 13 to 19-year old students, is to find out what they are thinking about their futures, whether or not they have a career path, know where to look for information, are being hindered by a variety of personal or family matters etc. I decided to throw in a question asking whether or not these young people would like a non-judgmental person to move alongside them and meet at the school for one hour a week for six months to talk about careers etc. ie, what GR8 MATES is trying to achieve. 54 of the 69 students who completed the survey, most of whom were 15 to 17 years of age, said they would like a mentor. I am now keen to run this survey in more schools to see if there are more students feeling like this. If so, it will be a very powerful message about mentoring to take to the government at Federal and State level.

32. New mentors, school holidays, processing and planning

2008-04-21T15:48:00.000+10:00

I always find it inspiring and motivating when I interview potential mentors after they have completed their training. They are so enthusiastic, keen to begin the mentoring journey and, in some cases, are already offering their expertise as volunteers in support of the program development.

I have almost finished processing the applications for the 19 new mentors due to begin in our two new school programs in a couple of weeks. Just chasing up a couple of references and then the letters will go out inviting the mentors to join the program and to attend the matching sessions with the potential mentees during the first week of May. While all this administration is time-consuming, it is necessary and ensures that GR8 MATES meets the international Quality Assurance Standards which will give it credibility as it seeks to expand. In addition to the 3 schools already involved in the GR8 MATES program, we now have a further 9 schools definitely wanting to commit to the program. This can only happen with more funding, as I have mentioned elsewhere before.

We are now into the second week of school holidays. The day before the schools closed their doors for the holidays, I ran orientation programs for the two groups of students volunteering to be matched with a mentor. In one school, the enthusiasm was so great that most of the students already had their Parent's Contract returned and signed! Both programs have more students interested than we have mentors. While there might be some disappointed students when we get down to the matching, these are all positive signs for the future growth of the program.

I have collected most of the Log Sheets completed thus far by the current crop of mentors. These are simply a record of when they met with their mentees, the sort of things they talked about/covered and a record of any concerns the mentors had. These sheets are inspiring reading and I can see how so many of the mentees have been growing in self-confidence. For some mentors the mentoring journey might seem like a bit of a roller-coaster ride, yet that is pretty normal for this age group. With less than a term to go before the program formally ends, it will be fascinating to see what happens between now and then, the outcomes of the Exit Surveys and how many of these relationships will continue beyond the formal part of the program. One mentor has already told me she is keen to mentor her mentee until the end of the year, as she feels they have made a great connection and he will need support and encouragement to see through the year at school.

Lots of good things happening!

31. A Mentoring WOW moment!!!!

2008-04-09T15:33:00.000+10:00

I was weary this morning heading to the office. My working day is packed full of appointments and things to do and I had to head off to a 9.00 am appointment. Before doing so I checked my emails and how pleased I am that I did so. This is the email I received:

Hi Robin,

Thought i would just let you know that i didn't receive this email in time so i headed up to school today as per usual...which turned out to be a great thing!! I ran into [School Coordinator] on my way into the office and he looked shocked to see me, understandably! But he said he had asked the mentees yesterday if they would be interested in being there as usual or skipping school basically??? [My mentee] had said yes, and hadn't received the message that it had been cancelled anyway... So the great part of this is that he was at school today because of the GR8 Mates Program!!! How cool is that :-) he had the option to skip but came to school because as far as he knew the program was going on and he was happy to be a part of it!!! I think that is fantastic and a great testimony to the results this program achieves with these kids... Just Tops!!!

Hope you have a great week .............

Teachers in New South Wales were involved in Industrial Action yesterday which meant we had to cancel the mentoring session. I had informed the mentors the previous day, but this particular mentor had not read the email and it turned out to be a wonderful blessing in disguise. Why this story is so great is because her mentee has been one of the challenging ones, but she has followed one of the golden rules of our program, once echoed by a student:"Don't quit on us!"

Another Wow moment which makes all our work worthwhile!!

30. Recruiting Baby Boomers

2008-04-09T15:15:00.000+10:00

A busy time as I finish the training for our two new programs due to start in mid-May and spend the next few days interviewing the mentors 1:1 to complete the screening process. While I am doing this, they will individually complete the on-line Mentor Profiler. Tomorrow I visit the two schools involved in the pilot program to orientate their students and get them to complete the Pre-program Survey. I am going to push the fact that their mentors are awesome resources with heaps of networks they can access to help these young people transition from school to the work place successfully.

I remain in awe of all these mentors - wonderful, wonderful people with such compassionate natures :-)

I have spent the past week developing material to help us with our recruiting. We are going to target the Baby Boomers in a big way, as they must be the future of the volunteer mentoring group!! I spent a couple of hours at one of our local Volunteer Centres last week. The Coordinator was telling me that she has over 60 volunteers on her books, the majority of whom were over 50. She already had a list of 15 she was going to contact for the next program we are running in July, so I am hoping this will become a great partnership. One of our current semi-retired mentors is offering to speak about the program to groups like this and we are working on his presentation at the moment. He will also target the University of the Third Age folk as potential mentors and possibly train them as well - I still need to do more work on the training program for such an eventuality.

In the meantime, we have had 8 schools saying they want to be part of the GR8 MATES program. In addition to the 3 already participating, this brings to 11 the number of schools keen to participate in GR8 MATES. Why this is important is because we now have the ammunition to go looking for money in a big way during the next few months. Without more funding we will be unable to start another program.

29. Results of 6 month Surveys are awesome!

2008-03-27T14:06:00.000+11:00

This week I asked all the mentors and mentees to complete a 6 month survey ie, they have been on the mentoring journey for 6 months. They were absolutely awesome. The students were clearly seeing the benefit of the program to their futures, while the mentors were so complimentary about their personal journeys thus far. The only negative comments came from two students who wanted more time with their mentors :-)

Some of the comments made:

"The program does really help with your future and gets you ready for work." (mentee)

"GR8 MATES has helped me understand what I want to do with my future life." (mentee)

"It's really good; learn things and helps you with getting your career on track." (mentee)

"It makes you realise great things about yourself and your career goals." (mentee)

"The program helps you have more of an idea on your future. It has helped me become more organised with school work. Give it a go because you never know where you might end up." (mentee)

"It's good just to talk to someone that has experience with the things your friends don't know or can't help you with." (mentee)

"The program can really give kids the support, motivation and encouragement they may not receive from home. So especially to some kids, the GR8 MATES program could be crucial! I love it and would do it again in a heartbeat!!" (mentor)

"Very satisfying to see the changes - progress in the mentee - a growing confidence. It stretches me to keep motivating him - at times requires great patience." (mentor)

"Have helped my mentee to see some of his strengths which encouraged him to believe in himself." (mentor)

"I think the program is awesome and I love catching up with my mentee once a week. Personally rewarding that I have this opportunity to positively impact a person and help them think about their future. I also find it keeps me accountable in my life; that I am walking what I talk." (mentor)

"Enjoying it - it's challenging. Key to work with young people, helping them to be resilient and think through choices. Benefits mentee for their present and future and mentors as it helps us to grow ourselves - sense of purpose is good." (mentor)

I met with the mentors after the mentoring session and we discussed how they will prepare their mentees for the formal end of the program in June. Mentors are now able to seriously consider whether or not they would like to stay in touch after we officially end the formal side of the program. I also asked the mentors to let me know what they hoped to have achieved by the time the program ends. Once again, the beauty of the program is its flexibility, as these relationships are in such different places at the moment.

Mentors are aiming to take their mentees to visit the work place during the next couple of months.

Meanwhile the two new groups of mentors are a couple of weeks away from completing their training. One mentor withdrew from the program, though this I have come to expect and prefer people to screen themselves out rather than create an issue for me! The rest of the mentors are having a ball and I am now chasing up the schools so I can do the orientation of interested student mentees before our schools close for a couple of weeks holiday in early April.

Tomorrow we meet to discuss how we can expand the program realistically. We already have 5 schools keen to participate in 2009 and, without funding, we have no hope of meeting this demand on our services.

28. Recruiting, training, wobbling, wonderful mentees

2008-03-19T15:35:00.000+11:00

It's been a busy week. The training for the two new programs is going well and the schools are preparing themselves for the matching of the students with the mentors in early May. I hope to attend an orientation with the students interested in the program before the schools close for their recess in early April. In the meantime, we have had some definite positive responses to our Expressions of Interest Forms sent out to our local schools. A further 3 schools are keen to run the program in 2009 if this is at all possible. Decisions! Decisions! Decisions! Funding required .... and all these matters will be addressed at a meeting with my CEO and one of our volunteer mentors on 28th March.

I spent a couple of weeks looking at all the recruitment material I had gathered over the years. There is some great work out there, none more so than some excellent material produced by the National Mentoring Center (NMC)/OJJDP - highly recommended. The NMC also put together a helpful article about recruiting males. I followed some of their advice and changed the wording of my email distribution letter and could be having some success as I recruit for the second program at the school where we launched the program last year. Early days, though!

Meanwhile the mentors and mentees are meeting and many of them are continuing to write Resumes and chat about the mentees' work experience opportunities. There is a lot of great work being done and so much of it is simply confidence building. But, as always different mentees are in different spaces, so some mentors are still trying to encourage their mentees to start looking at themselves and their future in a more positive light. Tough when the home conditions are not too encouraging. We share different strategies during the debrief times and I remain amazed at how much is being achieved each week.

I am also asking mentors for quotes which can be used for marketing purposes and we will be taking photos for use on our website next week.

I continue to send out an email word of encouragement to all our mentors and those who are training, as I genuinely want them to feel valued and appreciated. Next week I will be conducting Surveys of the Mentors, finding out how they are feeling about the mentoring relationship, the program etc. and the following week I will do likewise with the students. I am also going to be discussing with the mentors how they think their relationship will move forward during the final months of the program. The mentoring partnership officially ends with our first pilot group in June.

27. Do young people really need mentoring?

2008-03-07T11:29:00.001+11:00

We are in the process of conducting a survey of the 32 high schools we serve as we decide whether or not to create a strategic plan to expand the program beyond out three pilot schools in 2009. 9 schools voluntarily participated in the survey. Our focus was on the Year 9 and 10 students (aged 14 - 16), as this is where the focus of our GR8 MATES program is. Those participating in the survey included School Principals, Welfare teachers and Career Advisers. The survey was carried out for the most part by one of our mentors who volunteered his time to assist us. The results were collated and put together into a Final Report. This has now been circulated to the remaining schools that we serve together with an Expression of Interest Form which we would like to see completed and returned.

My expectation is that we will receive requests for assistance from mainly government schools, as they serve a variety of socio-economic groups. Independent or Private schools usually have smaller numbers so are able to run their own programs. From experience, as they need the numbers to pay their fees, they tend to be more protective about their student population and releasing information about them. However, as our Report shows, teenagers are teenagers and it does not matter where they go to school. They are still dealing with the same issues, perhaps just at different degrees. The Catholic Schools often have pastoral programs in place, so might not see the need for the GR8 MATES mentoring program.

So, what were some of the findings from the survey?

Major issues facing this age group included:

Parental expectations and pressures.
Peer pressure (often negative) leading to antisocial behaviour eg, bullying, binge drinking, partying, inappropriate sexual behaviour etc.
Family circumstances eg, single parent families; blended families; successful parents who did not see schooling beyond Year 10 as necessary; lack of male role models; both parents working long hours, resulting in students having too much freedom and so reacting against school discipline.
Students living further away from urban centres are isolated, sometimes naïve, bored etc. and this can lead to inappropriate behaviour.
Those from lower socio-economic areas in particular might also lack effective role models with regard to dealing pro-actively with aggression, drug and alcohol issues and non-physical ways of resolving conflict.
Some students appear to lack the self-confidence and self-belief to go on to Year 11 and Year 12 (the final years of school in Australia).
Some students battle with the management of time ie, balancing school, homework, part-time jobs, social time.
A few students fail to see the relevance of school.

The main reasons why students (often more boys than girls) are disengaging from school during their Year 9 included:

Low literacy and numeracy levels;
Low self-esteem (in one school particularly noticeable with girls);
Student frustration – not seeing the relevance of education and/or not coping with academics;
Problems with school discipline because of a lack of boundaries at home;
Low motivation often as a result of a lack of support from home;
Lack of communication and social skills;
Negative peer pressure – also, feelings of inadequacy as some students don’t have access to technology at home;
Lack of financial assistance to diagnose and treat borderline disabilities;
Absenteeism/poor reports/not completing set tasks;
Antisocial behaviour;
Weaker students battle with competition and could feel inadequate.

Reasons given for schools wanting to participate in the GR8 MATES mentoring program included:

More focused students;
Less disruption in the classroom, thus allowing more quality teaching time;
Mentors would share their life experiences and networks with students;
Good for other students to see other adults in the school;
Students connect with someone!;
Student benefits from working 1:1 with another adult (another view/values);
More positive students;
Increase school retention rates;
Students likely to be happier within and outside school;
Establishes support and connection with the community;
Student has a significant other, so there is a better chance of success;
Students become more engaged with life, which is likely to result in positive outcomes;
The mentor is seen as a safe, non-judgmental person for bouncing ideas off;
Students might develop a more positive view to completing School Certificate, perhaps even continuing to Year 11 and 12;
Parents will be supportive as it helps them too;
Students will appreciate a mentor listening to them;
An important opportunity for the sharing of information about work and life in general;
Students will feel better adjusted and this will be a win for the community as well;
As disengaged students are not working to their potential in class, missing one hour of class a week should not be an issue.

From all the research I have done over the years, there are so many common threads with that research and we need to remember that the whole concept of youth mentoring is 'relatively' new to Australia. There have been some programs around for 20 or so years, but they are few and far between. Indeed, we are hearing of programs having to close down due to a lack of funding - nothing new!

It would be wonderful to see a government take a long-term vision of youth mentoring and its value instead of wanting quick-fix results so that it can earn votes at the next election. Here in Australia (and, I might add, New Zealand where I lived for 8 years), even though I have only been in the country for about 18 months, there are so many issues that a visionary government could resolve. In particular in government funded schools:

teachers could be respected and valued for the influential contribution they are making to their communities as educators;
teachers so often feel that the government is draining them of every last drop of blood with scant reward or recognition (I hear comments like this often);
teachers need time allocated to them so they can develop positive and healthy relationships with their students. This is the Teacher-Mentor idea, whereby teachers, through their interactions with students eg, goal-getting, ensuring the student is an active participant at school etc., will be sowing the seeds of mentoring;
Peer Mentor programs being run by dedicated teachers given time from the timetable to devote themselves to this work - where older students are 'buddying' younger students. Given that Generation Y are desperate for RELATIONSHIPS with older, wiser folk, there are so many possibilities.

Another area that is a serious cause of concern and which echoes loudly and clearly through the survey is the impact of different types of families on the students and their behaviour - single parent; blended; de facto relationships; same sex couples; families where domestic violence was present, drug and alcohol abuse (as well as families in which the children are 'spoilt brats' and mum and dad fight all their battles for them - the 'bubblewrap generation' as someone described this generation of children! etc. No government in recent times has had representatives standing up and championing for the traditional family unit, which, again, so much research suggests is the key foundation of a stable, successful country. Many will probably throw up their arms in disagreement with this statement and remind us all that we are living in the 21st Century and times change. Of course they do, but sometimes there are some core values, such as family and the values around that, that stand the test of time and we allow political correctness to destroy the very fabric of society that MOST people deep down want to see maintained.

I hope to conduct a survey of students later in the year ...... there's another interesting journey.

This is no rocket science. Let's wait to see how our schools respond to this Report :-)

26. The days are long, the journey is worthwhile :-)

2008-03-06T20:38:00.000+11:00

The training of the third group of mentors is into it's second week. There are only 7 potential mentors in this group, but we decided to go ahead in the hope that once the program is up and running we will be able to attract more mentors. The need in the Hawkesbury area, where this program is being run, is great. Situated 30 - 40 minutes from Penrith, which is probably the nearest urban centre, many of the students lead very isolated lives in these semi-rural areas. While this has its advantages, there are also problems when young people are bored - alcohol abuse, inappropriate sexual behaviour, unmotivated students etc. etc. Most students are not very street wise and it's clear that an effective mentoring program could assist many of these students to reach their undoubted potential. However, finding the volunteers will be a major challenge in the future, new strategies will be needed and considerably more thought will have to go into this aspect of the program.

So, by the middle of May we should have approximately 31 active mentoring matches in our three schools and we have just taken the decision to run a second program in our first pilot school from mid-July. Again, the recruiting of between 15 and 20 mentors will get under way from tomorrow.

While all this is going on, we are still considering how feasible it is to expand the program further in 2009. Our needs survey of 9 schools has been completed, the findings collated and a Report been put together ready for distribution to the other 20 - 30 schools in our region to see how many would like the GR8 MATES mentoring program in their schools. I'll comment further on that in a separate blog shortly .....

I also serve on a Reference Committee of another federally funded program. This particular program assists students who have been out of school for at least three months to turn their lives around by gaining a Certificate in hospitality ie, working in a cafe. The 20 week course is fantastic, the opportunities for the students amazing. Just under 50% of the students participating last year completed the course, a good start when one considers the nature of the students participating. We had a Committee meeting today and heard some wonderful success stories - one student decided she should return to complete her schooling after this experience; another found a job and has commented on the growth of his self-confidence as a result of participating in the course - awesome stuff, even if they don't complete this particular program. As I sit in these meetings, I can't help but think how some form of mentoring would probably assist many of these students as well. They do have a caring Case Worker and, if one could imagine another significant adult in their lives, even if it's only for six months, might that be a turning point for many of them? I don't know the answer. It will mean expanding GR8 MATES into a community program as well and that has other implications. I expect that I will explore this possibility in the months ahead - maybe in 2009??

Right at the moment, with training on a Monday and a Tuesday night, I am finding the 14 hour days tiring, but, oh, soooo worthwhile! :-)

25. A WOW! mentoring moment and a whole lot more!

2008-03-05T13:00:00.000+11:00

I always enjoy seeing mentors feeling as though they are achieving something in their mentoring journey. Yesterday was one such day.

One of the mentors has really been battling bravely with her mentee, who just could not get organised and motivated enough to achieve a task. Today, they sat together at the computer to download a vital document the mentee needed for a part-time job application. The mentee does not have email at home and the mentor is not allowed to use her private email address. She could have used my work email address but was unaware of this (another point for the learning curve), so both mentor and mentee were frustrated, the mentor because she was so pleased to see her mentee get angry when they could not resolve this matter - at least he is becoming keener to make some progress.

Students in Australia wanting to work on Construction sites need a 'Green Card', a health and safety certificate. Schools run courses for the students from time to time. This selfsame mentor had accompanied the mentee to see the teacher concerned a couple of weeks back, but he was unavailable at the time. They returned yesterday and were told there was a charge of $90 for the course. The mentee visibly dropped his shoulders as he accompanied the mentor back to the meeting room for mentors at the end of the session. Clearly, home finances were stretched and he knew he would not get that money from home. We spent time discussing this during the debrief. The mentee needed to start thinking about what could be done, rather than just giving up. With the assistance of the School Coordinator, the mentee was summoned to see his mentor very quickly, the purpose being to ensure that he collected the Application Forms in the meantime. While the mentee was being summoned, the School Coordinator approached the Principal and chatted about the issue. The Principal agreed to see what he could do to find 50% of the cost from other sources. When the mentee met up with the mentor, he was given this news and how his demeanor changed!! The mentor had persevered, shared the issue with others during the debrief, a solution had been found and we witnessed a wonderful WOW! moment in the program, which might be a significant moment in the mentee's life journey. He had seen how his mentor cared for him, was willing to explore options etc. etc. and the positives that came out of the combined efforts of a number of people. The mentor will hopefully discuss the whole process with him soon ie, how to achieve a goal by exploring ALL possibilities and developing a 'can do' attitude.

Small moments like that make me feel very proud to be associated with a youth mentoring program!

24. Sailing along and a new program begins

2008-02-22T14:10:00.000+11:00

This has been a busy week.

The mentors and mentees met up again and all is going well with the program. Sometimes it is good to be reminded that these are moody adolescents, very normal ........ one mentor battled this week as his mentee was in one of those moods. The key is not to take it personally. Another mentor was tearing her hair out in frustration at the laid back attitude of her mentee, but she held it all together and knows that things must happen at the pace of the mentee. We chatted a little about this during the debrief and ideas were shared. I continue to encourage the mentors to promote the email component of the program, but a couple of relationships are hindered by mentees not having access to email from home. How much we take this for granted in the 21st Century! The mentees seem reluctant to go and use the school library computers to email their mentors and to check messages, probably because the peer pressure impact kicks in again. I encourage the mentors to keep going. There are a couple of other issues going on and it is great to see how the mentoring partnership could assist resolve some of these matters. As one mentor is beginning to discover, as she is at the school consistently week in and week out, the connection with her mentee, who might lack that consistent support and encouragement at home, is strengthening and he is even initiating some of the conversations!!! A number of mentees have asked their mentors to assist with Resume writing, a topic that is covered in our Student Manual.

Monday night was the first night of training for our second program which we are launching this year in Penrith. As mentioned elsewhere, the recruiting process has been difficult and I have just not had the available hours to do a more effective job. However, I am beginning to find that the churches are SLOWLY getting on board, highlighted by the active participation of a Pastor in this latest program. He is doing the training and will mentor a student and I am hoping that his involvement will result in more of his congregation becoming involved as the program grows in that area. So, wonderful to greet 13 new potential mentors at the training, which included 4 men. I hope all return for the second week - that's always the interesting moment!

Next Tuesday night I begin the training of the third group of mentors as we prepare to run our third program in the Hawkesbury area. Despite considerable community newspaper support, we have not been able to recruit the numbers we would like, but have decided to go ahead with the 7 or 8 mentors who have indicated their availability. It would be lovely to have a miracle and see another 4 or 5 arrive!!

Busy times, indeed ...... :-)

23. Positive progress

2008-02-18T11:21:00.000+11:00

The second meeting of the new school year was a positive one for most of the mentors and their mentees. More and more sharing of personal stuff is taking place, together with the exploration of possible careers in the future and what will be required to get there.

A couple of relationships that appeared to be hitting a wobble are back on track and looking very positive. In one case we have rescheduled the meeting time so the mentee can attend a specific class she does not want to miss. Flexibility is the key!!

A number of mentors are assisting their mentees on the journey of finding some work experience which they are allowed to do this year. This means they can miss school for a number of days during the year to experience the opportunity of spending some time at a place of work which intetrests them. In some cases it might result in students wanting to head out of school at the end of this year to gain an apprenticeship. In other cases students are already saying they feel they should complete their schooling before heading into the workforce. Every case is unique.

I am also promoting the use of the email facility, as this continues to result in some wonderful correspondence.

This week sees the launch of the mentor training for one of our new programs being launched in 2008 ....... more on that later.

22. Ongoing recruitment issues

2008-02-07T21:35:00.000+11:00

We had another article in the Penrith community newspaper this week promoting the mentoring program. It was superbly written, yet I only received two phone calls as a result of the article in an area with a population of 160,000! It will be interesting to see if I have any more. Both callers were men - and we still need more men - but both were uncertain if they would be able to get off work to participate. I offered to speak to employers, as I have all the global research showing how mentors benefit so much from a positive mentoring relationship and the subsequent spin-off for the company/organisation/business they are working for. This is going to be an important issue to keep throwing into the mix when youth mentoring is discussed in any circles.

I contacted a local church situated near the one school where we hope to launch a program shortly and popped around to visit the Pastor. He was very receptive to the idea of approaching a few people in his congregation to explore the possibility of them becoming GR8 MATES mentors. If he can encourage 4 or 5 folk to participate, we will be well on our way to having the ideal number for this new program. Tomorrow I will attempt to visit two more local churches, one recommended by the Pastor and see what I can do. This particular Pastor is also a member of a gathering of local church ministers who meet every couple of months. I asked if I could have 10 minutes at one of these meetings to talk about the program. This looks likely to happen.

The first night of training for the program in the Penrith school is due to start on the 18 February. I met with the Principal today and we agreed to push ahead even if we don't have the full quota of mentors. Better to start small and then hope that, once the program is up and running, the momentum will pick up, mentors will spread the word amongst their networks and we will be able to recruit more effectively.

A new local community newspaper is running an article in the Hawkesbury area tomorrow. Again, I will be interested to see if there are any phone calls, though I think I will be visiting a couple more churches in that area early next week ! The mentor training in that area starts on the 26th February, so there is a little more time, but not much - great to have a magic wand?!!! :-)

21. The new school year is under way

2008-02-07T20:59:00.000+11:00

A very interesting gathering on Tuesday, as mentors and mentees met up for the first time since the Christmas break. Some of the mentees were enthusiastic, focused and keen to move forward. Some had acquired part-time jobs during the holidays. A few were still battling to settle back into school, a couple making mutterings about wanting to leave. This is the very reason why they are a part of the mentoring program. The challenge for the mentors is to encourage their mentees back on track to maximise their time at school, especially as there are some very small signs of an economy that might become a little more difficult in the months ahead. So, these youngsters would be well advised to work hard at school, even to stay for their final two years, acquire more employability skills and be better prepared for life after school. Relationships between boys and girls are also featuring in early discussions and I have been impressed at the sensitve ways mentors are discussing these matters. There was some good sharing during the debrief and, thereafter, via email and in chats with individual mentors, we explored a variety of strategies to consider in encouraging mentees to reach their potential. We should have an interesting few weeks ahead.

We saw the effects of negative peer pressure and, after 45 minutes, I could see how one mentor had already helped her mentee start looking at the decisions he was making and the reality of the consequences of some of his decisions.

This is a time during adolescence when one does notice the changes taking place in their thinking, planning (or lack of!), relationship issues etc. Some mentors acknowledged seeing these changes in the space of two months. One mentee has shed 9kg over the holidays, looks and feels good and is more motivated than at any time last year - an interesting mentoring relationship to observe. I would not be surprised to see this mentoring relationship continue well beyond the formal closure of the program.

During the holidays all the mentors received their mentor training accreditation letters from TAFE (Tertiary provider). I celebrated the occasion by presenting them all with special Certificates officially acknowledging them as mentors in the program now that they have been past the probationary period. We took a group photograph which I emailed to them all in the afternoon. Acknowledging and rewarding mentors is something I feel very strongly about, yet it's the cost of small gifts that is one of the first items to be slashed from a mentoring budget when the finances are tight. Fortunately, most mentors are volunteers who are unlikely to expect anything in return for their time, so it is not a big deal.

I also met with the school IT folk to look at ways to tweak the ementoring component of the program. At the moment the supervisors can't read any attachments. One mentor erred in placing a private email address when corresponding with the mentee during the holidays. This is not allowed and is a safety and security issue. We want the supervisor to be able to access a message like this and delete the address (in this case). Obviously the mentor would be informed immediately. How important a pilot project is, allowing us to experiment a little, make mistakes etc.

The mentors will be focusing on career options etc, during the next few months. Students in schools here will start selecting their subject choices for their final two years of school between May and September this year. It makes a great difference if one has some idea of a career and knows what subjects are needed and this will be part of the mentoring journey. Having said that, where students are not feeling good about being back at school, the mentors will focus more on empathising and having discussions about choices and the consequences of those choices, maybe even doing some role-playing around this. The Student Manual is expected to be used quite a bit during the next few months.

Flexibility when running a program is important. I have one mentor whose circumstances have changed, making it not possible for her to meet her mentee when all the other mentors are gathering. We have sat with her mentee and agreed another time. The two of them have a positive connection and were making good progress at the end of last year, so it seemed important to do our utmost to accommodate the mentor's request for a change of days. However, she will miss the camaraderie with the other mentors each week, the debrief times and so on. I will have the added responsibility of ensuring that she is being supervised and supported, but it's a small price to pay to see a successful relationship continue.

20. Expanding the Program 2008/09 - keeping the dream alive!

2008-01-25T12:04:00.000+11:00

Even though we are still creating the networks for our recruitment process, we have taken the decision to run new programs in three schools in 2008/09. That could mean running a second program in the schools already identified or running new programs at new schools. However, we are at the point where we have to start raising more funds to make the long-term dream possible.

The new Federal Labor Government produced a policy document prior to the recent Australian election all about setting up mentoring programs to place retired people and other professionals alongside young people who might be interested in skilled careers. They have talked of providing $50,000 per annum for 4 years to 25 Local Community Partnerships so that 750 mentors can be trained. As a Local Community Partnership, we feel we already have a credible program in place, so our next stage is trying to locate the Minister responsible for the launch of the program to see if we would qualify for access to those funds.

In the meantime, we have decided to approach the schools in our area which have expressed interest in the GR8 MATES mentor program, to see how committed they would be to participate, what they would be prepared to offer eg, funding sources, recruitment of mentors and so on. We will collate that information and then put together an Expression of Interest Form which we will ask all our schools to complete and return. This will give us a much better idea of the mood of the schools and their willingness to participate.

We know the need is huge for structured youth mentoring programs in Western Sydney, but we don't want to force anything on anyone, so it's a good time to do this environmental research. One of our mentors, now semi-retired and with a wealth of project management experience, has offered to personally approach the schools we want to survey. We are so grateful for his voluntary contribution, which will be extended to helping us set up an Advisory or management group to expand our program. Lots to do in the weeks ahead as we prepare to seek funding so we can expand the program in accordance with our 2007 - 2011 strategic plan.

19. Recruiting and Recruiting!!

2008-01-25T11:36:00.000+11:00

Funny how different cultures and life experiences are. A while ago, while living in New Zealand, I advertised for mentors for a new program shortly before Christmas, trying to catch people before they took the Christmas holiday break. I hoped to get about a dozen people showing an interest and ended up with 75 enquiries! In the end about half that number ultimately joined the mentoring program during the following six months. When I enquired as to why there were so many people interested, people suggested that it is a time of year when people are feeling generous. With that thought in mind, I started putting the word out in early December 2007 (here in Western Sydney, Australia) for mentors for our 2008 programs. There was some interest for the program in one of the schools, but to date I only have 4 potential mentors signed up, with another 3 pending. Another 4 have withdrawn, citing not enough time to devote to the program for a variety of reasons, which is fine.

In the other program, more semi-rural, I had three articles, together with photos in the local community newspapers and thought I might receive about 10 responses from that. I received 2!! However, I persevered with word of mouth and the School Coordinator where we are wanting to run the program also did some sterling work. Now we have 8 mentors confirmed for that program, though would like to have 15. In that area I decided to experiment and delivered a flyer and poster to the only Retirement Village in the area, two churches, two health and fitness centres, placed notices on the two library boards, one at a local Golf club, another at a Retired Services Club - I have not had one response from those efforts to date and will check next week to see if they are still being advertised.

It is important to persevere, that I keep learning and to continue to explore possibilities, other people's networks etc. There are a lot of small businesses in our area and so it's difficult for employers to get away for any period of time during the day.

My one problem is that I am only supposed to be spending about 25% of my time on this program, which means I battle to have the time to visit more folk. That will change as the program expands, I am sure. A most interesting experience, nevertheless.

This morning I tried tapping into the University of the Third Age (3Age), as here are the semi-retired and retired folk. Still awaiting a reply, but this could be another useful source of mentors .......... :-)

18. 2008 Expansion plans - an interesting journey

2007-12-19T09:57:00.000+11:00

Plans are well under way to expand the GR8 MATES program into two other areas we serve. Last week I held orientation sessions at both schools for interested mentors. What has interested me is the way these mentors are being recruited.

At the school close to Penrith where I am working we have had about 18 people expressing interest from different sources eg, through a tertiary institution's intranet website; through an email newsletter from our local Chamber of Commerce and through referrals from current mentors.

In the semi-rural school, where three media articles have appeared calling for mentors, I received two phone calls and expressions of interest! The school at which the program will operate has a number of teacher-aides interested in mentoring and I also visited a company that is already doing some work with the school and hope to have two mentors from them.

I am busy working on a media etc. strategy for 2008 as part of a grander plan we are working on.

What continues to fascinate me is how different the communities are in which we are working and how differently they are responding to recruitment processes .... the journey continues! :-)

17. Reflections, Evaluations and Celebrations

2007-12-17T11:39:00.000+11:00

Last week was the final meeting for 2007 of the mentors with their mentees and was also an opportunity to celebrate the partnerships. Mentors spent time with their mentees catching up, doing some planning for 2008 and chatting about the use of the email facility during the holidays. Thereafter, we all gathered in one of the school Common Rooms and enjoyed some special celebratory food brought in by an outside caterer. The School Principal thanked all the mentors for their voluntary commitments to the project and complimented all on the very positive vibe that was evident to any outsider observing the mentoring program. Students then presented their mentees with a school coffee mug, key ring, small pocket calculator and pen as a token of thanks.

During these past two weeks mentors and mentees have been completing an Evaluation Survey about how things are going. These surveys have made for very positive reading indeed, some students wanting more time with their mentees. There is one student who is still undecided about continuing with the program in 2008 despite an excellent relationship with her mentor. I guess we are observing the extreme effect of peer pressure and it will be interesting to see what happens when the school opens next year.

I have had some interesting discussions with mentors in recent weeks. Some wanted to give Christmas gifts to their mentees. I had stressed during the training that we did not want mentors to spend money on their mentees, as that's not the point of running a youth mentoring program. However, so as not to upset anyone, I suggested they give their small gifts, but ask the students not to advertise this to the world, as I don't want there to be competition between the mentors and their mentees. I did, however, stress that materialism is right at the bottom of what we want to achieve with this program. After the mentors had met their mentees, one of the latter voiced her disappointment in an email to her mentor that she (the mentee) had not had a gift for the mentor. I have asked the particular mentor to work through this with the mentee. It is important that we keep our focus on the development of the relationship without the gifts.

As the relationships are starting to gain momentum, I am being asked if the mentors can take their mentees to visit tertiary institutions etc. in 2008. Of course, this is part of the program plan, but the more I have thought about this, the more things are clarifying for me. So many of our young people are living in the world of instant gratification. I shall be sharing with mentors the need for us to do some thorough planning, which will include ensuring that mentees arrive on time for their meetings with mentors and that the former have all the school paperwork signed and completed. We are still awaiting some paperwork from mentees. Taking this line we will also be preparing the mentees for the real world beyond school and helping them to appreciate that they need to be responsible and more accountable. When they have completed their side of the bargain the door opens for more adventures beyond school with their mentors.

One of our mentors was able to watch her mentee participate in a school ballet performance, which was great, and she has also assisted her mentee obtain a part-time work placement at a hairdresser in 2008. Thus a young person is beginning to explore possible options for the future, one of the main points of this program.

There are other potentially interesting developments taking place in the mentoring partnerships, a number of mentees beginning to share some of their more personal 'stuff' - more of that in 2008.

Another mentee does not have access to email at home. However, the email facility is free at the local library, so the school has given permission for the mentor to take the mentee to the local library so that the student can join and then have access to the email facility - this is due to take place this week before the schools close for the Christmas vacation. Interesting to see if this materialises.

I remain tremendously encouraged by the way this program is rolling out and the fantastic relationships developing between these two strangers, fast becoming friends and GR8 MATES in most instances :-) One student was unable to be present at the final meeting as he was involved in training some younger students to do life-saving (swimming). When I arrived in the office that morning, the student had already left a message advising me of this - how impressive was that!?

On that positive note, time to wrap up for 2007.

16. The magical moments of mentoring

2007-11-29T20:47:00.000+11:00

We have now reached the stage when mentors arrive at the school and, as soon as their mentee arrives, they pair up and head off for almost an hour together. Some head to the library, where computers are booked for their use each week, while others will go for a stroll around the grounds. A couple might sit in our meeting room and chat. Different methods for different pairings, one of the strengths of a mentoring program.

One mentor has clearly been focusing on the strong points of her mentee and exploring ways to motivate her further. Via the email correspondence during the previous week, the mentor had asked her mentee to consider whether or not they could chat to one of the mentee's teachers (of the subject the mentee appeared to be enjoying the most) . This week, after time in the library, they took a stroll to the faculty of the teacher concerned and, fortunately, found her there. The mentor was introduced and a brief discussion took place, during which the mentee's talents were lauded by the teacher. A self-image is quietly being boosted week by week. Another dynamic taking place was the introduction to the mentoring program in action for this teacher. Hopefully she will chat about this interaction with staff colleagues and so the good work being done by these volunteer adults will be better understood. A good mentor program does have a positive spin-off on the school community and it's the little moments like this that sow those positive seeds.

Another totally different experience took place with another pairing. In this case the mentee had been slow to become involved in the program, but this week the breakthrough occurred. The mentee commented that she felt she had been pressurised to participate in the program at the beginning - possibly because she was precariously balanced in terms of her behaviour at school and school authorities, seeing her potential, saw the GR8 MATES program as a possible positive experience for her. Perhaps the pressure came from a concerned parent. Perhaps it was a combination of these circumstances. The admission that she had felt this way was seen as a major breakthrough in the relationship by the mentor and now we can only hope it will go from strength to strength as there is every indication that the mentee would like to remain in the program.

We are through the probationary period of the mentoring relationships now. I have asked mentors to discuss with their mentees, when next they meet, how both parties are feeling about their mentoring journey. Do they want to continue this journey into 2008? I will be surveying both the mentors and the mentees when we meet next week (a wrtitten survey), an important part of the evaluation process, yet also an important moment for me to assess how things are going.

I have arranged an orientation meeting in mid-December for one of the 2008 schools participating in the program, as we have at least 13 interested mentors, hopefully more by then. The other more rural program has been a little slower at attracting mentors - 6 to 8 today, and I am hoping that an article due out very soon in a local community newspaper will attract some more mentors.

I need to get the Application Packs organised :-)

15. Recruiting mentors for 2008

2007-11-23T12:37:00.000+11:00

I am at the desperate stage of trying to recruit 30 mentors for our two new programs in 2008, one in the local Penrith area and the other in the Hawkesbury area.

Yesterday our email brochure was distributed via the intranet of one of the local tertiary institutions. We also had some advertisements in local community newspapers which, amongst other information shared, mentioned the GR8 MATES mentoring program.

Within 48 hours I have received phone calls or emails from 16 potential mentors and I would think the majority of them are committed even though we have not yet had the orientation program.

I have a policy of responding to all calls and emails within 48 hours of receiving these expressions of interest. I like to think that it puts across the message to these volunteers that we really appreciate their interest in our program.

One of the Hawkesbury community newspapers will be writing an article on the program which will be published next week, all going well and, a short while ago, a local church near Penrith asked if they could advertise the program to their congregation members. They had received the email brochure from a member of their congregation - it's all about using networks, isn't it? :-)

Now for the next 15 mentors!!!!

14. Reinforcing key training points as the mentoring journey gets under way

2007-11-23T12:23:00.000+11:00

The mentoring program is going exceptionally well and the interaction between students and mentors is fantastic. While there are one or two students that might still be settling into the program, probably working out how to deal with negative peer pressure, the majority are enthusiastically connecting with their mentors.

This week after the debrief session with the mentors I thought it appropriate to remind them of some of the key points we had discussed during the training, also taking the chance to refer them to specific pages in the training workbook and in their manual, 'The Spirit of Mentoring - A manual for adult volunteers', particularly pertaining to the experiences young people are going through at this time of their lives. Some of the points I shared were as follows:

It’s probably a good time to remind you of some of the key points made during the training:

· We are not there to fix students or families.
· Avoid the trap of getting too emotionally involved – it’s not good for either party.
· Mentors are GR8 MATES not saviours or rescuers.
· Don’t fall into the trap of wanting to keep coming up with solutions, offering advice, solving your mentees’ problems for them etc. The most effective mentoring is getting them to solve their own problems after brainstorming with you and this might take time and does not have to happen immediately (which is what Gen Y want!) eg, when talking about an issue suggest: "Let’s explore your options. What are they?” “Hey, maybe we can chat more about this and later can work out some plans for 2008 ....” “Why don’t you see what you can find out and then we can chat again next week?”
· Consider using a journal to record your key conversation points if you are not already doing so.
· Keep exploring ways of encouraging them to connect with the school – activities they can get involved in, what needs to be done etc. You might even want to browse the school website yourself to see what’s on offer.
· Keep sowing the seeds of positive peer pressure = reaching their potential.
· What’s going on in their lives at this age? Remind yourself – page 33 of the Worksheets Book from the Training; Pages 79 – 87 of ‘The Spirit of Mentoring’ book will have heaps of reminders of what to expect, as most of these youngsters are battling with self-image, self-concept issues, despite a possible outward show of bravado and "I’m ok,” attitude. At the same time don’t look for problems if they are not there, or create them!!
· Find out in your discussions who the positive people are in their lives eg, if you were desperate for accommodation or needed $100 who would you approach? Parents – great! And who else?? This then encourages talk about building that web of support around themselves for the future, communicating with people who believe in them, role models etc.
· Work out an effective strategy re the use of the email. Sometimes just a quick word of encouragement is all that’s needed. Or, if your mentee is feeling low, arrange for them to contact you in a day or two just to check on how things are going – short and sweet, always effective!
· Vary how you spend your time with your mentee eg, you might go for a walk and talk, then spend 15 minutes googling something on the computer and chatting. Boys prefer doing rather than sitting and just chatting – all will appreciate variety.
· Never hesitate to get in touch with me if there is something you need to discuss, no matter how trivial you think it might be.

What is encouraging as well is that some of the students are already beginning to think seriously about career options, how they have been thinking, planning (or not planning) etc.

There is plenty of honest sharing in the debrief sessions which has been great and mentors are already beginning to share networking ideas with each other :-)

13. 2008 Program expansion

2007-11-15T21:38:00.000+11:00

No sooner have we got this first program under way than we are expanding the program into 2008. It has been a good process, learning from the first launch and applying some improvements. Schools now have to sign a contract committing them to the program, as well as naming their School Coordinator and acknowledging that they understand the role of the School Coordinator. This should make it easier for me to be involved in a program, though from more of a distance once it is well established.

We have a school in the Hawkesbury region and another in the Penrith region now signed on, which means that I have fulfilled our goal of having three schools carrying out the pilot program before the end of 2008.

Our marketing brochure is also available in email form and I spent today sending it to the respective schools for their School Coordinators to distribute. I have one mentor in the Hawkesbury region who has a network of over 150 on his email distribution list, so he has offered to share the marketing email. Our tertiary institution, TAFE, will also be distributing it through their intranet system and tomorrow I am meeting with a church representative from a church close to the Hawkesbury school. I should also be receiving the name of a couple of journalists in that region as well and will be asking them to run stories in the local community newspapers. We are also working on our new website, http://www.schoolsindustry.com.au/ , and there is an area there where interested potential mentors can sign up. there are local Chambers of Commerce which might also distribute the email to their members.

The target is to recruit and sign on 30 mentors (15 per region) by mid-December so we can process Applications and begin the training as soon as school opens in 2008. The challenge is on .....

12. Launch of the ementoring program and much more!

2007-11-15T21:28:00.000+11:00

This week saw the launch of the ementoring component of our school-based mentoring program. Mentees and mentors are able to communicate with each other by logging on through the participating school's website. They can do this through their home computers, school computers etc. They have ID and Passwords and are only able to communicate with each other. There is a 'Panic' function which allows a mentee to send an urgent message to the school Principal, School Coordinator and Program Coordinator if they are stressed, feeling uncomfortable about the content of an email etc. All emails can be monitored by the Principal, the School Coordinator and the Program Coordinator. As soon as i arrive at the office each day I check the emails to see who has been corresponding. It will be interesting to see how this new tool works and does or does not enhance the mentoring relationship.

A couple of mentees have been away from school and so have missed our sessions. We have made arrangements for the mentors to contact the School Coordinator to set up alternative times to meet. This seems to be working well.

Mentors have been encouraged to work through the first part of the Student Manual during the final weeks of the year to build the connection. It was great to hear at the debrief this week how many mentors had been doing this and how many of the students were already beginning to open up to their mentors. I also completed the analysis of all the completed Student Performers and gave the mentors some thoughts about their respective mentees which, hopefully, will also enhance the bonding process.

We have a couple of weeks to go before our probationary period is over, though I am both excited and encouraged by what I am witnessing thus far.

11. Ongoing training and support for Mentors

2007-11-09T16:25:00.000+11:00

The mentoring program is gradually clicking into gear. While the school is involved in exams I have been encouraging the mentors and mentees who joined the program late for a variety of reasons to try and meet at least once before we meet as a group next Tuesday. This has worked well and most students have completed the Student Performer. Again this is showing how important the mentoring relationship could be for these students. While they have gifts and talents and so many positives, a number are clearly lacking social skills, self-confidence or have battles with how to approach their studying. All these points have been collated from the pre-program Survey the students completed and then the Student Performer - a most worthwhile exercise.

I try to encourage the mentors with a brief email this week, so thought I would share a longer one as it encompasses a lot of what we are tring to do, as well as some of the issues we are having to deal with in the new technological age of the 21st Century.

Here are some extracts:

Hi everyone

We meet again on Tuesday 13 November. If you can be there by 10.50 to sign in so we can start at 11.00 am that would be great. We will meet in the Staff Common Room and move from there to an upstairs computer room. We will be given a quick run through of the ementoring component of the program, so both students and mentors will be comfortable with that format. Thereafter, there will be time to spend chatting with your mentee. I would appreciate those who have not completed the Student Profiler/Performer to complete those.

We now have 11 mentors matched with 11 mentees and, a real positive, is that there are now 4 girls as part of the group ....... everyone who has completed the online Performer will benefit from a mentoring relationship if they give it their best shot – that is a definite conclusion I have drawn from going through the individual Performers completed thus far. Indeed, the school have done incredibly well to recommend these students for the program. Without the program there are a couple there who could well become more at risk of dropping out because of a total lack of self-confidence or an inability to cope with school academics.

Remember: All students are in different spaces. Some are clearly lacking self-confidence, while most could benefit from a 2008 goal getting experience with you. As I have pointed out to some mentors, if you need me to sit with you and your mentee at any time to talk about study skills etc., you have only to ask!

Can we exchange mobile numbers? At this stage please do not make arrangements to contact one another via mobile phones. We have the email component for ongoing contact and that’s a way we can monitor the relationship, a must in this program, as that’s our best guarantee of safety for both the mentors and the mentees. As soon as we go beyond these boundaries we become a community-based mentoring program and that has more paperwork, more Police Checks etc. and we don’t want to go through all that. My guess is that once we are through the probationary period, mid-December, we can revisit the mobile phone contacts, which might require parental permission.

What about meeting outside of school? At this stage there should be no contact between the mentors and mentees outside of the time you meet at school and the ementoring component. That is in line with the contracts which the parents have also signed. As things progress, we will be able to revisit this, but nothing can happen without parental permission and that will be obtained after discussion with the School Coordinator.

What would you suggest we do between now and the end of the year? Use this time to really get to know as much of your mentee as you can and build that connection. The ‘Getting 2 Know You’ section of the Students’ Manual is designed to help that process. As you drive the early stages of the relationship, consider completing some of those aspects together. However, if your mentee has a specific area they wish to explore with you that’s fine – go with it!

What is the future of the GR8 MATES mentoring program? The program is 100% likely to be expanded to two schools in the Hawkesbury and Penrith areas next year, the focus being on mentoring Year 10 students. Training will begin as soon as term starts and the matching will take place towards the end of Term One. The mentoring relationship will end during Term Four. Will it continue in 2009? We don’t know the answer to this. My personal position is that I won’t take responsibility for the program beyond the pilot unless we can obtain Deductible Gift Recipient Status (DGR Status), which would then possibly result in us being able to go after corporate funding. Ideally, I would like to see something like a 5 year commitment from the Commonwealth Government and corporate sponsors. With that sort of funding we could develop something long-term and sustainable. How can we do that? [a mentor] has expressed a genuine interest in participating in this process. He and I are meeting for coffee after the mentor meeting next Tuesday. We will talk about building community networks and targeting people to join us on a working sub-committee aimed at growing the program, hopefully finding a friendly legal expert prepared to look into acquiring the DGR Status, as it is an Everest climb. There might be a couple of mentors with useful connections who might want to join this initiative. Feel free to chat to me should you be interested.

Mentoring Thought:

“You must enter into a child’s life, develop trust, earn confidence, find common ground. For, in truth, mentoring can only begin after you and your mentee come to regard one another as important people in each other’s lives.”
-Thomas W. Dortch,Jr.

Have a good weekend and don’t hesitate to be in touch whenever you need to do so.

Kind regards.

Robin

10. Student Profiler/Performer, E-mentoring and future plans

2007-10-25T15:20:00.000+10:00

This week the mentors and their mentees had an opportunity to catch up with one another briefly. However, the major focus was on the students completing the Student Profiler, actually called the Student Performer. This the majority of students managed to do in the allotted time. It is going to be a fantastic tool for future mentoring relationships from what I have seen thus far. The Performe affirms the students in some key areas of their personal development, though it also clearly shows areas in which the mentors can work with their mentees during the months ahead, which is fantastic.

The key areas the Performer covers are:

Learning Abilities
Socialisation: Mixing with other people
Communication
Physical Image
Career Planning
Global Self-Worth

Indeed, the Performer exceeds my expectations :-) and I think it was a very useful exercise for the mentors to be alongside their mentees as the latter completed it - there was certainly some healthy discussion going on.

I have undertaken to provide each mentor with an analysis of their mentee's Performer before they next meet in mid- November -(two week break for exams :-(

One of our mentees, who had been sick for quite some time, was present this time around and met for the first time. Both were so keen to get started, which is great. The mentor will try and link up for another meeting while the school exams are on. The School Coordinator will arrange this.

After our mentoring session debrief I met with the school's IT coordinator to go through the plans to set up the ementoring component of the program. The school has done a fantastic job in this area, linking the ementoring component to the school website. Students and mentors will be given Usernames and Passwords to log in and communicate with each other. The Principal, School Coordinator and Program Coordinator (that's me :-) ) will be able to monitor the communication. There is also a special feature which allows students to send a 'panic' message if they ever feel uncomfortable with the content of an email. At our next session I have asked for the IT Coordinator to share how the ementoring component will work - we are making positive progress!!

The early successes of this program have led our organisation to make the decision to extend the pilot to two more schools in the regions we serve in 2008. This means we will trial the program in each of the three regions we serve. I am meeting with the potential two schools during the next week or so. The overall idea is to have the pilot programs wrapped up by the end of 2008, so, if we are unable to secure further funding, we will at least have created a replicable program which can be used by others.

Not short of work at the moment!!

9. School is Back!! First outing for new mentees

2007-10-16T21:32:00.000+10:00

Schools returned for the final term (semester) of the year yesterday. I have been working with another oganisation to set up and run a Try a Trade Day. Basically, what this means is that one of our local schools allows us to use their hall. A very large truck arrives, we work hard to unpack it and, in the space of a couple of hours, we have about 14 different stalls set up for the kids to get a taste of different trades eg, hairdressing, beauty, florist, automotive, bricklaying, cooking, painting and plastering, plumbing, horticulture, welding and so on. Most of the stalls are run by volunteer apprentices. Groups of 30 students at a time come through the hall. They are given one hour to get to as many stalls as interest them. From the feedback we received from about 176 students (aged between 14 and 17) that went through today, it was a great success.

Included in the one school group were 10 mentees. I thought it would be a good opportunity for them to have a taste of some different career possibilities and, when they meet up with their mentors, they will have something to talk about and to share, remembering that this GR8 MATES mentoring program is aimed at encouraging the students to transition from school to the workplace, weighing up as many options as they can. Hopefully, the mentors will encourage them and assist them on this journey in the months ahead. They all seemed to enjoy their time going around the stalls, so it will be interesting to hear what comes out of the experience. Unfortunately, due to the nature of the day and the safety and security conditions around running the day, we could not invite the mentors to go around the stalls with their mentees as either observers or participants.

Next week when we meet together the mentees will be completing the Student on-line profiler and I look forward to seeing the results of those. More on that later .....

8. Mentor Online Profiler - a wonderful tool for encouragement and evaluation

2007-09-28T22:28:00.001+10:00

I first came across the Mentor Profiler online tool a few years ago, having met Doug Cowie, who owns Frontline Solutions, the company which has developed this tool over the years. It was initially developed by Lou Thompson in New Zealand. Lou ran a trial of the program with approximately 3000 adolescents while he was working in the field of youth mentoring. When Lou moved to take up a tertiary position in Australia, Doug decided to continue with its development.

I helped in a small way with the rewriting and the updating of the content a couple of years ago, simply to make the vocabulary more user-friendly to 21st Century mentors and mentees. Yes, mentees, too, as there is a Student Profiler as well.

"What's the point?" you might well be asking.

Over the years I have looked at numerous methods of Evaluation. People running programs often comment that mentors are slow at completing Mentor Logs etc. and, because of financial limitations, it's the area around evaluations that is sadly overlooked. Then, when youth mentoring organisations are asked by potential funders about their evaluation methods, there is a stutter, a silence and something is muttered out :-) The Mentor Profiler is one aspect of the GR8 MATES evaluation process and I am hoping it will show personal development of both the mentors and the mentees in a number of key personal growth areas.

What interested me about this Profiler was that it had been tested thoroughly by Lou Thompson, well-qualified to put such a program together. Once a mentor or student had completed the profiler, they could see how they had fared and, by pressing another key, they could go to a list of suggested ways they could improve in the particular domain they were assessing. Thus, it is a user-friendly, non-threatening, constructive tool to use and, given the cost of developing one's own evaluation process, this is one tool that is cost effective. Doug is revisiting everything about the Profiler at the moment. However, it costs our organisation Aus$40 for each Profiler to be completed twice - once at the beginning of the mentoring journey and once at the end, so I hope readers will appreciate why it can be a useful evaluation tool ie, for a mere Aus$20 (the cost each time the Profiler is completed), one has a valuable evaluation process taking place! Doug is exploring the possibility of offering reduced rates for larger numbers, schools etc.

There are six Domains that mentors and mentees need to complete:

A. Personality
B. Interpersonal Relationships
C. Communication
D. Motivation
E. Facilitative Skills
F. Global Self-Worth

There are a number of statements under each of these headings which the mentor or mentee must respond to - it is very simple. There are no right or wrong answers and it's all about personal growth and development.

Each Mentor and Mentee is given a User ID and a Password by Frontline Solutions. Once they complete the Profiler they are unable to go back and make changes, but they can see their graphs of results and the suggestions to encourage their personal growth whenever they would like to do so.

When they complete their second attempt at the Profiler, they will be given a new ID and Password.

As the Program Coordinator of GR8 MATES, I have access to all the Profilers, so can assess the mentors and the mentees myself.

All the mentors completed the Profiler after the training, prior to the Post-Training Interview and I used it as part of the screening process, as I want them all to complete it again at the end of the journey.

Doug and I have shared ideas about the mentors completing the Profiler before the training as another option. However, as the Profiler is specifically about mentoring, I felt that it would be worth doing once the mentors and I had been through the training and mentors had a clearer understanding of youth mentoring. Also, I would not have to pay for those who dropped out of the program!

When the students return to school next term (semester), I have set time aside for them to complete the Student Profiler, with the assistance of their mentors. I am hoping this will further enhance the connection between the mentor and the mentee for the mentoring journey. More on that later!!

For more information on the Profiler, or to have a look at a sample, have a look at: http:/mentoring.unitecnology.ac.nz (note there is no www in this address). You can access it directly through my Links page on my website (http://www.yess.co.nz/) - scroll down to Frontline Solutions.

I am happy to share more info on this great tool with anyone who is interested in it. One major advantage of using it is that one does not have to pay a monthly fee to another provider for maintaining the website etc. I have been exploring a number of these options and it's this monthly fee that places most of the options I have been exploring out of our financial reach. The main reason is that, while these providers offer heaps, I am only interested in a small part of what they are offering for my program, so do not see the justification for paying the type of fees asked for - it's a Catch-22 situation, as I have some empathy for the providers as well.

Enough for now .....

7. The Mentor/Mentee match is announced

2007-09-28T21:41:00.000+10:00

On Tuesday this week mentors and mentees met at the school to hear who would be paired with whom. One mentor had to miss the session as he had a long-term overseas trip lined up. However, I suggested he send me a letter to his new mentee, which I would check and, if suitable, would hand over to the mentee. This he did. At the appropriate time I gave the letter to the mentee to read and keep - he was most definitelyappreciative of this gesture! Another mentor's mentee is away from school with Glandular Fever, so she will only meet next term (semester), providing the mentee would like to keep participating.

We had a problem with the venue, which slowed down the process, and then a couple of mentors were delayed, arriving late, and we also had to locate a couple of the students. Patience and flexibility are important when running these programs, that's for sure. Being end of term this week and the final year students' last days at school, there are inevitably some high and low times! One highlight was having a student approach me while I was waiting for the others and asking if he could join the program. Unfortunately I had to decline his request, though suggested he complete the Mentee Interest Survey just in case things changed, though I still wanted more girls in the event of someone dropping out of the program.

After welcoming everyone to the session, I announced the pairings and, as expected, there was a wonderfully positive vibe all around. Next, I had both the mentors and the mentees sign their respective contracts in front of each other. This gave me the opportunity of explaining to the students what the word 'Confidentiality' means in this program ie, if a mentor at any time feels that the mentee's wellbeing is at risk in any way, or they feel they do not know how to deal with an issue raised by their mentee, mentors would bring the matter to the program staff. In most, if not all cases, I suggested, the mentors would discuss this approach with their mentees prior to approaching the program staff. While there might be risks of the mentoring relationship breaking down if this occurred, it certainly has not been my experience in the past. I reason that if a mentee is prepared to trust a mentor to that extent, the mentee is also likely to trust the mentor's judgment.

Contracts signed I then handed out the Student's Manual and highlighted key aspects of it and its purpose during the mentoring journey. I offered to keep the students' copies for them during the holidays, but some asked if they could keep them instead - only a pleasure. Of course, the mentors had the copies to take home with them so they could become familiar with the content.

The formal business over, I gave the mentors and mentee 30 minutes to spend time getting to know one another. The majority headed out of the meeting place into the school grounds. Again, I had primed mentors that they might find boys opening up more if they were walking and talking rather than sitting at a table ie, no eye contact!! :-) Also, it needs to be mentioned, that the mentors have permission to move around the school grounds with their mentees during the mentoring session, but they are not allowed to leave the school without the school and program staff's permission.

Once everyone returned to the meeting room there were a few announcements made and the mentees headed out, but not before the Principal popped his head in to wish everyone well, a sincerely appreciated gesture. The mentors stayed behind for a debrief and snack etc. Overall, the mentors were amazed at how well these initial meetings had gone. I was not, as I had got to know both the mentors and the mentees a little over the previous weeks and felt that the training etc. had played a considerable part in helping both parties to make the initial connection. Again there were some wonderful stories from mentors re similar experiences to those of their mentees when they were adolescents etc. One mentor commented that she was surprised at the way her mentee kept putting himself down - turned out that that was because of the messages he was receiving at home ...... high or low self-esteem? There is exciting work to be done.

The School Coordinator will be back when the new term begins in mid-October and he and I will catch up at the first opportunity. The staff member substituting for him was fantastic and so positive about the mentoring program. At the end of the mentor/mentee matching session he asked if he could say a few words. He congratulated the mentees on having the courage to participate in the program and shared a little of his experiences being involved in a mentoring program during his army days - awesome, inspiring and a wonderful way to end that particular session.

During the debrief, I presented each of the mentors, and the substitute teacher with one of our organisation's coffee mugs, just a small thank you for all they had contributed to the journey thus far. They were touched and appeared to genuinely appreciate the gesture.

School holidays now, a time for me to plan more with regard to the mentoring program and its future, as well as get on top of my other work. It is a GR8 feeling seeing the GR8 MATES pilot program now up and running!! :-)

The mentoring journeys are under way ....

6. Matching the Mentors and Mentees

2007-09-28T21:12:00.001+10:00

As GR8 MATES is a new pilot program, there are bound to be teething issues, even mistakes, though my personal commitment is that at no time will we place any students at risk as a result of the decisions we are making. Many of these students are vulnerable and lacking high self-esteem, something that we continually need to remind ourselves of.

There were some late student additions to the program, which was not ideal, as they had missed out on the mentee training. Nevertheless we moved on and ran a two hour mentor/mentee matching session. One of the students decided to withdraw from the program at this stage. Again, this was fine and we all knew that there is no shortage of students at the school who could participate in the program.

I aimed at using some fun activities, from books I have written in recent years, to break the ice between the mentors and mentees, which not only allowed them to learn something about each other in a non-threatening way, but also gave me the opportunity to share some thoughts about the benefits of a mentoring relationship. The latter usually took the form of a very brief brainstorming session that included outcomes such as: teamwork; moving out of one's comfort zone; effective communication; respect for one and all, including their different values; listening to one another etc. There were four fun activities and then I ran a fast-paced 'mentor meet a mentee' activity. During this time each mentor met each mentee for no more than three minutes and they could share as much as they wanted about each other. I had primed the mentors prior to the matching process as to some of the types of 'open' questions they might like to ask, all of which were in their Resource Manual (wanting them to remember its purpose!!) .

According to the program policies, as males would not be matched with female students there was no need for such interviews to occur. This fact helped speed up the interviewing process. Once those interviews were over the mentors and mentees, respectively, chose three people they would like to have as their partner. Names were written on a piece of paper, in order of preference, torn out of their workbooks and handed to me. There was no discussion during this time.

Overall, during a debrief after the matching session, at which mentors received light snacks, tea and coffee, they all expressed their delight at the positive vibe during the matching activities.

Back to the office to see what the choices were. I was expecting it to be harder than it was! In the end each student received his or her first or second choice. I had a meeting with the Principal a couple of days later. By this time I had completed the Student Assessment Summary and had matched the students with their mentors on paper! I went through the choices with the Principal and we both signed their Summary sheets. Unfortunately the School Coordinator had headed off on leave during this process, but he will be the third signatory on these forms on his return.

Overall, I think this particular process worked very well. Having had some practice during the mentee training, the students settled into the fun activities remarkably quickly and most mentors entered into the spirit of the occasion incredibly quickly. What a special group they are!
My final part of the process was to inform the mentors as to whom their mentees would be for the mentoring journey. I gave a snapshot from the students Pre-Programme Survey, just enough to encourage the mentor prior to the official match. And, as has happened throughout this program thus far, I was amazed at some of the positive responses. Things I had no knowledge of about the mentors prior to the match being made, were fed back to me ie, mentors having had similar career experiences when they were adolescents, knowing people who had the same interests as their new mentees etc.

I felt it was important to give mentors the opportunity to express their agreement or non-agreement about the match prior to the actual matching meeting taking place. Some mentors had said they were happy to mentor anyone, as 'they are all great kids', which did facilitate some of the decisions taken. I knew that the students would be happy, as they had received their choice of mentor.

One final point about this early program journey and preparation of the mentors. Once the mentors had sent their Acceptance Forms to me and had been accepted into the training, I sent a weekly email to all the mentors. It was aimed at keeping them up to date with program developments, as well as sowing the seeds of the spirit of mentoring, as I included, under the heading: Mentoring Thought, a short quote pertinent to the mentoring experience. I have collected these quotes over the years and have a few hundred now. Again, I am aiming to show the mentors that I appreciate the fact that they are volunteering and that I value each and every one of them :-)

All that remained was to bring the matches together ....

5. Preparing the mentees

2007-09-28T20:35:00.000+10:00

The school was responsible for identifying the students whom they felt would benefit from participation in the program. A number of students had already participated in a program earlier in the year which was aimed at the development of study and life skills, so it seemed only natural that they should be considered for the program, as the encouragement from the volunteer mentor might be significant in the choices these young people were making. My viewpoint was that this program was not a babysitting service, nor was it a program for the more difficult students, some of whom might already be receiving professional help of some sort. The reminder is always there that mentors are volunteers from the community who are interested in moving alongside a young person and encouraging them to reach their potential. They are not there to fix problems, not to rescue students and save students.

A few students appeared to be exhibiting signs of disengaging from school and might even have been involved in some form of misbehaviour. In such cases their parents welcomed participation in the program with a mixture of relief and enthusiasm! :-)

What was important was that all parents had to be informed about the program and permission had to be given from them for the students to attend the orientation program. I drafted a letter outlining the purpose of the program, the benefits of an effective, internationally credible program and also subtly put the message across that their child's participation in the program was in no way a reflection of their parenting skills. The Principal then adapted the letter to the school's approach and sent them off. In addition, participation in the program is voluntary for the students, though I did stress to them the importance of sticking to the mentoring journey for the full six week probationary period once they had committed to participate.

I spoke to a group of about 14 students and shared details of the program, what it is all about, the benefits for the student participants, both long-term and short-term, also sharing some aspects of international research about youth mentoring. I had put together an audio-visual summary of my presentation, something the students tend to appreciate. They then completed a Student Pre-Program Survey which gave me a few insights into their thinking.

A couple of students opted out of the program at this point and I think we learnt a clear lesson from this exercise ie, better to have 20 - 25 students applying for the program, knowing that some would prefer not to participate in the end, than the same number of students as potential mentors. We could train more students than we had mentors, as this could make it easier to get matches on similar interests etc. Thus, I would suggest one keeps the options open throughout this process. We also had more boys than girls participating, possibly because adolescent girls of this age can cover up their feelings of inadequacy or low self-esteem better than boys, though this is is a gross generalisation.

A week later I ran a two hour mentee training program aimed at introducing the students to some mentoring concepts, but, most importantly, preparing the way for the mentor/mentee matching session. I ran a number of fun, non-threatening activities, most of which went down well, though, as one student justifiably pointed out in the evaluations, perhaps they were carrying too similar a message and thus were repetitive from that perspective. I ran a role play and was encouraged when students volunteered to take on the roles of mentor and mentee respectively and did wonderfully well. The key was for students to feel non-threatened. At the conclusion of these activities they completed the Mentee Interest Survey, almost identical in content to the Mentor Interest Survey. These surveys could be a key factor in the matching process.

During this time of preparing the students for the mentoring journey, I was conducting 1:1 Post-Training Interviews with all the mentor participants over a two week period. I volunteered to meet at their homes, or offices or at our office. The option was there so they could see that I valued their participation and was prepared to meet them at a venue which suited 'them'. I had contacted two of their three Referees prior to these interviews. The interview, which took 20 - 30 minutes maximum, focused on how much the participant had learnt from the training, their strengths and areas they felt they still needed to work at, ensured they understood the developmental role of the mentor in the mentoring relationship and allowed time for me to respond to any questions participants might have had about the program. All responses were recorded on paper, again an important part of the evaluation process. All participants also had to complete a non-threatening, yet helpful on-line Mentor Profiler, about which I will write in another Blog.

So, the mentors' screening was thorough. Once I was satisfied that the mentor had met all the program's criteria, clearly spelt out in the Mentor Assessment Summary, I went through each application with my CEO, who also signed the document accepting the mentor into the program. This is an important part of any program and takes the pressure off the Coordinator and other program staff in the event of something unforeseen taking place at any point during the mentoring journey. I then sent mentors a letter inviting them to participate in the program.

During this process I lost one mentor. She had weighed up the commitment, having completed the training and decided at the last minute to withdraw from the program, partly because she had just started in a new job as well. While I was naturally disappointed, I was also pleased that she had the courage to make this decision, as I had consistently advised mentors that it was okay to withdraw if they were concerned about the commitment required.

One final point about the process thus far. I have rewritten the student surveys and have combined their two surveys and now have one Pre-Program Student Survey.

We were ready to get on with the matching process ....

4. Benefits of the Mentor Training

2007-09-27T21:39:00.001+10:00

Why do I swear by this 21-hour training program? Well, in addition to some quite awesome evaluations, in which the mentors share how much they have enjoyed their time together, here are some points to consider:

Mentors have an opportunity to reflect on the topic week by week. The following week I always allow time for questions before we continue.
The group bonds together fantastically and, in the programs I run, this group will stay together throughout the mentoring journey. So, they get to know one another, begin to exchange emails and they also come to see how much experience of life is within this one group as they journey through the training.
I find it a great screening tool and sometimes work behind the scenes with participants to encourage them in areas where perhaps they are battling. Some of the stuff is too personal to put on a Blog page, though often the issues are about personal relationships or relationships with other members of the group. Again, it's great to gather the following week and to observe how the particular people involved might be working on an issue that others don't even know about. They all know I am not a Psychologist nor a Counsellor :-)
There are more opportunities for experiential learning. As participants begin to share more and more, we have some wonderful brainstorming sessions, which is a great opportunity for participants to see how they can all benefit from such exchanges of knowledge and experience when they begin the mentoring journey.
The Goal-getting module includes participants having to set two personal goals which they share with one other participant for five weeks (time is allocated each week for this). The idea? They have to mentor each other to see if they can achieve their goals. Goal-getting is a wonderful way to connect with and inspire adolescents if done properly and in a fun, non-threatening way. I say nothing while they undergo this goal-getting experience (obviously other than running the module during week 2) and then gather the threads together when we hear how they have all done, for which time is set aside in week 7.
There is plenty of informal chat over the tea/coffee breaks, prior to the training beginning etc. and, again, it's a positive way to screen and, at the same time, get to know the mentors for a program.
If they can turn up each week to the training, they are likely to be committed to the mentoring journey. Where people are irregular with attendance, they will screen themselves out of the program, as happened to one person during this latest training. I allow mentors to miss one training session (unless they have good reason eg, a business or other trip that had been organised months earlier). More than that and they are not allowed to continue in the program. Tough, yet effective! They can always make up the difference when the next training occurs, though it does mean they have to link in with a new group. I have had a number of experiences where mentors were allowed to continue the mentoring journey, despite missing a large bulk of the training. More often than not, these were the mentors that gave the most hassles once the mentoring journey began.
Mentors gain a good grasp of the issues young people are having to deal with and have the opportunity, through the experiential process, to reflect back to their own adolescent experiences, something that is difficult to do as effectively in a short training program.
I refer to the Manual throughout the training, so the mentors are aware of the content and its relevance for the various issues they will face during the mentoring journey.

I have little doubt that there will be many more benefits and, if I think of any, I will add them to this Blog page. Enough for now .....

3. Training the Mentors: a wonderful journey!

2007-09-27T20:46:00.000+10:00

I trained 14 mentors over a 7 week period. We met at the school every Tuesday night between 6.00 and 9.00 pm. Having 5 men present for the first stage of a pilot program was also amazing, as I was used to having considerably more female than male mentors prior to this program. Once a program has been up and running for a while then I find the male mentors start joining.

Anyway, mentors gathered from 5.45 pm and I provided light snacks, fruit, tea and coffee and the chance to chat informally. The training began at 6.15 and went on until about 7.25 pm, at which time I took a 10 minute tea/coffee break. The lollies or sweets are quickly consumed by one and all!! The final session of the evening ended at 9.00 pm. Occasionally I went over the time by 5 minutes, always with the permission of the participants and this was because I liked to conclude the evening with a story that would inspire the participants to keep on keeping on and also to give credence to the training that night.

I guess that was one thing that surprised me when I visited many programs in the USA and Canada last year. People were reluctant to spend more than a few hours training their volunteers and I often came away feeling that so many of those mentors were not properly prepared for working alongside young people. Adults get into bad habits, often think 'corporate speak' is going to work with young people (quite the opposite in many cases), feel they know exactly how to go about the mentoring journey, when they have so little understanding about what makes young people tick and so on and so forth. I am probably a little biased about all this, though I think it needs to be remembered that I am sharing ideas about mentoring adolescents.

When I first researched mentor training about 9 years ago, I came to see that many of the more successful programs were offering more than 12 - 16 hours of training. Those that went over 20 hours seemed to imply that the connection between mentor and mentee happened quicker than those with less training, something probably more true when mentoring boys I would imagine - the latter is certainly my experience.

Anyway, from the outset I decided to take the longer route and hoped that mentors would be happy with that form of training and I have not been disappointed. I have tried training over one day, for a few hours, over a couple of days during weekends, yet each time I come back to this 21-hour training program which I continue to develop - one has to keep writing, developing etc., as now we are working with Generation Y young people and we are mentoring young people who will participate in a very different world of work from when I started off my career.

I have now trained over 700 mentors and yet I am still learning, hence the importance of gaining honest feedback from the participants, which I obtain verbally during the training and in writing at the end of the training. The latter is a straightforward qualitative and quantitative evaluation form which I then collate and pass on to the school and my CEO. All mentors receive a copy of 'The Spirit of Mentoring - a Manual for volunteer adults', which I wrote in 2005 and self-published. This is the resource book around which the training has been developed, though it is mainly for use by the mentors when they begin the mentoring journey. I wrote it is a user-friendly book containing heaps and heaps of tips, ideas and so much more, mostly written with bullet points and under clear headings, with diagrams throughout. Many of the diagrams are similar to the power point slides I use during the training. This book is available through my website at less than half the price my publishers recommended! I am grateful to all those who have shared their experiences, as well as for the many, many resources I consulted prior to writing the book, which also includes a lengthy Bibliography :-)

The topics I cover over the 7 weeks are:

Week 1: What is a mentor?
Week 2: Goal-getting.
Week 3: Resiliency.
Week 4: Self-image and assertive behaviour.
Week 5: Communication.
Week 6: Resolving Conflicts.
Week 7: Summary and Evaluation.

There is heaps of repetition, which is deliberate, allowing the participants to grasp how so many of these modules are interlinked. There are plenty of interactive activities and an opportunity for participants to get in touch with their own feelings and experiences as they decide whether or not they want to undertake the mentoring journey. I make the first week challenging, as I would rather mentors drop out at that point than later, or even once they have started the mentoring journey. Occasionally I have lost a participant early on, but that's been fine.

I try to include a self-analysis sheet of some sort at the end of every evening, so the participants can assess how they stack up as potential mentors. All activities and self-analysis sheets are non-threatening, the activities often loaded with humour and fun. I begin each week with an icebreaker of some sort, though absolutely every aspect of the training is linked to mentoring young people in some way. I go at a fairly rapid pace, which is what the majority of participants truly enjoy. By the time I complete the training, mentors are familiar with the importance of EMPATHY and COMMUNICATION, especially LISTENING and NOT fixing or saving and so much more.

I feel so privileged to train mentors and the vibe is always so positive. I work hard at this on the first night and I am always pleasantly surprised at how many people share 'stuff' so early in the training. You will see from the order of the modules above that I bring the more sensitive material around resiliency, self-image and resolving conflict into the latter part of the training. The major emphasis of the training is the experiential nature of it. I also include role plays (not enough!), pairs and larger group discussion and, of course, we often have large group discussion as I share the meat of the topics.

What made this recent training that little bit more special was the fact that our catering was done by another federally funded project which helps young people, aged 13 - 19, and who have been away from school for at least three months, to get some experience in the hospitality sector. It's a fantastic programme and again I feel privileged to serve on their Steering Committee now. Cafe Horizons, as it is known, operates as a genuine Cafe between 11.30 am and 2.30 pm 4 days a week, during which time the students, who are supervised by professionally qualified and trained staff, take on different roles eg, a week as a kitchen hand, a week as front of house, a week as cashier etc. etc. Prior to the Cafe opening and again after cleaning up towards the end of the day, the students attend lectures in a room set aside for this purpose. I have been pleased to hear that some of the mentors have been there for lunch to see the cafe in action for themselves. Those students who complete the course gain a recognised Certificate for their efforts.

By the way, mentors who complete their training receive a Certificate of Attendance at the end of the training. Over the years I have discovered a few (very few, fortunately) who wanted to gain a Certificate, which they then put on their Resume (or Curriculum Vitae) and claimed they were mentors which they were not. Our mentors only gain an accredited Certificate once the six week probationary mentoring period is over.

I am digressing ..... perhaps a good place to end for a moment.

2. Early lessons learnt or reinforced in setting up a youth mentoring program

2007-09-21T21:10:00.000+10:00

There have been many lessons learnt on the journey thus far. Perhaps it would be helpful to list a few of these:

Make sure the program is internationally credible, which requires a Policies and Procedures Manual. There are some good examples of these on internationally credible youth mentoring websites.
Develop a budget and have a plan as to how the program will roll out. We have a budget plan until 2011, which now requires further work.
Develop the programme slowly. Don't try to make it too big too fast. A quality program will take time to develop. I am already into my third rewrite of the Policies and Procedures Manual and we are only just getting the mentor/mentee matches under way :-)
Think about evaluation all the time. I record 'every' inquiry about the program and also know how most of the people contacting me have heard about the program. I evaluate the mentor training, the mentee training and the mentor/mentee matching session - more about those later.
Keep building partnerships and networks. I am keen to develop partnerships with churches for volunteer mentors, as I sense that's an untapped area and there are some wonderful people in those communities who might well take up the offer to obtain mentoring experience.
Make the training free wherever possible - after all, the mentors are volunteering their time. We have the school paying a small amount for each participating student and this covers most of the mentor's training accreditation fee. We cover the difference from the GR8 MATES budget.
Make sure every potential mentor attends the training. I had one or two who were working in tertiary institutions who thought they did not need the training. I told them if they were unwilling or unable to participate in the training, they would not be able to participate in this particular program. It lets people know we are not desperate for mentors, but would prefer to have those who want to commit to all aspects of the program - that is clearly spelt out in the Application Pack.
For a school-based program, the Principal and Senior Management must get behind the program. I won't run a program unless I have sat with the Principal, discussed the program and received his/her support. I am also developing a short School Contract which participating school Principals will have to sign before we launch the program in their school. I think this adds to the quality of the program.
Identify the School Coordinator at the earliest opportunity. Teachers are busy people. I would love for the School Coordinator to attend the mentor training, though I know I can't enforce this if I want to see the program succeed. I also offer open invitations for the school to allow a number of teachers to attend the training free of charge, though they will only receive a Certificate of Attendance, not the full accreditation. More on that later.
Have a clear mentor screening process in place and enforce it - we want that commitment from the mentors.
Have a supportive group of people around you as you set the program up. I am looking to have a Mentor Sub-Committee of our Board in place by early 2008, their role to focus only on the development of the GR8 MATES mentoring program - more on that later.
Don't quit!! There were times I wondered if I was moving too fast, when all of a sudden things came together and I was ready to pull together an orientation session.
Don't be afraid to seek assistance and advice from people who have journeyed before, networks in different corners of the world. I have the privilege of knowing that I can contact people in various countries and ask for their advice, any resources on a specific topic etc. etc. I have been a member of Peer Resources (Canada) for a number of years now and regularly visit Mentor Exchange Listserv to read what people are doing, writing about etc. (National Mentoring Center) ......... And I do keep researching, reading and looking for fresh ideas, learning from the experiences of others etc. There is a wealth of knowledge out there and most people I have communicated with have been only too willing to share their ideas, thoughts etc. with me.
Once potential mentors are on board, keep them interested. I send out a very brief email, with a mentoring thought included, each week, as I want all mentors to know that I value their commitment to the program and want to keep them motivated and inspired for the mentoring journey ahead.
Market wherever you can - word of mouth is hugely important; churches; media; school newsletters; radio; tertiary institution intranets. I didn't use all of these this time around, but I am aware of different strategies - and spend money on a great brochure (A4 folded flyer), as this shows professionalism. If you have too many glossy brochures etc., people might think you are flush with cash :-) , so be careful you don't go over the top. I also had local Chambers of Commerce advertising through their E-Newsletters, as well as a Rotarian sharing the news of this new program. Even if I didn't get great returns from all of these strategies, I am also trying to increase the awareness about the GR8 MATES program for potential future grrowth.
Once you sense you have enough mentors to get things moving, go for it. Once I had 10 potential mentors I called the orientation meeting and more joined in the meantime.
Keep developing a website with key information for mentors - we are still in the process of developing this within my organisation and that's okay.
Enough for now ....

1. Setting up a school-based mentoring program: early days

2007-09-20T20:46:00.000+10:00

I have spent the past nine months developing the GR8 MATES youth mentoring program, a school-based program for Year 9 students who are possibly beginning to disengage from school or are not really reaching their potential for any number of reasons. This program aims to encourage these young people (mentees) to explore their options over at least a nine month mentoring relationship with a volunteer adult mentor from within the local community.

In Australia students are not allowed to leave school until the end of Year 10. At this point many who leave school tend to seek Apprenticeships, usually a four year process. Others simply head out into the world of work and seek a job of some sort. Some might study a short course through a local Tertiary or Training and Further Education (TAFE) Institute and then seek work. There are so many options available to young people, though it is becoming more and more important for them to complete their final year of schooling (Year 12), such are the needs for skilled, more mature employees.

Anyway, I spent time exploring options during the latter months of 2006 and eventually decided to model the program on another Australian program called Plan-It Youth. I spent time discussing the emergence of this program with one of the founders and then returned to the drawing-board to rewrite the program so that it suited the mission of the GR8 MATES program: To support young people in Year 9 and Year 10 to investigate their post school options and to make positive life choices that enable them to reach their personal potential.

The vision developed for the GR8 MATES program is simple: Young people will experience supportive one-to-one relationships and community support, which in turn allows them to develop into their full potential capable of making informed, responsible decisions as they transition from school to the workplace.

I was immensely fortunate to be awarded a Churchill Fellowship while I was still living in New Zealand and, in July 2006, visited mentoring and other youth programs in Canada and the USA. People I visited were so helpful and shered plenty of their experiences with me. My work up until this time had been involved with developing community based youth mentoring programs, a wonderful way to go, though requiring considerably more paperwork, screening and supervision than a school-based program. As I talked to people, I began to think more seriously than before about the positives of a school-based program, so, when I joined the Schools Industry Partnership (SIP), based in Penrith, Outer Western Sydney, I was privileged to be given the opportunity to launch this new program. There are no effective youth mentoring programs in the region and there are certainly plenty of concerns about the pathways being chosen by many young people, so this seemed a great opportunity. As SIP is a government federally funded program, we are able to launch a pilot and, if successful explore further options.
As a result of my travels and the conversations I have had over the years with others involved in youth mentoring, I have been fortunate to have rubbed shoulders with some of the most respected programs in the USA. The National Mentoring Center and MENTOR have allowed me to adapt materials and this I have done developing the Policies and Procedures Manual for GR8 MATES. It is important that the program stands up to international scrutiny, so I have followed all the Quality Assurance steps, listed in more detail on my website (http://www.yess.co.nz/ ).

I was able to adapt other material I had already used in developing other youth mentoring programs and this made it considerably easier to pull something together that was internationally credible in a relatively short space of time (three months).

Then began the process of finding both the school to pilot the program and the volunteer mentors. I reasoned that the school would have no problem identifying potential mentees, so that was the least of my problems during the early days. I also have held a belief for quite some time that there are many people within churches who might want to live out their faith ie, giving of their time in service to young people. Fortunately, Kelly from a church in the Blue Mountains area where we would be trialling the program, made contact with me about youth mentoring in general. I shared with her all that GR8 MATES was about and she offered to approach some people in her congregation, which led to some interest. I was aiming to have between 10 and 15 mentors for the pilot. Kelly also gave me the name of a reporter from a local community newspaper whom she felt would be supportive of this program. I contacted him and he offered to put together a story, together with a photograph of the School Principal, the School Coordinator (in this instance also the Careers Advisor) and myself. In addition, one of our Board members involved in a local TAFE offered to circulate an advertisement about the program on the TAFE intranet. All in all I probably received about 30 to 40 expressions of interest, though a number of people dropped out when they heard where the program was being run ie, they couldn't get to the area (distance) and when it would be held (between 10.50 am and 12.50 pm) every Tuesday during term time.

How did we find the school? Well, this was the easiest part. One of my jobs as Career Transition Manager for SIP was to organise a Principals Breakfast early in the year, which was also attended by Careers Advisers and other members of school senior management teams. We used the opportunity to showcase our plans for 2007, which included the possibility of launching a mentoring program. No major details were given, as I was still in the thinking and planning stage at that point, but we received Expressions of Interest from 17 schools. The Principal of one of these schools is the Deputy Chairman of our Board, so, when he offered to pilot the program it was too good an opportunity to turn down. Why do I say this? Simply because he has been involved in SIP from the beginning, understands the philosophy, and also appreciates that a new program is going to have to go through some challenging times as it establishes itself.

While these various processes were taking place, the Policies and Procedures Manual was coming together and I was ready to put together an A4 brochure advertising the program. In the long-term it's cheaper to produce more flyers like this, so we had 5,000 printed which will serve us well for at least three years, I would think. It's glossy, explains the Mission and the Vision of GR8 MATES, fits it into the whole SIP program and outlines some other information about GR8 MATES.

We were beginning to get up a head of steam by June, so it was time to have an orientation meeting at the school of those interested. Having Keith, School Principal, present was an important moment for the program. If the Principal is not openly backing the program in such instances, it's that much harder to succeed. Fortunately, Keith has been totally involved from day one and we are in regular contact. He is copied into all the emails sent out to the mentors, so he knows what's going on all the time.

At the orientation meeting, attended by about 20 potential mentors, I outlined the program and handed out Application Packs. A couple of people told me that they would be unable to participate, as they could not attend the training and one person, so keen to be involved, had to withdraw prior to the training due to family circumstances which necessitated her having to help out with baby-sitting etc. Perhaps in 2008 she said.

The Application Packs contained brochures, as well as forms that needed to be completed. These forms contained information such as: Mentor's date of birth, contact details, places of work during the past 5 years and names of employers (who would not be contacted); contact details of three people for character references; a Mentor Interest Survey, a Working with Children Check Form (compulsory in Australia), an outline of the Mentor Training Programme and a Consent Form that allows us to take photos during the mentor's participation in the program (also a requirement as we are government funded). Once the forms started coming in, I set the dates and times for the training.