Benefits of One to One Mentoring
Mentoring a child or young person experiencing difficulties with their mental, emotional and social wellbeing is the great gift that you can give to the next generation. Mentoring raises confidence, self-esteem and positive behaviours and helps children to make better life choices for their future.
Sophie is just one of our mentors who gives up a few hours of her time each week to help a local York child in need. Find out why she mentors with us and why you should consider mentoring at The Island.
What is your role at The Island?
Sophie: I am a one-to-one volunteer mentor at The Island which involves supporting a local York child who is experiencing some form of difficulty within their life.
Can you describe what you do as part of your role?
Sophie:
I meet with my mentee once a week where we participate in a recreational activity. Taking part in an activity enables us to build up a relationship so that I can help raise my mentee’s aspirations, confidence and overall wellbeing.
What inspired you to volunteer at The Island and what have you gained from the experience so far?
Sophie: I have done previous work for other mentoring services over school holidays and found it really rewarding, so when The Island came into one of my University Lectures and talked about what they do to support vulnerable children living in York, I thought it would be worthwhile to look into it and apply.
I have further developed my skills in mentoring in ways such as listening and understanding and adjusting plans to suit the changing needs to something that may have happened during the week at school.
How has your mentee changed from when you first met them to how they are now?
Sophie: My mentee is a young carer and prior to mentoring, my mentee was shy and had experienced many unsettling challenges within their life.
My mentee has gained so much more confidence and is willing to ask questions which they would not have done prior to the mentoring programme. I have been helping my mentee to grow their confidence by encouraging them to take the lead in activities, for example ordering the tickets for events as well as teaching my mentee vital life skills such as how to budget and manage money well.
It has also been lovely to watch my mentee grow older over the last several months and experience different areas of school life that I have been able to aid with.
Can you describe why mentoring is so beneficial for children struggling with their mental, emotional and social wellbeing?
Sophie: Often children want to talk about what is going on in their life but feel they cannot confidently speak with a parent or teacher. Mentoring at The Island is informal and fun, and we allow children to talk about their challenges when they are ready to do so.
One to one mentoring allows a child to have some one on one attention, where they can do whatever they like doing and the focus is purely on them during the allocated mentoring session.
What would you say to someone considering volunteering at The Island?
Sophie: Go ahead and do it. At first, I was nervous of attending the training events as I would be on my own, but everyone is in the same boat. Once you have been allocated a young person meeting up with them each week becomes something to look forwards to as you are able to see the joy on their face when you turnup at their door and go out to do something fun.
