Referrals

To ensure the best support for young people and our volunteer mentors, referrals must meet the following criteria:

Age: Young people must be aged 8–18 (referrals must be made before their 17th birthday).

Location: Must live within the York City boundary.

Needs: Suitable for young people experiencing challenges such as low confidence, emotional wellbeing, family issues, social difficulties, or educational barriers.

Engagement: The young person must be aware of and agree to the referral, and be willing to participate in mentoring.

Safety: As an early intervention service with volunteer mentors, we cannot accept referrals for young people currently engaging in high-risk behaviours or requiring specialist therapeutic support.

We are unable to accept referrals for:

Siblings of current mentees (to ensure fairness)

Young people who have accessed The Island’s services in the last 3 years

Those needing support beyond what mentoring can offer

If you're unsure whether a young person meets the criteria, please contact our team before submitting a referral.

We accept referrals from a wide range of professionals, as well as from a young person’s parent or carer. 

Professionals who may refer include (but are not limited to): 

• Youth Workers 

• SENDCOs 

• Pastoral Leads 

• Social Workers 

• Youth Justice Workers 

• Support Workers 

Once a referral is submitted, our team reviews it to ensure the young person meets our programme criteria. Please note that not all referrals are accepted at this stage. 

If the referral is eligible, we’ll contact the family to arrange a home visit. This visit helps us get to know the young person and their circumstances, and to assess whether mentoring would be a good fit. 

If mentoring is agreed to be beneficial, the young person will be added to our waiting list. We’ll then carefully match them with a volunteer mentor who shares similar interests, as soon as one becomes available. 

We don’t currently have set days or times for accepting referrals, although we’re working towards having a regular schedule. 

Referrals open when we have a manageable waiting list and a group of volunteer mentors ready to be matched with young people. 

To stay updated and be the first to know when referrals reopen, join our mailing list. 

Our referral form only asks for the information we need to assess whether mentoring is the right fit for the young person. 

We’ll ask for: 

• Basic details such as the young person’s name, date of birth, and address 

• Family background 

• School and education needs 

• Any known risk factors or recent safeguarding concerns 

Before submitting a referral, we ask that the young person is made aware of the service and agrees to take part. We do not accept referrals where the young person hasn’t been informed or does not want to engage. 

Our mentoring programme is youth-led, we believe support works best when young people choose to be involved.