Become a mentor to help your community

Mentoring in our communities can often sound a daunting task, but to many in our local communities, they are ‘old hands’ at this and very active.

Many of us have decades of skills and knowledge from our employment and life experiences that we would love to share with our communities. The best and most valuable area to share this knowledge and make a difference is with the ‘youth’ of our community. They are without a doubt the future of our communities, so the more we invest in them, the more we also protect our own future.

Support your local youth by becoming a mentor. All it takes is your commitment of a couple of hours each week with a young person.

A place to start is your local secondary high school. Contact them and ask about opportunities to mentor students. Meet with a school representative and discuss how you can assist by mentoring. Share your background of skills and knowledge and ask if the school has any students who might be seeking a career pathway beyond school in a similar direction that you have taken over the years.

Often, secondary schools have mentoring programs already established and you would be welcomed to join. Once you have joined the program, your skills and knowledge will be matched to a student of similar career pathway needs to your experiences or you will be matched to a student who needs assistance with deciding their career pathway.

Your student will become your ‘buddy’.

It’s often immensely helpful to understand a little about the way the school functions. Find out the date of the school’s orientation day and ask if you can attend. If you are not sure of the location of the school, do a trial run to the school and also check out where you will be likely to find safe parking. If you don’t drive and are relying on public transport, then check out the bus and train timetables.

Always remember that upon arrival at any school, you should report directly to the administration office of the school and sign into the school attendance register. Always wear your badge of identification whilst on school premises. Then when leaving the school premises return to the administration office and sign out once again.

When first attached to a student buddy, the mentoring program is explained to both the mentors and the student buddies. It is important that both persons understand the program and the goals. It is also important for the parents of the student to understand the mentoring program.

You need to be there for your buddy. You are there to support your buddy, not as a representative of the school or his/her family. A level of trust and confidentiality is very important. It is important for both the student and yourself to feel comfortable in each others company, act naturally and be honest with each other.

During your buddy – mentor relationship, you will explore interests, hobbies and career interests. You might conduct a mock job interview and do role-play or role reversals. You will practice looking for job advertisements and mentor your buddy to look for key elements relevant to their interests. Share skills in researching job positions, trades, and skills needed. Encourage and help with leads for work experience opportunities, plus support your buddy in placements of work experience whilst still at school.

The mentoring program coordinators offer support and guidance to you – the mentor. Often secondary school career advisors can assist with providing job advertisements and known work placement opportunities to assist your buddy, plus arrange for mentors and their buddies to travel together, on a group excursion to a careers expo or careers advisory centre.

Mentors can assist their buddies with preparations of their resumes, also collating school performance accumulated awards, etc. Often students don’t get this assistance from home, so as a mentor you will be providing guidance in a new area.

Mentors may at times feel as though they have hit a brick wall with their buddy, so reflection of communication style is important. Mentors can’t afford to allow themselves to become judgmental or impose their own moral standards or attitudes upon students. Mentors also must be aware of their own body language. The mentor should be there for his or her buddy.

At the conclusion of each mentoring program, a presentation night to share achievements of both the mentor and buddy is often a moving event and very rewarding.

Educational terminology changes over the years, but once you get started and get a feel for current school day it will be easy to absorb. In current times, especially in any government institutions like that of education, everyone talks in acronyms. Some examples include:

VET – Vocational Education Training, run in School with an emphasis on Trade and Careers
TVET – TAFE delivered vocational and educational training, generally available to Year 11 & 12 Students whilst still in High School
SC – School Certificate
HSC – Higher School Certificate
DET – Department of Education and Training is now known as STS – State Training Services

My experience as a mentor, was as a member of the NSW Active Retirees and Mentors Inc ‘Volunteers Supporting Local Youth’ in 2002 -2003. The mentoring program that I joined was called ‘Plan-It Youth’. I joined at a local secondary school and this program also allowed me to mentor secondary students in many other secondary schools within the surrounding area as well. The mentoring program also provided a free TAFE course that gave me new skills and brushed up old skills in conflict resolution, effective listening, mentor roles (rights and responsibilities), plus confidentiality and child protection legislation training.

Do you have a couple of hours spare each week? Become a mentor and make a difference to a young person in your community. Learn new skills by helping the future of your community.

Help put a wise head on the shoulders of a young person through your sharing and mentoring.

Image: The Amazings