09 Aug 18
We hope you're as excited about Involve 2018 as we are - Aotearoa's National youth development sector conference. More than 700 people have already registered, and the programme is full of incredible research, methods and tools that will provide inspiration and support for your people to take their work to the next level.
With just 4 days until kick-off it is still not too late to register! tickets here!
So many exciting things are happening outside of Involve too - like the Tuesday night film event, the amazing Praxis are hosting Breakfasts during Involve, there is a Korowai Tupu lunch on Monday 13th and a Tuesday evening event with our international speakers.
If you can't make it - we'll be ensuring that our social media channels are pinging!
The hashtag we'll be using is #involvenz and the official accounts are:
https://twitter.com/involvenz
https://www.facebook.com/events/1877174148965273/
The NZ Youth Mentoring Network is collaborating with the Ara Taiohi, The Collaborative and SYHPANZ to put on this incredible conference that will chart a way forward for our awesome sector.
We are so looking forward to Involve and want to let you know about some of the specific Youth Mentoring sessions that will be running over the two and half days.
There are a number of specific youth mentoring workshops in the programme including:
A bus stop is an exciting, dynamic session format which lets you engage with presenters, and learn about a variety of topics in one go! You'll move around the room in small groups to hear from up to four different presenters, making for a really personal experience.
Facilitated by Joy Eaton, NZ Youth Mentoring Network Deputy Chairperson, each panelist will share some key messages about their experience of what it takes to build quality mentoring relationships between a mentor and a young person. Our panelists are:
A number of our trustees are attending the conference and will be looking after the stall, so be sure to come visit us.
Of course there are heaps of other things in the programme for people working in a mentoring role with young people. View the full programme here.
Dr Pryce is recognised internationally for her pioneering work in understanding the relationship processes involved in youth mentoring. Her seminal work on mentor attunement (a technique combining empathy, interpersonal cue reading, and situational responsiveness) has had a notable impact in helping programs train staff and mentors in interpersonal skills critical to strong mentoring relationships.
Her workshop will focus on the concept of attunement--a set of skills among mentors and staff that facilitate relationship connection. Through this workshop, participants will learn what attunement looks like. Through sharing an evidence-informed practice model (The Mentoring FAN--Facilitating Attuned Interactions), Dr. Pryce will illustrate how programs can develop attunement among their staff and mentors, and how attunement can improve relationships across the mentoring system. She will also introduce the pilot results from the Mentor Attunement Scale, a measure developed with New Zealand colleagues to assess levels of attunement among volunteer mentors, and will invite partners to pilot the scale in their agencies.
Where and when: Involve 2018 Interactive Workshop |Tuesday 14th August, 11.15am – 12.30pm
It was wonderful to see many of you at Edith "Winx" Lawrence's presentation in Auckland a couple of weeks ago. We hope you found her topic really valuable and thought provoking.
For those of you who were unable to attend in person we are pleased to be able to provide a copy of the handout Winx shared together with her Powerpoint presentation.
Bringing Out Their Best. New Zealand 2018
Winx's presentation was focused on the Young Women’s Leaders Program she developed at the University of Virginia - with university students mentoring targeted middle-school girls, which has now expanded to several other countries. Despite the specific focus of this work, it was great to see the diversity of our audience, who found so much relevance in the rich range of information that was generously made available.
She noted the universal truth of the importance of language. Leadership is a powerful and positive concept, equally relevant to both age groups of the young women. Based on self-determination theory, the program faces up to challenging issues like “How to have difficult conversations?”
Winx also emphasised the importance of training for mentors and that there is widespread under-estimation of the support needed to do a good job – while peer-mentoring needs lots of adult support. Quoting from US mentoring guru Jean Rhodes (2002) she memorably shared “When the tool of change is a close relationship, everyone involved should proceed with caution.”
NZYMN is very grateful to our academic colleagues at the Faculty of Education and Social Work, University of Auckland, who have made it possible for us to co-host a range of distinguished US professors speaking on various aspects of Youth Mentoring over the years.
Please pass this e-newsletter on to others in your community who work with young people and have an interest in mentoring and like our facebook page to keep up to date.
Ngā mihi nui
Nicki McDonald
New Zealand Youth Mentoring Network
PO Box 99726 Newmarket
M: 027 520 2981
E: nicki@youthmentoring.org.nz
