The Value of Mentoring
Mentoring is a supportive relationship between a young person and an older and more experienced adult. It provides young people with connection and support, helping them to establish a sense of identity and to develop positive aspirations for their future.
But mentoring is not a one-way street: being a mentor can be deeply rewarding, and when young people flourish the community around them grows more connected, less fearful, and more engaged - something that our research supports.
Young people want connection & need support
Youth often get a hard time in the media and when being talked about by older adults: people will say that they're always on their phones, they're getting into trouble, they don't have respect. But these ideas are misconceptions.
The world is complex and challenging - and right now young people need connection & support more than ever. Mentoring builds a bridge between generations. It dispels misunderstanding and builds social cohesion. It provides support instead of criticism. Read how in our free PDF "Young People, No Problem"
What is Youth Mentoring?
Mentoring aims to provide a purposeful, structured and trusting relationship, that brings young people together with caring individuals who offer guidance, support and encouragement.
How does mentoring help?
For many young people, having someone other than their parents/caregivers who offers guidance, support and encouragement, is a natural part of life. For others this is not the case and they may need help finding an adult who is going to be a reliable, positive and trustworthy guide. As the opportunities for natural mentoring relationships have declined in modern society, a spectrum of structured and purposeful youth mentoring programmes have arisen, providing the connections that would otherwise be lacking.
Forms of Youth Mentoring
In Aotearoa New Zealand, formal youth mentoring programmes started to emerge in the mid-1990s and the sector has continued to develop over the last 20 years.
Today there are approximately 40 programmes registered on the NZYMN website. We know anecdotally that many more formal mentoring progress exist, and the number registered on our NZYMN website continues to grow as more organisations connect with the Network.
In summary, the youth mentoring landscape can be classified under two broad categories:
Informal mentoring: includes natural mentors/very important people (VIPs) – adults who offer mentoring support to a young person outside an established youth programme e.g., sports coaches, teachers, and family friends.
Formal mentoring:
Standalone mentoring programmes: specialist structured youth mentoring programmes where the primary role of the programme is youth mentoring e.g., Big Brothers Big Sisters NZ; Pillars; Big Buddy.
Youth development programmes: offering a mentoring service as a component of the existing youth work they are undertaking e.g., Youth One Stop Shops; iwi social services agencies; Youth Horizons.
The focus of the mentoring is very much governed by the youth population being served, and the outcomes programmes are aiming to achieve. Programmes may focus on assisting young people to:
achieve educational goals
achieve vocational / career goals
build confidence, self-belief, resilience
avoid anti-social behaviour and encourage connectedness in their community
develop strong interpersonal relationships with their family and peers
grow in their understanding of their culture and identity and to be able to exercise this in their community
engage in sport and physical activity to improve health and fitness.
The desired outcomes also help determine the type of mentoring undertaken and the most appropriate setting for it to take place.
The types of mentoring undertaken can be classified:
Traditional mentoring (one adult to one young person)
Group mentoring (one adult with a group of four to five young people)
Team mentoring (several adults working with a small group of young people)
Peer mentoring (youth mentoring other youth)
E-mentoring (using technology such as email or skype as a primary form of communication)
Mixed delivery mentoring (using a combination of mentoring types)
Mentoring takes place in an array of settings. Broadly these fall into three main areas:
Site-based programmes occur at designated locations such as schools, churches, marae, youth centres, youth justice facilities, sports clubs, tertiary institutions etc
In Community-based programmes mentoring pairs tend to operate fairly independently, deciding and organising where to meet and what activities to do together
E-mentoring take place in a virtual community, with chats between mentors and mentees occurring via the internet.
