Mentors

Mentorship

Mentorship is one of the essential programmes available at The MultiCare Youth Foundation. It involves the one-to-one matching of a caring, adult, volunteer mentors with vulnerable and at-risk youth, through a rigorous screening and training process.

Why mentorship?

American politician John C Crosby once said, “Mentoring is a brain to pick, an ear to listen, and a push in the right direction”. At MYF, we believe mentorship is the ideal remedy to the myriad of problems young people face as they embark on adulthood. These issues often include low self-esteem, indecisiveness, and peer pressure. Most at-risk young people are deprived of a supportive environment where they can get the advice and guidance they need to make the relevant decisions. MYF’s mentorship programme seeks to meet the need for individuals who can provide children and young adults with the direction they need to make wholesome choices.

Over 26 years, our Mentorship programme has succeeded in strengthening character and integrity, building self-esteem and helping the youth to become confident in their abilities.

How does it work ?

Once you request to be a mentor, you will be sent a Mentor Application form to be completed and returned to the Mentorship Officer.
Once we have received your completed application form it will be processed and you will be notified of your acceptance. You will also be informed of the next Mentorship Orientation Training workshop which will provide you with the roles and responsibilities of a Mentor.

In addition, volunteers will be matched with their mentees at the end of the training session. Both mentor and mentee sign a Mentorship Agreement form which outlines the ground rules of how they would want their relationship to work between them both.

Our mentees are selected from our vocational and life skills training programmes or recommended to us from an educational institution.

All Volunteers will also be sent a template to make a monthly report of their activities or challenges faced throughout the month to the Mentorship officer.

Responsibilities of a Mentor

•  Be able to commit to the relationship for at least one year
•  Spend at least 4 hours each month productively engaging with their mentee
• Serve as a positive role model by embodying desirable attributes and       behaviours (eg: respect, patience, tolerance, support, and reflective listening)
•  Be comfortable and able to establish appropriate boundaries with the mentee and his/her family
• Aid in the mentee’s development of their plan of action
•  Honour commitments made to the mentee, and to the MYF mentoring programme (eg: attend ongoing/ refresher training, complete monthly check-ins and evaluation surveys)
• Be patient and understand that the mentoring relationship is a process that takes work and time!

Mentoring is a gift to be shared, it is an empowering relationship that enables purposeful conversation, the achievement of goals, decision-making and problem-solving. The purpose of mentoring is development. It is more about learning than teaching; both mentors and their mentees.

Sign Up for our mentorship programme and help to empower a child.