Are you committed to improving the mental health and well-being of young people in Warwickshire and Coventry? Young Minds Matter is looking for Volunteer Mentors who have a genuine connection with young people and a strong desire to create positive change. As a Volunteer Mentor, you’ll play a crucial role in supporting and guiding young people towards improved mental health and overall well-being. Join our team and help us cultivate a nurturing community focused on support and personal growth for young individuals.
What do our Mentors do?
Volunteer Mentors at Young Minds Matter engage in weekly 1:1 sessions with young individuals who require support, providing them with a compassionate ear, empathetic listening, and encouragement to navigate challenges by developing effective coping strategies. Serving as positive role models, Mentors empower young people to build resilience and thrive, creating a safe and nurturing environment where young people can explore their strengths, overcome obstacles, and realise their full potential.
Could you be a YMM Mentor? If you live in the West Midlands, want to help young people and are:
– Self-aware
– An excellent listener
– Non judgemental
– Ideally over 25 years old
– Reliable
– Able to use standard office software and have access to a computer
-Able to commit up to 6 hours a week during term time (in one day or possibly split over two days) in a local school
..then you have the ability to become an excellent mentor.
What we provide and what you gain:
– A bespoke induction training programme which will give you the knowledge and practical skills you need to work safely with students
– Ongoing skills development through work shadowing and online courses
– Peer support from our cohort of more experienced mentors
– Opportunities to get involved in other YMM initiatives
– Skills development with ongoing training that can boost your career
– Monthly 1:1 supervision sessions with a fully qualified British Association for Counselling & Psychotherapy (BACP) accredited counsellor, to help you develop your skills and address any emerging needs of the young people you support.
– Reimbursement for travel expenses
– The opportunity to work in a rewarding role
Words from a current volunteer mentor
The work I do with YMM is, in many ways, the most rewarding that I have ever undertaken. YMM has provided me with the framework within which I am able to put my life experiences and skills to work in service of children and young adults who, for whatever reason, find themselves struggling to cope with the demands life has placed on them.
For me, the key attribute of an effective mentor is the ability to listen – really listen – to what a child is saying. Often, by choking back my desire to jump in with a solution, I find I have given that mentee space to come up with their own way forward which is better than I could ever have suggested.
The stories of so many successful adults can be put down to the support or encouragement they got from a single individual who may not even know that their words and the time they invested in that person had any effect. I view my role as a mentor in that way: I may never know whether any of what I do has any effect, but I do it anyway, because this next generation deserves it!