Are you a former or part-time teacher, or someone with experience working with children in primary schools?
Young Minds Matter is looking for compassionate individuals to join our team as Volunteer Primary School Mentors.
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.
Responsibilities
– Provide one-to-one mentoring sessions with primary school children.
– Listen actively and offer non-judgemental support.
– Help children develop social and emotional skills.
– Foster a safe, confidential and respectful environment for children to express themselves.
– Collaborate with school pastoral staff where necessary to identify and address the individual needs of each child.
What We’re Looking For:
Experience: Background in teaching or working with children in primary schools.
Skills: Excellent listening skills, patience, and empathy
Character: Non-judgemental, respectful., and supportive.
Availability: At least 4 hours per week to commit to in-school sessions. (School. term time only)
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!