Personalized Guidance: Tailoring support to individual needs, fostering trust, and providing a safe space for self-exploration and growth.
Empathetic Listening: Offering a non-judgmental ear, actively engaging in conversations, and validating emotions and experiences.
Positive Relationships: Fostering healthy and meaningful connections and equipping teens and young adults with tools to enhance their relationships at home, school, work and in their community.
Holistic Well-being: Addressing various aspects of life, including emotions, relationships, self-care, and goal-setting, to promote overall mental wellness.
Encouraging Resilience: Instilling confidence, promoting self-reflection, and equipping mentees with tools to navigate challenges and embrace their potential.
As a mentor, my intentions are to...
As a mentor, my intentions are to...
Express Care
Challenge Growth
Provide
Support
Share Power
Expand Possibilities
Learn more about Developmental Relationships at search-institute.org.
Just Some of The Benefits for Mentees
Just Some of The Benefits for Mentees
Social Emotional Growth
- Experience a decrease in feelings of anxiety and depression
- Develop awareness of and comfort with who they are as an individual
- Understand their own strengths and challenges
- Able to manage emotions
- Take ownership of their behaviours and fulfill commitments
Academic Strength
- Increased punctuality and attendance and school/work
- Self-motivated to do well
- Believe in personal responsibility for grades/performance
- More engaged
- Develop a desire to explore new subjects and challenges
- 76% of mentored youth aspire to enroll in and graduate from college
Civic Commitment
- See helping others as a personal responsibility
- 50% more likely to volunteer
- 13% more likely to give to charity
- 17% more likely to be gainfully employed and earn 13% more on average, compared to non-mentored peers
Decreased Risky Behaviour
- Youth who meet regularly with their mentors are:
- 46% less likely than their peers to start using illegal drugs
- 27% less likely to start drinking
These things take time...
These things take time...
Intentional relationships that are frequent, consistent, and enduring can have stabilizing effects on our emotional, physical, and mental health.
One Year: Beginning, Middle and End
For formal mentoring, a 1-year commitment is recommended. To establish trust, and form a meaningful bond, it requires a beginning phase of getting to know each other; and the real momentum starts mid-way through the year, once trust has been established and a bond begins to develop. Thoughtful closure at the end of the program is crucial. Premature termination or a poor ending can undo all the benefits gained by the mentee throughout the match, and in some cases, can even be harmful.
Eight Hours Each Month
Studies on mentor/mentee relationships suggest that providing limited access to mentoring is worse than no mentoring at all. The magic formula for real impact is 8-hours a month, ideally split up between one interaction each week. Lives are busy, schedules are hectic and things come up, so while once a week is the goal, there is plenty of flexibility with how the hours are divided each month. The main goal is to maintain steady contact.
Examples of joint activities
Examples of joint activities
Each mentee is unique, with their own set of interests, needs, challenges, abilities, and goals, and our time together reflects this. These are just some of the things we could do together during our 1-on-1 time. If a mentee is interested in it, I’m open to it!
- Play With Clay
- Working on assignments at the library
- Laser Tag
- Attending local festivals and community events
- Museums
- Art Galleries
- Concerts (my favourite!)
- Shopping for the perfect outfit for that big occasion
- Searching far and wide for the perfect Halloween costume
- Going to the movies or drive-in
- Recreation centre activities
- Amusement Parks
- Thrifting and antiquing
- Seeing plays at local theatres
- Going out to restaurants
- Visiting the Donkey Sanctuary
etc, etc, etc...
- More involved hikes in nearby locations
- Swimming
- Ice skating
- Tobogganing
- Making earth art
- Building snowpeople
- Playing tennis
- Beach day
- Exploring Toronto Island
- Picnics by the river
etc, etc, etc...
- Doing arts & crafts
- Playing board games
- Cooking up a storm in the kitchen
- Baking a cake for a special occasion
- Having tea
- Watching tv & movies
- Working on homework
- Practicing presentations
etc, etc, etc...
- Doing random acts of kindness, like shoveling driveways
- Regular volunteering at local foodbanks, community kitchens, shelters
- One time volunteering at special events and festivals
etc, etc, etc...
- Life model drawing
- Pottery
- Dance
- Zoomba
- Spin
- Kickboxing
- DYI workshops
- Improv
etc, etc, etc...
Get started today
