To deliver a Mentoring programme for Derby Youth Alliance, providing training and support for mentors who work with vulnerable and challenged young people across Derby. The project was funded by Derby Recovery Grant Fund (DRGF).
The Organisation
Derby Youth Alliance was formed to provide a network of providers working collaboratively to support Derby City’s young people to be safe, to develop and prosper. The focus of the Youth Alliance is based around the needs of the most vulnerable and challenged young people and deprived communities. Its aim is to reduce risk and improve wellbeing and services for young people in a collaborative and constructive way.
The Project
The mentoring project provides support for young people in Derby who have been impacted by the pandemic and are struggling with mental health, well-being, employment and education. Research confirms that quality mentoring relationships have powerful positive effects on young people in a variety of personal, academic, and professional situations. Ultimately, mentoring helps a young person with personal growth and development, and social and economic opportunities.
A recent IES report finds working conditions significantly worsened for under-25s during Covid, with many citing mental health as a barrier to accessing good quality employment.
A survey of 16–25 year-olds from across the UK (Princes Trust Youth Index 2021), gauges the happiness and confidence levels of young people across a range of areas – from working life to both physical and mental health, the findings revealed:
The Aims of The Project
All young people in Derby be provided with the opportunity to improve their aspirations and situation post COVID.
The Approach
DYA partners provide mentoring at a local level, this project widens the scope for young people across Derby to access mentoring with DYA overseeing, managing and delivering a high quality, targeted mentoring programme for young people in Derby. They will provide a support framework to enable mentoring to help meet the needs of the mentees, achieved through recruiting the right mentors, delivering high-quality mentor training, providing ongoing support, supervision, quality assurance and accreditation of mentors as well as providing access to relevant resources and advice.
To ensure longevity of this project, a number of mentors were trained to roll out the mentoring programme across the City. To provide a legacy of mentoring, young people were given the opportunity to become peer mentors as well as play a part in managing the mentoring programme, supporting other young people as well as developing their own skills and profile.
The Programme
- To provide mentoring, the purpose to support a young person on an on-going basis
- To provide specialist mentoring – mentoring support in specific areas
- To deliver Mentor Training Programmes – training mentors on the skills of mentoring, goal-setting, ethics, boundaries and contracting
- Supervision and support – For mentors to attend a group supervision session, held quarterly. This is a guided session that checks-in with mentors and addresses any issues, needs, or questions and provides support and guidance. It is also an opportunity to feedback any issues
- Facilitate a drop-in session every 1-2 months for mentors to network, discuss issues and get support
- To ensure the quality of the mentoring, mentors are encouraged to become accredited, mentors are observed mentoring, submit evidence of mentoring sessions and self-reflection on mentoring
- Peer to Peer Mentoring – this is a great way to involve young people in mentoring programmes and have an input in future mentoring and programme delivery. They were provided with training and support to develop their peer mentoring skills so they can then go on and confidently mentor other young people
- Training of Mentor trainers-A selected number of mentors trained to become trainers of new mentors. These trainers are supervised and supported and will become a self-managing network who will go on and oversee the mentoring programme