IMproving your impact
The foundations of mentoring are built on regular consistent mentoring over an extended period of time. Both the relationship and the role modeling you provide are where the young person benefits the most.
If you want to look in more detail into what you can do to make the most impact, take a look at some of the resources below.
Becoming a better mentor
This downloadable book from Mentor is full of helpful approaches and skills that equip mentors. At over 100 pages, it is not brief but nevertheless it is like an expanded mentor handbook for those who want to dig deeper.
Each chapter of the book is summarised in 2-4 minute videos.
Resilience in Young People - some surprising hope from a longitudinal study
A longitudinal study of children born on an island in Hawaii has shown that despite young people having tough circumstances early in life, they can still get their lives back on track. With some internal characteristics and some external supports, they can thrive. And you know it.... mentors are one of the elements of resilience. This short 10-minute read gives you a sense of the significance of building resilience through mentoring and how stable attachments play a key part in helping a young person to grow.
This research study provides both a framework and research backing to our mentoring programme. Click on the image to download the article.
Relationships matter: The 5 Elements of Developmental Relationships
2 minute video from the Search Institute breaks it down into 5 easy to understand tasks of mentors.
This holistic approach to wellbeing uses the metaphor of a wharenui to understand the elements of wellbeing and how they are connected. The whare is built on the whenua (land) and has four walls, each a part of the wellbeing of the person (these are described on the website, click on the title to the left).
Some reading from research
The Chronicle of evidence-based mentoring
This website provides access to summaries of loads of mentoring studies for those who like to dig deeper into what really works in mentoring practice. You can subscribe for a monthly newsletter. Here are a few samplers worth taking a look at:
How do Mentoring relationships grow over time