Mentoring

          In the Merriam-Webster dictionary, a mentor is defined as a “trusted counselor or guide.” Indeed, most of us with close friends are mentors to those friends as we offer our support and reasoned advice. But mentoring a disadvantaged child, struggling student or young adult is more complicated than nurturing a friendship. These youngsters often have multifaceted problems that require consistent emotional support that goes along with meeting their special needs that might include tutoring, medical/dental care and assessment of their home situation. Most importantly, these children need good role models to emulate and adults that can help them build self-esteem and confidence.

Mentoring can also be highly focused and needs-specific. High school counselors and alumnae assist students in selecting colleges to attend and ways to access financial aid. Character coaches are mentors in after-school programs that help students ignore the peer pressures to join gangs and dropout from school. Boy and Girl Scout leaders generate leadership skills and self-reliance, while Little League and Knothole coaches build a team model of cohesion and good sportsmanship.

The Value of Mentoring

O’dell M.Owens MD, the former Hamilton County Coroner and present President of Cincinnati State Technical and Community College, maintains that “Give me one thousand volunteer mentors to guide our inner-city youth, and this one measure over-time will do more to address the rate of criminal behavior and welfare dependence than all other programs combined.” Indeed, saving a high-risk youth from sinking into a career of antisocial behavior and crime is estimated to save society between 1.7 and 2.3 million dollars.

One study in Ypsilanti, Michigan evaluated 123 children over a 40 year period in a Preschool Project. For the five years between 1962 and 1967, mentoring teachers worked intensively with 64 of the children, aged 3 and 4, from low-income families both at preschool and once a week in their homes. Using a matched control group of 59 students, the researchers found significant differences. In the mentored group, about 50 percent performed at grade level, compared with just 15 percent in the control group. Comparisons forty years later continued to show major differences with the mentored group showing better performance based on the number of school grades completed, steady employment and average annual incomes. Additionally, the rates of criminal activity and time spent in prison were lower than in the control group.

In theory, recruiting qualified mentors should be a fairly straight forward process, but in practice it is quit challenging. For instance, in New York City, Big Brothers/Big Sisters receives about 4,000 calls a year from prospective mentors. But only one-half of the callers show up for orientation after learning that they must commit to seeing a child every other week for a year. An additional 1,000 fail to follow up after the preliminary orientation sessions. Then, half of the remaining 1,000 are turned away in the screening process in which they are asked about their motivations, attitudes and social life, and asked for character references. Because they will be working with children, they also must have a criminal background check.

Furthermore, matching children with the right mentor is a complex task that must factor in age, gender, ethnicity, schedules, convenience, personality type and safety issues. After the preliminaries, you must identify those youngsters most in need of help that would benefit most from a close one-on-one relationship, as well as a plan detailing the goals and objectives. Early involvement, acceptance and coordination of the program with the parents or guardians are also crucial.

Under good circumstances, mentoring can produce dramatic results, but these results usually take time and patience because behavioral change evolves slowly and is often measured in inches rather than feet with bumps along the road. Studies have shown that the duration and consistency of mentoring directly correlate with positive outcomes.

Mentoring Goals

Mentoring activities fall into many classifications. Schools use Big Brother and Big Sister mentors as role models to alter anti-social behaviors, while family welfare agencies and churches use mentors to assist dysfunctional families in dealing with disruptive members and counseling victims of child or spousal abuse. Law enforcement agencies use them as guidance resources for troubled juveniles.

Common goals of mentoring programs include.

• Identify areas for growth and development
• Acquire skills through specific training 
• Monitor and help craft solutions to situational problems
• Explore options and associated risks to solve dilemmas
• Review educational needs and support advancement through education
• Provide appropriate and timely advice
• Confront negative feelings, harmful intentions and temptations
• Form a trusting alliance and friendship
• Help craft a career pathway and a dream for the future

Qualified mentors are high value volunteers. Any responsible person who offers their mentoring skills to a school, mental health facility, juvenile detention center, family service agency and so on will be enthusiastic welcomed.

Especially in our school systems the need for mentors is daunting. Historically, public schools were solely educational institutions. They were not the primary agents for inculcating societal values and acting as surrogates for parental role models. Teachers taught, and life outside the school grounds was left up to the family. Today, latchkey kids with dysfunctional, broken families who often live in an insecure street culture cause our schools to have a larger mandate to provide socialization and physical security. This expanded role overloads school resources at a time when many public school systems are under resourced to provide even a basic education.

One friend confided that the essence of volunteerism comes down to two things, “what matters and who cares.” Mentoring is caring and it does matter.