Lisa has the Essential Skills for Mentoring

DERRY tutor Lisa Blee had worried the young person she’d been paired with might not like her but after more than two years of volunteering with Include Youth she says she has no regrets.

DERRY tutor Lisa Blee had worried the young person she’d been paired with might not like her but after more than two years of volunteering with Include Youth she says she has no regrets.

“After an initial meeting with the young person and member of staff, who introduced us and helped us establish a relationship without any problems, I knew we were going to be able to form a good bond,” said Lisa.

Lisa, who works as an Essential Skills Tutor at Strabane Training Services, heard about Include Youth’s Give and Take Scheme from a family member.

The Scheme works with young people aged 16 to 21 who due to their experiences and circumstances are unable to participate in mainstream training or work. Many of the young people are in care or from a care background and seven out of ten will have reading and numeracy difficulties.

Mentoring Matters is just one element of the programme and gives young people the opportunity to receive additional weekly support from a volunteer mentor from the local community.

“Before I started the mentoring I had no idea about some of the challenges facing children in care, what they go through and how the social care system works.

“Include Youth provides training to all mentors which is very insightful and covers lots of topics including how to watch out for behaviour that could be harmful to the young person like self harm or suicidal behaviour. I gained an OCN Level 2 in ‘mentoring young people at risk’, which has been really beneficial to my work as a tutor.

“It was actually through the mentoring that I decided to change careers and move into Essential Skills - mentoring gave me the courage to do this. I realized that I was capable of working with young people and helping them.”

The 30-year-old became a mentor to help someone, who perhaps wouldn’t have had the opportunity otherwise, achieve a better outcome in life.

“One of the biggest achievements for the young person I mentored was seeing him successfully move from a care home into new accommodation with minimal difficulty. I helped him do his shopping and support him to take good care of himself - ultimately making the transition easier. The young person also has job now and I like to think that our relationship gave him the confidence to do this.”

Lisa lives in Derry and goes to as many of the Derry City football matches as she can.

“At the start it was a bit of a challenge agreeing a time and a place to meet but we soon discovered we had something in common - an interest in football - which gave us lots to talk about. We decided that watching the Derry City matches together presented the perfect opportunity to spend time together.”

Lisa, who also volunteers with a youth retreat group in Derry called COR, would encourage anyone with three hours a week free to give mentoring a young person a go.

“You need to be patient with your mentee at the beginning. Stability is important for the young person, so if you arrange to meet them then you should be there. It’s important to just be yourself. If you ever need help the staff are on the other end of the phone and meet with you regularly to keep everything in check.

“I was lucky that we both enjoyed going to football matches together; but others will have mutual interests that will work just as well.”

Tommy Canning, Personal Development and Mentoring Worker for the Give and Take Scheme in the Western area, recruits volunteer mentors on an ongoing basis.

“We are always on the lookout for people from the local community who are able to give up a little free time each week to assist a young person in setting and achieving goals. The role can at times be very challenging but we use our knowledge and experience to support both the mentor and the young person on their journey. There is no one type of individual we look for, all we ask is that our volunteers be open-minded and good at listening,” said Tommy.

The Give and Take Scheme has offices based in Belfast, Ards, Armagh, Ballymena, Derry and Omagh. The ‘Mentoring Matters’ aspect of the Scheme is funded by Big Lottery Fund NI through the Safe and Well programme and mentors are recruited throughout Northern Ireland on an ongoing basis.

If you would like to know more about mentoring on the Give & Take Scheme contact Dearbhla on 028 9031 1007 or [email protected]

ENDS MEDIA ENQUIRIES: Please contact Sharon Whittaker at Include Youth on 028 9031 1007 or [email protected]

Last updated 12 years ago