Mentoring for Education

We work with the young person to develop an understanding of identity and raise awareness of ‘self’ in relation to the people around them. Exploring themes of consciousness, we ask them to perform a critical examination of the things that make them who they are.

We challenge the young person to think about what education means to them, what their experiences have been, how they learn best, and what they think education should look like. Where appropriate, we will encourage re-engagement with the education system.

We explore self-perception in relation to the young person’s experiences and look at external projection, instinct and feelings. We begin to work towards developing life-skills, including self-empowerment.

We challenge the young person to consider what makes a relationship healthy or unhealthy and to think about the people in their lives who help them to grow. We ask them to consider what respect is, where it comes from, and its role within relationships.

We focus on the importance of two-way communication, including non-verbal elements like body language and facial expressions. We explore the ways we can show somebody what we’re feeling without saying it, and how we can identify emotions in other people.

We explore the differences between the two, and encourage the young person to think about how each one can be perceived by the people we are communicating with. We discuss how aggression can impact negatively on those around us and reduce our prospects, and how we can communicate more effectively.

By thinking about what conflict is and how it is resolved, we encourage the young person to consider the importance of approaching conflict from a position of respect and understanding. We identify the markers of potentially dangerous situations and encourage them to recognise trigger points in themselves and others. We also discuss de-escalation techniques and conflict-resolution skills.

By encouraging the young person to think about a time in their life when they were distracted on their way towards achieving something, we can ask them to reflect on the part they played in allowing that distraction. How could they have done things differently? We ask them to think about what they want for the future and to consider what obstacles might get in the way.

Empathy, critical and creative thinking, dealing with stress, good social skills, basic cooking skills and personal grooming are all important in giving us the best chance of building a happy and healthy life. We encourage the young person to think about the areas they want to improve, develop a strategy, and begin implementing it.

We encourage the young person to think about what they want from life and what they want to achieve, and we ask them to consider the steps they might need to take to get there.

We talk about good habits and how they can help us towards our goals. We look at the importance of being persistent when developing new skills, and begin to think about developing good habits that will help the young person achieve their goals.

We encourage the young person to reflect on their achievements throughout the programme and ask them to think about how they see themselves now in relation to others. We ask them to think about when they shine the brightest and to identify all the things they like about themselves.