MENTORING

Mentoring is a supportive relationship between a younger person and someone older who has more experience. This older ‘mentor’ offers support, guidance, and assistance as the younger partner goes through increasingly challenging portions of their lives.

Counselors can assist students by developing mentoring programs. Mentoring relationships can help provide a boost in self-esteem and can identify achievable career and academic goals.

RECOMMENDED STRATEGIES FOR EFFECTIVE MENTORING

• Make students aware of the possibilities afforded by mentoring,

• Urge students to pursue mentors,

• Help students identify and initiate contact with potential mentors, and

• Become members of their local chambers of commerce in order to network with people who can serve as mentors.

Mentoring can take the following forms:

• One-on-one,

• Small group,

• Community-based, and

• E-mentoring (online).

Mentors can:

• Assist in identifying learner's interests,

• Show learners that they are taken seriously by an adult,

• Regularly offer reassurance,

• Help learners to define who they are,

• Foster possibilities for career and personnel development,

• Provide guidance in solving everyday problems

• Help learners to develop problem-solving and critical thinking skills.

People from all walks of life can be mentors, including:

Business and industry volunteers, College students, Parents, Community volunteers ,Representatives from business and industry, Representatives from service organizations and clubs, ,Postsecondary educational institution volunteers, and Community education program volunteers.

What is mentoring?

When helping students identify potential mentors, the following questions should be considered:

•Is the prospective mentor flexible?

•Does the potential mentor have good people skills? Is this individual people-oriented and

enthusiastic?

•Is the potential mentor comfortable with teenagers and/or young adults, especially those with

disabilities?

•Is the potential mentor willing and able to help identify potential problems and find solutions with learners?

•Can the potential mentor provide constructive evaluation and feedback to nurture learner growth?

•Does the potential mentor perceive possible benefits of the mentoring experience to the learners, business, and community?

Once identified, mentors may be asked to:

• Shape the circumstances of the learning environment when they are with the learner;

• Shape the environment, both physical and emotional, that the learner will interact with them;

• Encourage dialogue and focus on appropriate details of feelings and perceptions of a situation;

• Generate problems for the learner to ponder and suggest original solutions;

• Provide regular feedback on all aspects of the mentor relationship (e.g., clarify the learner's questions and their responses, select the appropriate moment for feedback);

• Provide role modeling (e.g., share their educational and work backgrounds, model a path for an eager learner to pursue, model personal traits such as a positive attitude and work ethic);

• Advocate for the learners (e.g., give advice, guide them in their learning process)