E-Mentoring
What is E-Mentoring
E-mentoring is a way of supporting young people by making use of the latest trends in online communication. Why not mentor young people through posts on the internet? It's easy to relate to, effective and not time consuming...
The e-mentoring project is designed to support children in care and care leavers through the Confident Futures secure website (provided by The Brightside Trust) - www.confidentfutures.org
The project aims to encourage participants to consider going onto Further/Higher education, employment or training and support a smooth transition into adulthood for children in care and care leavers.
Becoming an e-mentor, a positive experience!
E-mentoring is a flexible way to volunteer whilst supporting vulnerable young people. It also helps to develop skills to support online learning and gives mentors an increased understanding of youth issues and cultural diversity.
The satisfaction of helping a young person striving to succeed is one of the main reasons many of The Brightside Trust's existing mentors participate in other e-mentoring schemes across the UK.
How does it work?
The e-mentoring website is made up of three elements:
1) Online secure conversations -a safe space where you can talk to the young person you will be mentoring.
2) A range of activities which you could use with the young person.
3) An online resource library packed full of information about education, training, employment and life skills. This means that mentors and young people will always have something to discuss!
You will attend a training session if you want to be part of the programme, where further information about discussion topics and goal setting will be covered.
You will also receive an extensive guide to support you and ongoing support will be available through the Confident Futures website.
Your commitment
If you apply to be a mentor we will ask for two references alongside a Criminal Records Bureau (CRB) check. Once you are cleared we will match you with a young person.
As a general rule, mentoring relationships work best if mentors and young people post a message once a week, although we suggest you agree how often you will post from the beginning.
Your commitment to your young person can range from six months to two years - so it is very important that you are able to commit for this amount of time before signing up to become an e-mentor.
Next steps?
E-mail Joke Ivens, the Project Coordinator joke.i@break-charity.org for more information about this project, or go to the Vacancies pages on the website and click on e-mentors to fill out an on-line application form.
You will then be asked to complete an application form, and to let us know a convenient time to arrange a short telephone interview. A half day training session will then enable you to learn more about the programme and how to use the Confident Futures website.