OPP OF THE DAY: Volunteer Mentor (Dudley, Stourbridge and Wolverhampton), Mentor Link

Mentor Link professionally and safely recruits volunteer mentors to offer support to children and young people in need across the West Midlands. Mentoring takes place either in school or a community setting and provides long-term, one-to-one confidential listening support for an hour each week based on the needs of the children. Each mentee is carefully matched to a mentor and profiled at the start of mentoring where goals and objective are set, and we let their needs guide the sessions. Difficulties faced may include anxiety, abuse, self-harm, and low-level mental health issues; being a Looked After child with attachment issues; and family difficulties including abuse, addiction, domestic abuse, and family breakdown or deprivation. The aim of mentoring is to help these children achieve positive changes both personally and educationally, and remain engaged with their education, families, and community. In the short term this sees an improvement in self-esteem and may mean engaging better in class and improving educational outcomes, and in the long term improving their life chances and enabling them to maintain positive relationships, thereby achieving a more successful transition to adulthood.

Role description

1. Meet your mentee on a weekly basis.
2. Provide a listening ear, support and encouragement to your mentee.
3. Ensure that you are both clear about the boundaries of the mentoring relationship and operate within those boundaries at all times.
4. Ensure that confidentiality is maintained, but that the limits of that confidentiality are understood
5. Take responsibility for developing the mentoring relationship, ensuring that mentoring goals remain the key focus of the mentoring sessions.
6. Seek out any additional information which you think your mentee would find helpful, eg. information on courses or careers.
7. Be vigilant about potential safeguarding issues and immediately refer any disclosures/concerns to the designated person within Mentor Link and if you work in a school the designated school contact.
8. Communicate any other needs or concerns in a timely and professional manner to Mentor Link staff.
9. Let the charity staff ( and if you work in a school the school) know if you cannot attend an appointment or if you foresee any reason why you will be unavailable for a period of time.
10. Attend Compulsory Induction and safeguarding training within the allotted timescale and any other training offered as you feel meets your needs/interests.
11. Follow the Mentor Link policies and procedures when carrying out your role at all times, please contact staff if you are unsure.
12. Ensure that there is a positive ending to the relationship, for the mentee and yourself.

No specific qualifications or work experiences are required for this role, but it is essential that you:

1. Can relate to children and young people
2. Are punctual, reliable and can commit to a minimum 6 month period.
3. Have excellent listening and communication skills
4. Are empathetic, kind and encouraging
5. Have patience, flexibility and a willingness to persevere
6. Are non-judgemental and open minded.
7. Have a mature outlook on life and a desire to help young people.
8. Able to keep information confidential.
9. Ability to follow charity guidelines and policies and procedures.

FOR MORE INFORMATION OR TO APPLY please contact:

Karen Anrold
Email: karen.arnold@mentorlink.org.uk