Mentoring from a positive role model provides a nurturing pathway for teenagers to feel supported through tough times, particularly if they feel they can’t talk to other significant adults in their lives. The power of having someone neutral to talk to, who really listens and actually hears you, is extraordinary. Our mentoring programs assist to build a community support network around our young people.
With this in mind, we conduct three mentoring programs, one called Ismo, one called Bump and one called Connections.
Ismo is our in school mentoring opportunity and is for guys and girls in high school, mainly in years 9 and 10. Our Bump mentoring program is for young mums under the age of 23 and includes weekly mentoring as well as monthly workshops. We have been successful in tendering with partners, The Salvation Army and TAFE NSW, to provide mentoring within the Youth Connections program being funded by the Federal Government in 2010 for the next three years. This program will support at risk young people in the Lower North Shore area who are disengaged from education or employment. We are very excited about this opportunity to partner with highly respected youth organisations and being able to connect more young people with mentors.
Please read through the following pages for more information on each of the programs.