Helpful Youth Mentoring Links

Heart For Youth Charitable Trust

The Heart For Youth Charitable Trust (H4Y) is on the North Shore, Auckland, New Zealand. It’s mission: “To accept, connect, equip and encourage youth & young adults through the integration of training processes and programs covering life skills/ values, self-awareness, self-esteem/ self-discipline principles and personal growth of all youth/young adults from any ethnicities – inclusive of youth at risk, those marginalised, underprivileged and those having special needs or disabilities in Aotearoa New Zealand”.

Our four core values of H4Y are: ACCEPT CONNECT EQUIP ENCOURAGE

Some of the programs offered include: youth mentoring, parent support, life skills training, counselling and crisis support, ‘in-schools’ peer mentor training and support and lots more.

Coast Mentoring

Launched in New Zealand in October 2020, Coast Mentoring supports young people aged 10-24 yrs who would benefit from having an adult mentor to support them on their journey. Mentors meet up with their mentee on a weekly basis. Together they talk, learn, grow and have a lot of fun along the way!

Upside Youth Mentoring

Upside Youth Mentoring (formerly Brothers In Arms) supports change in Aotearoa New Zealand’s young people with adverse childhood experiences. We want to help them feel a little brighter and more loved than they did yesterday. Our dream is to change the future of our nation. We’ve been matching young people with mentors since 2006 and with over 700 matches and 6000 hours of mentoring a year, we’ve seen time and time again the life-changing effects of this connection. 90% success rate in 2019 (24% higher than international standard).   We work with young people aged 9-13 years old who have been referred to us from principals, counsellors, psychologists and social workers who believe a positive role model is what this young person needs to help navigate their current challenges.

Frontline Solutions

A New Zealand organisation offering youth mentoring products e.g. The Student Performer Software; The Mentor Profiler software. Non-threatening profilers, valuable assets for monitoring one’s personal development. Participants are given strategies to work on to help them reach their potential, as students or as mentors. This is a great tool for evaluating the mentoring journey, as it is completed by both the Mentors and the Mentees (Student Performer) – email Doug Cowie:frontline@maxnet.co.nz.

The New Zealand Youth Mentoring Network

Formerly the Auckland Youth Mentoring Association (established in 2000), The New Zealand Youth Mentoring Network is a not-for-profit charitable Trust. The vision of the Network is to encourage the setting up of effective youth mentoring programs in communities in New Zealand. It aims to support and promote effective youth mentoring by providing resources and training opportunities, facilitating networking and co-ordination, creating a positive public profile for youth mentoring, and encouraging community engagement in quality mentoring programmes. Most New Zealand youth mentoring programs can be found on this site.

Mentoring jobs?!

There are more and more jobs linked to mentoring these days. Here is an example of a place where you can see the variety of jobs on offer, some paid, others unpaid.

hoozyu

hoozyu is a program from Elaura, designed to help teens and young adults to explain themselves, so that they can open the right doors on their way into adult life and the workplace. Available in New Zealand.

Vaping - you can encourage teenagers to stop!

Vaping has become a challenging issue to discuss with youth. As someone who battled Cancer as a young boy, quite obviously I do not wish anyone to go through experiences I had.

Currently, on this link you will learn the following:

What is Vaping?

Types of Vapes

A discussion on whether or not vaping is dangerous including the negative known effects of vaping

The current outbreak of vaping illnesses

Whether or not countries such as Canada or the UK have similar issues

Why teens vape

How to tell if a teen is vaping

How not to properly stop teens from vaping

How to properly stop teens from vaping

Parenting Ideas

A great Australian website for parents and schools. Many resources developed by CEO and parenting expert Michael Grose and his team.

The Parenting Place

A New Zealand organization with parenting programs, family coaching, school programs, online support and much more. Many resources available.

Raise: The Youth Mentoring Foundation

An Australian youth mentoring movement creating thriving communities across Australia. Its mission is to impact youth wellbeing and engagement through early intervention mentoring programs in schools and communities. Its purpose is to ensure young people feel heard, valued and supported.

The Northwest Regional Educational Laboratory

This is an excellent American site for research on youth issues and youth mentoring. Plenty of information for those working with students from high risk environments (‘at risk’). Great information on setting up a youth mentoring programme, funding strategies and a whole lot more.

Big Brothers Big Sisters International

Based in America, Big Brothers Big Sisters International is a global alliance of country-specific associations of Big Brothers Big Sisters volunteer mentoring programs working to improve the lives of children and youth around the world.

Childtrends

Based in America, Childtrends is a nonprofit, nonpartisan research organisation dedicated to improving the lives of children by conducting research and providing science-based information to improve the decisions, programs and policies that affect children and their families. There is useful research available, especially for those involved in setting up mentoring programmes and trainers who might be looking for more information on young people.

Search Institute

An American site with plenty of research and information on how to promote the building of assets while working with youth. Great for those involved in youth mentoring and education. Their findings and resources have heavily influenced the work of Youth Empowerment Seminars!

Mentoring Partnership of Minnesota

An American site,the Mentoring Partnership of Minnesota is the driving force in the mentoring movement; bringing together diverse individuals and organizations to connect caring adults with a generation of kids in mentoring relationships. Their commitment to youth is to make mentoring more mainstream in Minnesota.

The Mentors, Inc.

An American program,The Mentors, Inc. mission is to increase the graduation rates and success of Washington, D.C.’s public high school students by pairing them with caring adult volunteers in structured and enriched mentoring relationships that promote their personal, academic and career development.

Child, Youth and Family Consortium

An American based website (University of Minnesota)with some excellent program materials related to youth aged 12 to 18 years old and their families.

International Telementor Program (Mentoring Pathways)

The International Telementor Program (ITP) facilitates electronic mentoring relationships between professional adults and students worldwide, and is recognized as the leader in the field of academic based mentoring. Since 1995 over 15,000 students throughout nine countries have received support, encouragement, and professional guidance. ITP serves students in K-12 and home school environments as well as college and university settings.

Telementoring is a process that combines the proven practice of mentoring with the speed and ease of electronic communication, enabling busy professionals to make significant contributions to the academic lives of students. Through mentoring by industry professionals, a corporation helps students develop the skills and foundation to pursue their interests successfully and operate at their potential.

National Dropout Prevention Centres

An American site which provides knowledge and promotes networking for researchers, practitioners, policymakers and families to increase opportunities for youth in at-risk situations to receive the quality education and services necessary to successfully graduate from high school. Some useful mentoring information can be found on the Effective Strategies page.

Resiliency in Action

Nan Henderson and others have produced some excellent resources and articles on resiliency, a crucial component of a credible youth mentoring program.

Project Resilience

A private organisation based in Washington D.C. which promotes a strength-based approach to both youth and adults struggling to overcome hardship, for instance family disruption, poverty, violence, substance abuse and racism.

The Tutor/Mentor Connection

The MISSION of the Tutor/Mentor Connection (T/MC) is to provide an organized framework that empowers and encourages adult volunteers to give their time, effort, ideas and advocacy in seeking life-changing solutions for children living in educationally and economically disadvantaged environments such as the Cabrini-Green housing development in Chicago. There is some interesting material on their site. There is also access to other mentor and tutor blog pages which are well worth visiting Click here for more details

Scottish Mentoring Network

This website contains the most comprehensive on-line library of mentoring information in Scotland, as well as many links to other organisations involved in coaching and mentoring.

MENTOR National Mentoring Partnership

This is one of the top youth mentoring websites (based in the United States of America) and, most importantly, contains an excellent section covering Effective Practices for running a mentoring programme. Numerous documents are freely available to be downloaded off this site.

Life Changing Experiences Foundation

An Australian website which includes the SISTER2sister mentoring project.Currently The SISTER2sister Project mentors 40 at risk teenage girls in the Sydney metropolitan area. Each of the girls is assigned a “Big Sister” mentor as a positive female role model to provide support, guidance and advice, where needed, throughout the 12 month project.

Mentor Consulting Group

Based in America and founded by Dr Susan Weinberger, one of the experts in the field of mentoring, this organisation has some useful tips for those wanting to set up mentoring programmes.

Uncle, Byron Bay

Uncle is an Australian mentoring and activities program for local boys, without active fathers, a community-based organisation committed to guiding and supporting young boys in their personal development during a challenging period of their lives.

kids.now

kids.now is Canada’s national charity for youth development. They offer afterschool mentoring programs for kids in grades 7 and 8 (11 – 14 years old), where volunteer coach-mentors guide groups of 10 kids through a series of sessions that focus on life-success skills development, such a goal-setting, conflict resolution, communication, stress management etc.

Be a Mentor

An American website with some useful resources for those running youth mentoring programs, which can be freely downloaded.

Informal Education

A useful U.K. site for articles on mentoring research and learning mentors, the latter a relatively new mentoring concept.

e-Buddies

A Best Buddies International Program. This organisation matches volunteers with people who have mental retardation and other disabilities.

Teacher Appreciation

Teacher Appreciation website with ideas and suggestions for Teacher’s Day, Teacher Appreciation Week and other student-teacher special occasions.

The Governor's Prevention Partnership (Connecticut)

Created in 1989 in the USA, The Governor’s Prevention Partnership is a not-for-profit partnership between state government and business leaders with a mission to keep Connecticut’s youth safe, successful and drug-free. The Partnership provides leadership and services to help schools, communities, youth organizations, colleges and businesses create and sustain quality programs in five core areas:

  • Increasing the number of youth who have the caring support of a mentor (some useful information for working with Corporate groups and establishing mentoring programs can be found here)
  • Helping local communities build coalitions and programs to address underage drinking
  • Helping schools develop and implement effective drug and violence prevention programming including Student Assistance Programs, bullying, conflict resolution and peer mediation programs
  • Helping colleges/universities address issues and behavior related to alcohol abuse
  • Delivering anti-drug messages through the media
  • Giving parents the skills they need to protect their children against drugs and other problems

The Governor’s Prevention Partnership works in collaboration with local, regional and statewide providers to maximize youth development programming without duplicating services. The Partnership’s programs affect children in virtually every community in the state.

Best Online Tutoring

For a variety of reasons students might need a Tutor. This U.S. based website connects you to a global network of specialists in a variety of subjects and deliver instruction  virtually, on your time.

Teen Drug and Alcohol Abuse

Increasingly neuroscience research is suggesting that drugs and alcohol have a greater effect on teens than on adults. The signs of addiction can be difficult to understand, and many adolescents don’t realize the long-term damage drugs have on their bodies because the short-term side-effects fade. Although this is a USA website, there is some helpful information for anyone wanting to know more about teen drug and alcohol abuse. Always double-check the services available in the areas in which you live and work.

Another helpful website is Addiction Guide.