What is mentoring at Youth Focus?
Volunteer mentors are positive role models who can provide additional support and guidance to young people accessing Youth Focus counselling by helping them to develop and build skills relating to communication, goal-setting, self-esteem, relationships, and conflict resolution.
Our Mentoring Program is available to young people aged between 12 and 25 who are currently accessing our Youth Counselling services.
Young people accessing the mentoring program will assist in their journey to:
- Learn new skills
- Build confidence
- Set goals
- Resolve conflicts
- Solve problems
- Develop life skills
- Communicate effectively
A mentor supports the young person towards their goals, established through the referral process with your Youth Counsellor. This makes each mentoring relationship and experience unique, including how time is spent together.
The mentor typically meets with the young person on a fortnightly basis for two hours.
Each mentoring relationship is unique, and it’s up to the young person and the mentor to decide where they meet, how they spend the time, and what goals they work on together.
Your Youth Counsellor can refer you to the Mentoring Program. They will arrange for you both to meet together with a mentor, and talk about what you want to achieve through the program.
The Mentoring Program runs for up to 12 months, with a formal review after six months to check in, celebrate progress, and decide together whether to continue or stop the program.
We match each young person with a volunteer mentor whose life experience, interests, and location make them a great fit to offer guidance and support.
A young persons’ experience with mentoring
“My mentor was able to help me understand my values and what I care about, and encourage me to take leaps of faith more often.”
Become a Youth Focus mentor
As a volunteer mentor, you will be a positive, supportive, and committed individual in a young person’s mental health journey.
The benefits of being a mentor extend beyond the support you provide to the young person, providing opportunities for both professional and personal development. This will look different for each mentor but may involve growth in self-awareness of values and beliefs, improved communication skills and ongoing training opportunities.
The support of a mentor can make
We look forward to connecting with you! Please download the form to become a mentor, and send your completed application to [email protected].
“The main take away from this mentoring experience is the profound impact that consistent support and positive reinforcement can have on a young person’s life. Witnessing (the young person’s) growth and transformation has been incredibly inspiring and taught me valuable lessons about patience, empathy, and the lasting value of guidance and encouragement.”
To become a volunteer mentor, you must:
- Are at least 21 years of age
- Have access to a safe, roadworthy vehicle to transport young people for mentoring sessions
- Don’t use illicit substances and are not involved in any illegal activities
All volunteer mentors will go through a comprehensive screening and assessment process, and will be required to undertake a National Volunteer Police Clearance, Volunteer Working with Children Check, and First Aid Certification.
To become a volunteer mentor, the first step is to read through our Mentoring Program Application Pack and complete the application form.
Once your application has been submitted and reviewed, we’ll contact you to arrange an interview and begin the screening and training process.
If you’re assessed as a suitable volunteer mentor, you’ll be invited to complete our online Mentoring Training Program and apply for the required clearances — including a National Volunteer Police Clearance, Volunteer Working with Children Check, and First Aid Certification.
After successfully completing the training and obtaining your clearances, you’ll be ready to be matched as a mentor for a young person.
We’re committed to setting our mentors up for success, offering comprehensive training before you start, and ongoing support throughout the program. This ensures youfeel confident, capable, and supported in building meaningful mentoring relationships with a young person.
Our initial training empowers new mentors to step into their role as strong, positive role models. The training covers areas like effective communication, personal values and beliefs, healthy boundaries, and understanding mental health challenges — including self-harm and suicidal ideation — so you can provide guidance with empathy, insight, and care.
There may be times when you are mentoring a young person that you need to pay for things like food, an activity, or transport.
We will reimburse you for the costs incurred during a mentoring session. There are some expense limits which will be explained to you by the Mentoring team during your initial training.
As a mentor, you are a volunteer, and there is no payment for your time, however we will pay for all training, as well as the cost of obtaining the required clearances.