Our volunteer mentors drawn from the local community have always been a key part of TurnAround, supporting the participants through weekly face-to-face meetings and phone calls, helping to ensure that they are working toward the goals that they have identified together, and are overcoming any obstacles in their way.

For 2011 (TA3) we have taken our mentors to the next level, by introducing a formal accreditation for the volunteers.  Each volunteer mentor participated in a training course delivered over three weekends at our office in Chatham Green.

Working to understand the needs of vulnerable teenagers

We explored mentoring practice and working with young people, and by the end of our programme the mentors had demonstrated their ability to:

• Establish and maintain a mentoring relationship with a young person
• Have an understanding of the needs of young people
• Be confident in dealing with challenging behaviour
• Develop and follow an action plan  with a young person
• Reflect on their own performance as a mentor
• Be able to recognise the signs of harm or abuse
• Know how to react if harm or abuse is disclosed, discovered or suspected

Mentors also take a very active role in delivering our monthly outdoor activity sessions and are engaged in tasks ranging from orienteering through to wake boarding.