Curriculum
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Why it Matters Ongoing support can help mitigate many common issues and challenges that arise in the context of youth mentoring. Routinely checking in with participants allows you to:
- Monitor the quality of the mentoring relationship to ensure the mentee benefits from the experience
- Assess the mentee’s safety
- Provide support for the mentor
- Engage the parents/guardians
- Manage your organization’s liability
- Help participants meet program expectations regarding the frequency of interactions and the duration of the relationship
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How to Check in Effectively How to Check In Effectively
- Use telephone or in-person communication to check in with mentees, mentors, and families every month
- Ask open-ended questions
- Use positive communication, affirm the contributions of all parties, and use a conflict-resolution approach when necessary
- Document your match support
- Provide ongoing training and support related to participants’ needs and interests
- Train your staff members on cultural competency and supportive communication skills to help them navigate across cultures and contexts that may arise in mentoring relationships
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Questions to Ask Questions to Ask
- How is your match going?
- How and how often did you communicate with your mentee last month?
- What kinds of activities do you do together?
- How do you decide what activities to do together?
- How’s your mentee doing?
- What are you doing to build your relationship with your mentee? How’s it going?
- Have you noticed any changes in your mentee since we last spoke?
- What, if any, interactions have you had with your mentee’s family? How did they go?
- How can I be of support?
These are some sample questions staff members can use when talking with mentors. These kinds of questions can be adapted for conversations with mentees and families. -
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Next Steps - Learn more by reviewing “Standard 5: Monitoring and Support” in Elements of Effective Practice for Mentoring (4th edition).
- Use your note-taking guide to list topics or questions about monitoring and supporting matches to discuss with your technical assistance provider. Remember to save your note-taking guide changes after each chapter.