Starting a Youth Mentoring Program: 5 Training

Introduction

Training program participants ensures your mentors, mentees, and parents/guardians have the basic knowledge, attitudes, and skills needed to build and support an effective relationship. In addition, training allows you to learn more about each participant before you officially accept him or her into your program.

Mentor training should last at least two hours, and it should be offered as an in-person experience. It should also occur prior to matching mentors and mentees.

A promising best practice is to have mentor training last six hours or more.

Curriculum

Topics for Mentors (Part 1)
Topics for Mentors (Part 1)

Elements of Effective Practice for Mentoring (4th edition) recommends training mentors on more than two dozen topics. With so much to cover, it’s easy to see why training would need to last at least two hours but more likely take six or more hours.

Appropriate physical contact

Contact with mentoring program (e.g., whom and when to contact)

Relationship-monitoring requirements (e.g., response time, frequency, schedule)
Approved activities

Mandatory reporting requirements associated with suspected child abuse or neglect, as well as suicidality and homicidality

Confidentiality and anonymity

Digital and social media use

Overnight visits and out-of-town travel

Money spent on the mentee and mentoring activities

Transportation

Emergency and crisis situation procedures

Health and medical care
Topics for Mentors (Part 2)
Topics for Mentors (Part 2)

Discipline

Substance use

Firearms and weapons

Inclusion of others in mentor-mentee meetings (e.g., siblings and mentee’s friends)

Photo and image use

Evaluation and use of data

Grievance procedures

Other program-relevant topics
Topics for Youth and Parents/Guardians
Topics for Youth and Parents/Guardians

Sample agenda

Purpose of mentoring

Program requirements

Parent/guardian and mentee goals for mentoring

Mentors’ obligations and roles

Mentees’ obligations and roles

Ethics and safety

Initiating the relationship

Effective closure

Risk management policies (use the same topics as for mentors)

For parents/guardians, include “Developing an effective, working relationship with your child’s mentor”
Creating Effective Trainings
Creating Effective Trainings

An effective training is customized to meet the needs of your audiences and engages them using a variety of activities or modalities.

When designing trainings, consider your audience. Adults bring life experience to share, and youth have shorter attention spans and need to get up and move.

And remember: Everyone learns by doing, so consider using role-plays, scenarios, and other activities to bring your trainings to life.
Learning modalities

Think or write individually

Pair or group discussion

Group write

Draw, sing, and kinesthetic techniques (form a shape)

Simulation

Role-play
Did You Know?

Did You Know?

Training is another opportunity to screen your mentors and mentees.

During trainings, staff members see how participants interact with one another, how they respond to common mentoring scenarios, what they value, and how they react to program rules and policies. Because trainings are a screening tool, you must conduct them prior to making matches.

Training doesn’t end once the match begins.

After the match is made, research shows that mentors will benefit from additional, ongoing training tailored to the needs and characteristics of the mentees.
More
Next Step
- Learn more by reviewing “Standard 3: Training” in Elements of Effective Practice for Mentoring (4th edition).
- Use your note-taking guide to list topics or questions about training to discuss with your technical assistance provider. Remember to save your note-taking guide changes after each chapter.