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Mentoring Scotland's young people

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Mentoring Scotland’s young people

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Grant Collinson

Mentoring boosts young people’s wellbeing

21st August 2019 By Grant Collinson

In Scotland, there has been an increasing focus on wellbeing.

First Minister Nicola Sturgeon recently revealed in a TED Talk her view that a country’s output should not just be measured economically, but by the impact it has on how its people feel. New Zealand recently handed down its first budget which focused on wellbeing, promoting initiatives that enabled prisoner rehabilitation and tackled societal issues. As the country’s Finance Minister Grant Robertson put it: “How could we be a Rockstar [economy]…with homelessness, child poverty and inequality on the rise?”

Young People especially benefit from a focus on wellbeing.

By living active lives with a supportive community around them, their potential and opportunities increase. That’s the ethos behind intandem, the mentoring programme that supports hundreds of looked-after children in Scotland. Thirteen separate charities, all with experience of working with young people, are funded by Inspiring Scotland to establish mentoring relationships between children and young people and trusted adults.

These relationships are long-term and have a marked improvement on young people’s wellbeing and attainment. We’ve recently published a full report of the service which has included a Comprehensive Independent Evaluation  by research consultancy Blake Stevenson.

It’s clear the initiative is having a marked impact not just on young people’s chances for success, but on their quality of life too. According to Blake Stevenson’s independent evaluation:

  • 64 per cent of mentees said they had made more friends after being mentored;
  • 62 per cent said their self-esteem had improved;
  • Young adults with an opportunity gap but who have a mentor are 81 per cent more likely to participate in sports or similar activities than those who don’t;
  • Students who met regularly with their mentors were 52 per cent less likely to miss a day of school than their peers.

In addition, the outcome data of the programme speaks for itself. From November 2016 to June 2019, 247 matches have been made, with 438 mentors trained, 401 referrals received and the average match lasting 15 months.

Yet perhaps the best endorsement for the programme comes from the young people taking part in the programme itself.

Callum*, who is 14 years old, had been referred to the programme after being on a Compulsory Supervision Order for four years. Social work had been involved with his family since he was seven. His school attendance was at zero per cent and he had limited social contact.

He was paired with Jenny, his mentor, who helped develop his confidence in engaging in social activities and attended a school meeting with him, enabling him to talk openly and honestly about the challenges he faced. This put him on a path to a part-time timetable, bringing his attendance up to 100 per cent, and to a diagnosis of Asperger’s Syndrome, helping him make sense of some of the issues he was facing and helping support his additional learning needs.

“I’m so happy that I finally know why life is so hard and I’m not just daft,” says Callum. “I am better at socialising with people and can speak to them…I am motivated to go on courses and learn new things, which I wasn’t before.”

That’s the real impact of intandem – one summed up in a single sentence by another mentee:

“It’s great just to be able to feel like a kid again.”

*Callum’s name has been changed to protect his identity.

Filed Under: News

Celia Tennant thanks intandem charities and volunteers.

30th April 2019 By Grant Collinson

Inspiring Scotland recently commissioned Blake Stevenson to carry out an Independent Evaluation of intandem. Established to support children and young people who are looked after at home, intandem provides them with a mentor they meet once a week, with whom they can have a positive and trusting relationship free from some of the pressures that life has thrown at them.

I am pleased to say that the report is overwhelmingly positive. It is clear that intandem is making a real difference to children and young people who are looked after at home by boosting their confidence, self-esteem, helping to re-engage them with education and getting them out and about in the community.

The feedback from children and young people, their families, and our volunteer mentors is excellent and demonstrates how important it is for all young people to have a strong and positive adult relationship.

53% of young people (mentees) said that their confidence had increased, 62% said that their self-esteem had improved, and 64% said that they had made more friends thanks to mentoring. J, one of the children who has had an intandem mentor since October 2017 said: “Instead of having something heavy on ma shoulders, ah can talk to someone about it”.

And the programme is proving beneficial for volunteers, too. 61% said mentoring gave them a sense of achievement, and 71% say they’ve learned new skills – skills that will prove invaluable for their career development. One mentor said: “mentoring has been amazing and helped me get the job I am in now”.

The evaluation also highlights the benefits for charities of our portfolio approach. The charities we support in intandem have been able to learn from our team and one another and have invested their learning to improve and increase the capacity of the services they offer to children, young people and families.

Looking forward, we’re keen to see intandem evolve and develop, thereby improving the lives of even more children looked after at home. Blake Stevenson has provided valuable feedback, and part of that feedback includes recommendations for how to improve the service in future, such as expanding the programme to children and young people in kinship care and extending intandem into new geographical areas. These are things for us to keep in mind, and I hope that soon we will be able to deliver on those recommendations.

For now, we are delighted to have proof of the difference intandem is making to the lives of children and young people looked after at home. The hard work and dedication of our partner charities, and especially the volunteer mentors who give up their time to support a young person, is really changing lives for the better. For all your unwavering commitment, I extend my appreciation and gratitude.

Celia.

Filed Under: Uncategorised

Deputy First Minister launches intandem mentoring scheme

28th June 2016 By Grant Collinson

Applications are now open for a programme designed to match positive role models with children in care, launched by John Swinney, Deputy First Minister and Cabinet Secretary for Education and Skills. [Read more…] about Deputy First Minister launches intandem mentoring scheme

Filed Under: News

Deputy First Minister to launch intandem

22nd June 2016 By Grant Collinson

intandem, Scotland’s mentoring programme for young people looked after at home is being officially launched by John Swinney on 28th July.

Inspiring Scotland is leading the development of Scottish Government’s programme, initially for children and young people who are looked after at home.

About the Programme
intandem will initially support young people aged between 8-14 years who are looked after by their local authority and living at home. The programme recognises a young person’s need to have at least one long term relationship with a positive adult role-model. The disruption children face leading up to and on coming into the care system can make this difficult to achieve within a family setting.

Young people who choose to take part in the scheme will be carefully matched with a trained volunteer and together they will build a positive, trusting, supportive and secure relationship. Effective mentoring relationships have been shown to be long term, frequent and regular.

The quality of the programme will be critically important. For example, organisations which receive funding will be expected to have achieved or to work towards the attainment of either the Befriending Networks’ Quality in Befriending Award or the Scottish Mentoring Network’s Quality Award.

Funded organisations will receive on-going support from intandem and Inspiring Scotland across a range of issues, such as volunteer recruitment and training, and capacity building. They will also have the opportunity to take part in co-designing approaches to evaluation, and will be expected to take part in agreed evaluation and reporting processes, overseen by Inspiring Scotland.
Eligibility for Funding
OSCR registered organisations interested in applying for funding to support 8-14 year olds who are looked after at home will be encouraged to apply for funding through Inspiring Scotland later this summer. Organisations should consider now what new mentoring support they can offer this group.

Whilst the term mentoring is used to describe the programme because the relationship is intended to have a goal orientation, it is recognised that many organisations deliver this to children and young people within a befriending service.

Applications are therefore encouraged from voluntary organisations with experience of at least one of the following:

  • Providing mentoring or befriending services
  • Working with vulnerable or looked after children and young people
  • Providing one to one support to individual children

Inspiring Scotland has been working with BOLD, Scotland’s only social enterprise advertising and branding agency to develop the logo and branding. The process was co-created with young people and representatives of organisations who mentor and befriend young people.

Filed Under: News

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This project is funded by Scottish Government and administered by Inspiring Scotland
Copyright © 2016–2021
Inspiring Scotland is a Company Limited by Guarantee registered in Scotland, No. SC342436, and a registered Scottish Charity, No. SC039605


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