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Mentoring Scotland's young people

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Mentoring Scotland’s young people

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News

A Huge Thank You to Our Mentors

1st June 2022 By Eilidh Watson

This volunteer week gives us a platform to shine a spotlight on the huge impact that intandem’s volunteer mentors make. On behalf of our partner charities, we’d like to thank all of our volunteer mentors for their commitment to supporting children and young people. Without you Intandem wouldn’t be possible.

By bringing together young people and supportive volunteers, intandem enables children and young people to bring about positive change in their lives. Since we began in 2017, we have made nearly 500 matches with the average mentoring relationship lasting 17 months. It’s this commitment to a long-term relationship that sets our volunteers apart and really makes a difference to the young people they support.

Like with Kyle:

Kyle and his mentor were matched three years ago and regularly met, until the pandemic moved their meet-ups remotely. Kyle had a history of issues with school and eventually stopped going. Struggling with motivation, Kyle was spending his days sleeping and his nights playing computer games. He wanted to change this and with his mentor Michelle’s continued her support, meeting every week and helping him develop a stronger routine, Kyle has got his motivation back. Kyle’s now 16 years old and working a full-time job with a landscaping company – saying he really enjoys both the routine and the independence of making his own money.

But for every success story there are still more children and young people looked after and at home who could benefit from the support of a trusted mentor. Over 550 young people have been referred to intandem, across 19 local authority areas in Scotland.

Find out more about how you could become an intandem mentor and make a difference to both your life and the life of young person where you live.

Filed Under: News, Slider

Celebrating 5 years of intandem

15th December 2021 By Eilidh Watson

Inspiring Scotland’s Head of Development and Partnership, Julia Abel, reflects upon the impact of intandem mentoring as the programme celebrates its fifth birthday.

We all need consistent, trusting relationships. For young people who have care experience, these relationships can sometimes be lacking. The long-term presence of a trusted, supportive adult can make all the difference to the trajectory of their lives.

We’re celebrating five years of intandem, Scotland’s national mentoring programme. Funded by the Scottish Government and delivered by Inspiring Scotland, the programme connects young people and volunteer mentors to establish meaningful, supportive and long-lasting relationships.

Since 2016, intandem has supported young people who are looked after at home on a Compulsory Supervision Order (CSO). While being in care is often linked to social disadvantage, children and young people looked after at home have the poorest outcomes of all young people in Scotland, through no fault of their own. intandem supports these young people to develop positive relationships with a trusted adult role-model. Weekly mentoring provides space for these relationships to flourish.

intandem is a community-based mentoring programme, with meetings taking place outside of the school environment. Over the last five years, intandem has trained 733 volunteers and coordinated 450 matches. With over 3,500 children and young people in Scotland currently living at home under a CSO, it is vital that we continue to invest in them with mentoring support, so these children don’t fall through the cracks.

We know intandem works. The average match lasts 17 months, providing young people with stability and long-term support. Mentored young people consistently report a range of positive outcomes, including increased self-esteem (62%), increased community engagement (64%) and improved friendships (64%).  With Covid-19 prompting an increase in feelings of anxiety and isolation, it’s more crucial than ever that all young people have the opportunity to form meaningful relationships.

With intandem, inspiring Scotland is committed to helping Scotland #KeepThePromise, a pledge to embed the voices of care-experienced young people when making decisions about the Scottish care system. As part of this commitment, intandem facilitates a Young Person’s Forum, where care-experienced young people can speak on the issues closest to them. intandem staff are also currently working with a care-experienced individual, to help shape the work of intandem as we look to the future.

intandem is made possible by the commitment of its funder, Scottish Government. It also depends on the dedication of volunteers and the commitment of the programme’s twelve charity partners, who work tirelessly to coordinate matches across Scotland. These charities are committed to matching more young people with mentors, to ensure every young person has the opportunity to thrive.

intandem has a bold and ambitious vision – that Scotland’s children, young people and families can stay together to build and maintain positive, loving relationships. intandem is currently embedded in 19 Local Authorities and aspires to expand even further. By continuing to grow, intandem can help Scotland #KeepThePromise to all care-experienced infants, children, young people, adults and their families – that every child grows up loved, safe and respected, able to realise their full potential.

Filed Under: News

intandem expand their team and help map mentoring to Keep the Promise

9th August 2021 By Eilidh Watson

As part of our ongoing commitment to amplifying the voices of children and young people, intandem are taking action to Keep the Promise of the Independent Care Review.

After a successful application to The Promise Partnership, we secured investment to recruit a Programme Development Intern to support the national mentoring programme, and are delighted to announce that Josh Hurd has joined us in this new role.

Josh will play a crucial role within the fund over the next year, helping to embed the voice of young people within intandem’s mentoring programme.

Upon joining the fund, Josh said:

“I enjoy working as a team and learning new things. I am a very enthusiastic person who loves spending time with people. I enjoy down time with family and friends and like being in people’s company.

I’m excited to meet everyone in the team and can’t wait to started. Family and friends are the most Important to me, as we build each other’s confidence up and help each other to overcome the bad times.”

Debbie Zima, performance advisor for intandem, added:

“We are delighted to have Josh join intandem. He brings experience of working alongside young people in sports coaching and most importantly has an infectious drive to get the views and ideas of young people at the front of all our minds, which will ensure intandem develops with their voice at its heart.”

In addition to welcoming Josh to the team, intandem have been working with the Scottish Mentoring Network and YMCA Scotland to map mentoring provision for care experienced children and young people in Scotland. The goal is to identify gaps in mentoring provision by mapping an accurate picture of where and how care experienced children and young people can currently access mentoring services.

Scottish Mentoring Network have launched a nationwide survey to enable mentoring services to contribute to the mapping exercise. Responses will help SMN and partners to better understand the current mentoring landscape and will allow them to make informed recommendations about how to improve access to mentoring services for all care-experienced children and young people.

Sarah Barr, Scottish Mentoring Network’s project lead for the mapping project, said:

“We are really excited to have been awarded funding to enable us undertake this vital piece of work. We know the positive impact that the mentoring services we work with have on the lives of Scotland’s young people and by contributing to this project you will be helping to ensure these opportunities are equally available across the country”.

Susie White, intandem performance advisor, added:

“Mapping mentoring provision will provide a clear picture of the current support available across Scotland. By working together to understand what mentoring services are available and where, we can build better connections across the sector to complement each other’s work and, most importantly, ensure young people get the support they want and need at the right time.”

Filed Under: News, Slider, Uncategorised

Read intandem’s 2020/2021 report

9th July 2021 By Sophie Kirkwood

We’re delighted to share our 2020/2021 report, which showcases the impact of intandem during an incredibly difficult year for everyone.

With anxiety, loneliness and isolation at an all-time high during the pandemic, we knew it was more important than ever to ensure mentoring relationships could continue.

Therefore, despite the challenges, intandem volunteer mentors, coordinators and partner charities adapted quickly to Covid-19 restrictions, ensuring that the trusting, community based mentoring relationships continued.

We listened to young people and their families, and mentoring was tailored to respond to each young person’s wishes. Communications between mentors and mentees were conducted virtually, or in person with social distancing, where restrictions allowed. Volunteer mentors embraced remote mentoring as a means of keeping in touch with their young mentees. Partner charities sprang into action to implement new working measures, and coordinators stepped in to support volunteers and families when times were difficult.

Our 2020/2021 report highlights the incredible dedication of our mentors and resilience of our young people during this difficult year. The stories of intandem mentees in the report bring to life the true impact of mentoring on intandem’s young people, many of whom have overcome challenges to achieve incredible outcomes. Feedback from parents and guardians show the extent to which mentoring relationships can positively influence not just young people, but their home lives and families, too.

We are incredibly proud of the impact intandem has made in 2020/2021, and are hugely grateful to our partner charities, volunteers and funders, who make our work possible.

As we focus on the future, we look forward to continuing to build towards our vision: that all young people who are in care or on the edge of care will have the confidence and resilience to succeed in life.

Filed Under: News, Slider

Could you be an intandem mentor?

17th September 2020 By intandem

New mentors sought to help young people across Scotland

Scotland’s national mentoring programme for young people who are looked after at home has launched a new volunteer recruitment drive to meet increased demand for referrals.

intandem, which matches young people with trained adult volunteer mentors, are anticipating intensified need for the programme across Scotland.

While the social limitations from the Covid-19 lockdown have been felt by everyone, for the young people intandem supports, who are already coping with challenging home lives, the need for support and contact through regular mentoring has never been more needed.

The programme remained operational during Covid-19 supporting all 122 young people currently being mentored, moving to combine virtual meet ups with socially distanced outdoor walks and cycles.

We are now looking to attract a new intake of mentors so even more children and young people can benefit from mentoring.

As one mentor explained: “Lockdown has been a challenge but an opportunity to find new ways to communicate and do fun things. Importantly it’s given me an opportunity to build a relationship with my mentee’s family which had been difficult previously.”

Another mentor said: “It has been good to maintain contact and for my young person to feel they still have my support and I am there for them. It also lets them vent frustrations to someone outside the family and talk about any concerns. It feels good to still have contact even if it’s just a phone call or Zoom.”

intandem’s recent volunteer survey revealed the substantial benefits of mentoring, especially during current circumstances.

  • 93% reported that their own mental wellbeing had improved since becoming a mentor. A further 96% also said they felt better about themselves because of their involvement with intandem.
  • The survey also highlighted employment opportunities and work experience gained through becoming a mentor, with 98% of respondents saying they had gained new skills and 98% saying they had learned new things from their mentee.
  • All volunteers said they would recommend becoming an intandem mentor to their friends and family.

The most important opinions are from the young people themselves.

“I have someone to talk to and we do different things and its more fun.”

“My mentor phones me every week and she cheers me up if I’m having a bad day.”

“It’s nice to talk to someone different, made me feel happier; it’s nice to feel that someone is interested in me.”

If you are interested in becoming a mentor and can commit to meeting a young person weekly for at least twelve months, please get in touch:

Find out more about mentoring with intandem

Filed Under: News

Mentoring adapts and continues

9th September 2020 By intandem

Mentoring adapts and continues

We have been so impressed with the flexibility, creativity, and resilience of our intandem volunteer mentors, young people and charities over the past six months.

After adapting quickly to weekly video or telephone calls, our young people, volunteers and coordinators have come up with lots of creative ways to continue relationships despite not being able to meet face to face.  Art and nature projects, dance moves, darts and treasure hunts have all featured. A huge proportion of our matches have successfully transitioned to meeting virtually to listen, share experiences, and try new activities and challenges each week.

The structure of a regular meet-up online has also helped our volunteers to stay motivated and connected during often difficult times.  Activity packs, fun competitions and pamper boxes have provided a welcome boost and when needed, more frequent contact by video or phone or post has made things more bearable. It has been challenging time for everyone, but from our survey of young people we know that having someone to talk to out with their immediate household has been a positive, practical help.

We continue to adapt intandem mentoring to enable young people to set new goals and achieve their potential.  If you would like to speak to an intandem coordinator about volunteering or being mentored, details of our 12 partners and their locations are listed below:

Local Authority
Organisation
Contact
Email
Phone
Aberdeen
Befriend a Child
Aleisha
aleisha@befriendachild.org.uk
07852 305816
Clacks.
Quarriers
Wendy
Wendy.woolfson@quarriers.org.uk
07531 193637
East Ayrshire
Barnardo’s
Kayleigh
kayleigh.christie@barnardos.org.uk
07834 106409
East Lothian
Move On
Angela
angela@moveon.org.uk
07787 256828
Edinburgh
Move On
Angela
angela@moveon.org.uk
07787 256828
YMCA Edinburgh
Bruce
bruce@ymcaedinburgh.com
07715 208528
Falkirk
Quarriers
Wendy
Wendy.woolfson@quarriers.org.uk
07531 193637
Fife
Kirkcaldy YMCA
Jo
intandem@ymcakirkcaldy.co.uk
07788 982 866
Glasgow
Y People
Caroline/ Jerri
Caroline.McIntosh@ypeople.org.uk
jerri.forrest@ypeople.org.uk
07794 383969
07384 515614
Volunteer Glasgow
Steven
steven.dunn@volunteerglasgow.org
07468 863919
Highland
Action for Children
Sarah
Sarah.Sproul@actionforchildren.org.uk
07717 780465
Inverclyde
Aberlour
Brian
Brian.gallagher@aberlour.org.uk
07864 625063
Midlothian
Move On
Angela
angela@moveon.org.uk
07787 256828
North Ayrshire
Barnardo’s
Kayleigh
kayleigh.christie@barnardos.org.uk
07834 106409
North Lanarkshire
Y People
Caroline
Caroline.McIntosh@ypeople.org.uk
07794 383969
Renfrewshire
Aberlour
Brian
Brian.gallagher@aberlour.org.uk
07864 625063
South Ayrshire
Barnardo’s
Kayleigh
kayleigh.christie@barnardos.org.uk
07834 106409
South Lanarkshire
COVEY
Terri
 t.young@coveybefriending.org.uk
07384 514486
Stirling
Quarriers
Wendy
Wendy.woolfson@quarriers.org.uk
07531 193637
West Dunbartonshire
Y Sort It
Lyndsey
lyndsey@ysortit.com
07852 147734
West Lothian
Move On
Angela
angela@moveon.org.uk
07787 256 828

If you have any questions about the national programme then please contact Susie or Debbie on 07860 272 261 or 07860 272 256. Email susie@inspiringscotland.org.uk or debbiez@inspiringscotland.org.uk

Filed Under: News, Slider

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This project is funded by Scottish Government and administered by Inspiring Scotland
Copyright © 2016–2022
Inspiring Scotland is a Company Limited by Guarantee registered in Scotland, No. SC342436, and a registered Scottish Charity, No. SC039605


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