TOPICS

Create and Strengthen a Diversity-Based Peer Mentoring Program
Join the Peer Resources Network
Attend a Mentoring Conference or Seminar
Misquoted Research Says Mentoring Puts Youth in Danger
Use the Latest Mentoring Literature to Guide Practice
Mentorship Can Be Acknowledged by a Postcard
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CREATE AND STRENGTHEN A PEER MENTORING PROGRAM

Peer Resources will be conducting a five-day seminar on building successful and effective youth-led peer mentoring programs in Victoria, British Columbia, July 11-15, 2005. This five-day workshop is specifically designed for persons who are working in youth populations composed of youth from diverse backgrounds. The purpose of the workshop is to prepare youth workers, educators, teachers, and counsellors to establish state-of-the-art peer-led programs for youth who represent a variety of diverse groups in today's society.

A unique element of this workshop is the integration of Aboriginal customs and traditions into both the workshop process and content. Participants will learn how to use the medicine wheel, healing circles and other customs and traditions. The goal of this workshop is to assist participants to establish an effective peer program for First Nation youth as well as youth from other ethnic and cultural groups.

The seminars cover all key topics including: practical strategies to recruit, select, and supervise peer mentors; twenty roles peer mentors can play to prevent problems, mediate disputes, and promote healthy growth; the 12 core skills of a peer mentor training curriculum; how to design a curriculum for advanced skills and issues; experiential learning techniques that energize training; when to teach and when to facilitate; how to conduct a needs assessment for program longevity; how to use feedback and facilitation skills to train like an expert; how and when to motivate peer mentors; how to gain and maintain program support from unexpected sources; six proven methods to turn resistance into alliance; eight peer mentor program standards that resolve pesky legal issues; examples of successful implementation strategies; and how to use simple strategies to evaluate program progress.

Participants are organized into small groups to directly experience sample peer mentor training sessions and consultation activities. Each participant has an opportunity to partner with another workshop participant to lead a supervised training session. The workshop relies strongly on interactive methods designed to maximize adult learning and model effective training.

Participants will be involved in lectures, communication skill exercises, role plays, training leadership opportunities, curriculum development, peer support, and other experiential activities.

The seminar is based on principles of adult learning and uses experiential skill-building exercises and activities; builds on participant experience and ideas; provides focused input from the workshop leader; encourages sharing learning experience; provides a library of relevant resources; and provides a notebook and take-away trainer materials for each participant. The fee for the workshop is $753.50 plus tax, if applicable, and includes all materials, instructor consultation, post-session follow-up support and nutrition breaks. Additional information and online registration are available at <http://www.mentors.ca/trng.html>. Or call 1.800.567.3700.

(For additional mentoring seminars and conferences sponsored or led by other organizations, visit http://www.mentors.ca/mentorwks.html.)

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"A consultant is a person who uses your watch to tell you what time it is. A coach is a person who asks you what time you want it to be. A mentor is timeless."

~ Grey Owl ~

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JOIN THE PEER RESOURCES NETWORK

Do you know someone who could benefit from becoming a member of the Peer Resources Network? Although you are receiving this free newsletter every 45-60 days, members of the Peer Resources Network receive a monthly newsletter with additional information, practical tips, announcements, mentor program descriptions, and research summaries every month.

In addition Peer Resources Network members receive toll-free coaching and consultation for all mentor program development issues as an additional benefit of membership. Members also receive print versions of Compass: A Magazine for Peer Assistance, Mentorship and Coaching. This magazine has become the only advertising-free, professional, peer-reviewed publication on mentoring, and is filled with timely articles and practical suggestions from experienced mentor program leaders.

The Peer Resources Network is a non-profit organization and is sustained through memberships. The low fee for a one-year individual membership is $75.00 and the fee for an institutional membership, which allows up to five people to share a full membership, is $140.00 for a year. We even have a student rate of $32.10/year. For more details on the benefits as well as a secure online form to sign-up, go to http://www.mentors.ca/PRN.html.

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"Hold on to your dreams for they are, in a sense, the stuff of which reality is made. It is through our dreams that we maintain the possibility of a better, more meaningful life."

~ Leo Buscaglia ~

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MENTORING CONFERENCES and EVENTS

2nd National School-Based Mentoring Conference
June 14-16, 2005
Fairmont Hotel, Kansas City, Missouri
www.youthfriends.org or www.sbmentoring.org
janssen@youthfriends.org

Mentoring in Healthcare Conference
Hyatt Hotel, Canberra, ACT Australia
www.rcna.org.au/pages/actevents.php
Tel: 02 6282 5633 Fax: 02 6282 3565
nicole@rcna.org.au

The Corporate Mentor
October 27-28, 2005
University of Victoria, Victoria, British Columbia
www.mentors.ca/trng.html

European Mentoring & Coaching Conference
December 1-2, 2005
Zurich, Switzerland
0114 225 5210
d.f.megginson@shu.ac.uk

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"Shortly after I met my mentor he asked me, 'How much money have you saved and invested over the last six years?' And I said, 'None.' He then asked, "Who sold you on that plan?"

~ Jim Rohn ~

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MISQUOTED RESEARCH SAYS MENTORING PUTS YOUTH IN DANGER

In an article titled: "Are Mentors Overhyped?" that appeared in the September/October, 2002 issue of Psychology Today, the author, Dana Frankoff, expresses the viewpoint that the majority of youth mentoring programs are just a quick fix and typically under-serve the youth they target.

She bases this viewpoint on a recent study by David Dubois that appeared in the 2002 American Journal of Community Psychology. Her interpretation of the results of the Dubois study, which examined 55 mentoring programs, led her to conclude that (1) youth mentoring programs may do more harm than good; (2) there is small benefit for the average child participant; (3) poorly screened and trained mentors are harmful; (4) the at-risk youth served need professional interventions such as counseling rather than untrained volunteer help; (5) neither frequent nor prolonged contact with a mentor increases the benefits to the youth involved; and (6) while close bonds between a mentor and youth can be formed, children need more than one adult in their lives to make a difference.

Ouch! I had read the Dubois study some time back and I didn't recall those conclusions. Her viewpoint could create considerable hopelessness amongst youth mentoring program practitioners. I went back to the annotated bibliography on mentoring maintained by Peer Resources and looked up the original research by Dubois. Here's what I found in the annotation:

Some of the study findings include: (1) overall studies show only a modest impact on participating youth; (2) no single feature of a mentoring program could be identified as responsible for positive outcomes; (3) mentoring programs for youth that show a greater impact typically have a number of common factors such as (a) strong relationships between youth and mentors (intense and of high quality); (b) ongoing training for mentors, structured activities for mentors and youth; (c) clear expectations for frequency of contact; (d) mechanisms for support and involvement of parents, and (e) monitoring of overall program implementation. The strongest predictor of positive effect is adequate support and structure for mentoring relationships throughout the formative strategies of their development. Dubois (and co-authors) conclude that to date too much emphasis has been improperly placed on "screening, initial training and orientation, and matching youth and mentors." Programs with poor implementation may actually have a harmful effect on youth.

Now contrast the findings of the Dubois study (and the interpretation by Frankoff) with a recent study by E.L. Klaw, J.E. Rhodes, and L.F. Fitzgerald titled "Natural mentors in the lives of African American adolescent mothers: Tracking relationships over time" which appeared in the Journal of Youth and Adolescence, Vol. 32, No. 3, pages 223-232. This study examined the academic attainment of African American adolescents as they made the transition from pregnancy or recent delivery to two years postpartum. Compared to participants who did not identify mentors at either time point, participants whose mentor relationships endured over the course of the two-year study were more likely to have remained in school or graduated. Subsequent analyses revealed that long-term mentor relationships were characterized by weekly and, in many instances, daily interactions. Additionally, participants in long-term mentor relationships reported deriving more emotional support from their mentors than from their mothers, were more satisfied with mentor support, and indicated that this support was more important to them than maternal support.

The conclusions found in the Psychology Today article are very misleading. What Dubois actually found was that mentoring programs that incorporate the majority of "effective practices" are more likely to show larger effect sizes for the outcomes studied. His meta-analysis, although misinterpreted by some, actually provided further empirical support that using effective practices in mentoring programs leads to better results.

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"I remember saying to my mentor, 'If I had more money, I would have a better plan.' He quickly responded, 'I would suggest that if you had a better plan, you would have more money.' You see, it's not the amount that counts; it's the plan that counts."

~ Jim Rohn ~

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USE MENTORING LITERATURE TO GUIDE PROFESSIONAL PRACTICE

Peer Resources continually scans the professional and popular literature for articles, books, videos and other useful reference materials. They provide a brief synopsis of the work as well as citation details and summaries in a searchable format on their site at http://www.peer.ca/SearchB.html. Each issue of The Mentor News includes some of the many citations added every week.

Fowler, J.L. and O'Gorman, J.G. (March, 2005). Mentoring functions: A contemporary view of the perceptions of mentees and mentors. British Journal of Management, 16, 1, 51.

The purpose of this study was to develop an instrument for assessing mentoring based in contemporary organizational life. In the first phase of the study, 24 mentees and 24 mentors were interviewed about their mentoring experience. Analysis of the interview data resulted in the development of an instrument to measure mentoring functions. In the second phase of the study, the instrument was tested on a sample of 272 mentees and 228 mentors. Analysis of the data revealed eight distinct functions of mentoring: personal and emotional guidance, coaching, advocacy, career development facilitation, role modelling, strategies and systems advice, learning facilitation, and friendship. Mentees and mentors were found to share similar perceptions about the mentoring functions that occur in their relationships.

Yancey, P. (2001). Soul survivor: How my faith survived the church. Toronto: Doubleday.

In this intriguing book, a noted journalist details the discussions he has had with 13 individuals who acted as his mentors. Through their interactions he was moved to a deeper spiritual understanding of faith. The author's early experiences with the church led him to a complete rejection of its teachings, which he calls a form of "reverse conversion." However, through his conversations with well-known people who are experts in their own respective fields and through reading their work, he began to develop his own personal faith. This book is an excellent example of how mentors and their work can have a dramatic impact on our most fundamental life questions through dialogue and life example.

Herrera, C., Vang, Z., and Gale, L.V. (2002). Group mentoring: A study of mentoring groups in three programs. Philadelphia, PA: Public/Private Ventures.

Group mentoring can prove to be a less costly alternative to one-on-one mentoring and in this study of three different programs, the authors were able to identify the advantages and distinctions of group versus one-on-one. For the most part group mentoring with youth can assist with learning of improved social and peer interactions which can generalize to settings external to the mentoring groups. Some youth may even prefer being in a group in order to interact and learn from their peers. Training of adult mentors who often work in pairs or trios with the groups is essential.

California Governor's Mentoring Partnership (GMP) (2005). Mentor Toolkit (Guidebook, Video, and Resource CD). Published by GMP, 1700 K Street, Sacramento, California 95814.

This Toolkit is intended to raise public awareness of the benefits of mentoring, to solicit funding and recruit new mentors. It consists of a video, guidebook and resource CD. The 25-minute video is designed as a recruiting and marketing tool and to increase general public awareness of the need for, and long term benefits of, mentoring. It also addresses the importance of academic and social mentoring, promotes business involvement, and encourages the development of public and private partnerships and collaborative activity. The video is divided into four segments, each of which has a different theme: business, education, community, and youth. The video can be shown in its entirety or individual segments can be incorporated into presentations to meet the needs and interests of a particular audience. The video consist of interviews with actual mentors, partners, mentor program directors, business and community leaders, educators, social workers, law enforcement officials, and other partners and stakeholders. The Mentor Guidebook and Resource CD serve as companions to the mentor video. The Guidebook contains information gathered from mentoring experts and provides practical information to sustain existing mentor programs, including strategies for developing local partnerships, recruiting, fundraising, marketing and managing volunteers. The Resource CD lists useful resources and web links that strengthen and expand mentoring efforts. The Toolkit is available at www.mentoring.ca.gov and can be used in other jurisdictions that do not include an actor as governor.

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"The more I know the less I understand."

~ Don Henley ~

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MENTORSHIP CAN BE ACKNOWLEDGED BY POSTCARD

One of the leading prevention organizations in Canada is the Alberta Alcohol and Drug Abuse Commission (AADAC). Over the years they have created a number of peer programs aimed at reducing and preventing substance abuse among young people.

Recently they created a Resliency Postcard Project which recognized people who have had a positive influence on the lives of youth and children. Participants in the project completed a postcard describing an adult who made a difference in their lives. The postcards were mailed to the adults involved and sent to local newspapers. As a result hundreds of adults had an opportunity to learn about the impact they had on youth and the youth had an opportunity to reaffirm how feeling important to others made a difference in their lives.

Although informal contacts are prevalent throughout our society, they unfortunately often remain invisible or unrecognized. Here's a variation of the AADAC postcard project that can start a chain reaction of recognition in your community. Put two postcards in an envelope and send the envelope to one or more of your informal mentors. In a note inside the envelope, let your mentor know what you appreciated about what they did for you. Ask them to send one of the postcards to someone who did something for them that they valued and let that person know about it. Ask them to send the second postcard back to you describing and, if appropriate, naming their mentor. Finally suggest to them the possibility of adding a second postcard to the one they sent their mentor, place them in an envelope with a note and re-create the same set of events that you put into motion.

If this chain of events works, you ought to be receiving a card from someone that you didn't send one to. I hope I'll get one as well. I've already sent mine.