Yorkshire Mentoring

2018 - 2020

 

Yorkshire Mentoring worked across the Bradford district, supporting young people who were accessing a project called “Youth in Mind”. The project was dual-commissioned by CAMHS/Creative Support. The rationale for this project was to reduce the CAMHS waiting list

 

Young people gained access to a mentor, who was there to support them on a one-to-one basis, for up to six months. Mentors were recruited from across the district to support young people aged 11-18 Outcome = reintegration into school/Youth Provision/Reduction in waiting list. 

 

Feedback from participants in the project included: “Having a mentor has been helpful because you can do research for me and give advice that isn’t biased or influenced by emotion.”

 

"(Mentoring) has helped with a lot of things; it's given me the ability to open up to others, helped me to make new friends and given me confidence."

 

The legacy this project generated was a large cohort of volunteers, comprised of Corporate Social Responsibility volunteers engaged in mentorship programmes for a number of years, following the project’s conclusion.

2014 - 2018

 

In 2014 Yorkshire Mentoring began a project, funded by TLC, a charity that supports looked after children in Calderdale. The project was facilitated at Trinity Academy, a secondary school trust in Calderdale. The project aims were to facilitate the provision of peer-to-peer support, for looked after children, in a school setting. 

 

Information sessions were delivered to 6th-form students, to identify students that were interested in becoming mentors. A subsequent in-depth workshop followed, which included a session on safeguarding. The schools then identified looked after students, who they thought might benefit from mentoring. 

 

The next stage was matching mentors to mentees. This match was made based on interests related to school, hobbies, and career aspirations. Yorkshire Mentoring provided a supervision and review programme, reporting to the school, and the funding partner TLC. 

 

Outcomes from the review suggested that mentees had improved their confidence, attendance and achievement in school, and felt more positive about their future. Mentors commented that they had developed skills in communication particularly questioning and listening and had been able to use their experience as evidence for CVs, university, and job applications.

 

Since the project’s inaugural iteration, the scheme has continued and was rolled out in 2018 to other secondary schools in Calderdale, Rastrick Academy, and Calder High, in partnership with TLC.

2017

 

Yorkshire Mentoring worked in partnership with St Giles Trust in Leeds, where together we put in a bid to develop the Women's "Change" Project. The work was a unique piece of work with female ex-offenders. 

 

Yorkshire Mentoring applied and was successful in receiving funding from the Big Lottery Fund for the C.H.A.N.G.E Project. 

 

Yorkshire Mentoring worked together with St Giles Trust until September 2017 to provide a support service to women from disadvantaged backgrounds. 

 

The range of support included focus group sessions, a weekend residential trip to explore development opportunities (CVs/Application Forms, etc...…), and an introduction to online offers (advocacy to book appointments) to provide support to female ex-offenders. The project provided emotional and practical support to improve women’s well-being and life skills.

2017

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The iFEMALE pilot project came about through a successful bid we put into Yorkshire Bank. We delivered sessions to 17 women via 3 cohorts. Each cohort had a maximum of 7 women, who undertook two, one-hour thirty-minute sessions. 

 

The #iFEMALE project was developed by Yorkshire Mentoring and with the collaboration of St Giles Trust and Ripon House (Approved Premises) in Leeds who we have historically worked alongside on previous projects.

 

The iFEMALE Financial Empowerment project aims to raise the capacity and confidence of women ex-offenders, to take control of their personal financial circumstances, which in most cases will be chaotic and precarious. Many of the women are parents and all are economically inactive. Supporting women to better "get by" is the first step towards increased financial confidence and agency.  

 

The project offered financial empowerment coaching sessions for women, including a digital element. This is particularly important in an economic environment where local bank branches are closing and customers are encouraged to bank online. St Giles Trust clients / Ripon House residents will typically have low levels of digital resilience. The sessions are facilitated using Thinking Environment principles and the consistent use of thinking rounds throughout.

 

As a result of the success,  Yorkshire Mentoring went on to deliver the same programme to Adelaide House in Liverpool in 2018 

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Awards For All Funding 

As a result of securing funding from Awards for All, Yorkshire Mentoring worked in partnerships to deliver activities that support the transition of young people at key points in their lives. The projects have supported the transition from school to college, within college from one level to another and into education in the UK. Projects took place in Leeds, Hull, Wakefield and Rotherham with young people from the ages of 11 – 18.

 

The projects have focused on the recruitment and training of volunteers and mentors and have worked with young people at risk of exclusion. Yorkshire Mentoring Forum has provided consultancy support and workshops and ensured that sound quality standards are in place.

 

The outcome of the projects was held at a celebration event held  at Wakefield College’s Castleford Campus in 2013

 

Project summaries

 

Leeds – Valued Youth

 

6 students from Guiseley School were trained as mentors and matched to students from the school's feeder primary schools in years 4 and 5. The students reported that they had gained planning and organisational skills which enabled them to meet their targets such as submitting homework on time. They also felt that their social skills were developed with increased patience. They had supported the primary school pupils with maths and English.

 

Wakefield Post 16 Transitions: 

 

A group of construction students had been identified as needing intervention to support their

transition to level 2 of their course, and to ensure their retention into the spring term. 

 

Yorkshire Mentoring trained a group of level 3 students to become mentors and to offer peer support to the level 2 students, who were briefed on the programme. 

 

The retention of the students increased from 60% to 95%, and achievement rates increased by the end of the programme as well as progression into level 3.

 

Rotherham School to College Transitions

 

Rotherham College had identified 3 stages of transition, that could be supported through mentoring. Transition from school to college, within college, and from college to the workplace. 

 

This project focused on school-to-college transitions for neurodiverse pupils. Volunteers were recruited from the staff and students and received training on both mentoring and working with students with ASD. Mentors were matched to pupils who enrolled at the college in the Autumn term.