POINT offer a highly successful mentoring scheme to young people of North Pembrokeshire, we are nearing our 6th year of our mentoring scheme which has benefitted many of our beneficiaries.
A mentor is typically someone more life experienced than the person they are mentoring who can bring that experience to the mentoring relationship. Mentors from our community receive training and support from dedicated members of POINT staff. The volunteer mentors can help young people by offering guidance & support with such things as problem solving or by teaching new skills & tools that can help the young person with their emotional & mental wellbeing. Some young people bring a desire to get into a new activity but perhaps lack confidence, others ask for more focused support.
Whatever the young person brings Mentoring @ POINT is completely centred on what the young person wishes to get out of the meetings. Typically meeting for just 1 hour a week a young person can build up their trust and confidence via focused conversation which is about their needs, ambitions and aspirations, perhaps needing to leave the past behind & look to the future.
Mentors gain from the experience too as they learn about some of the challenges young people are facing, gain more skills themselves & learn through their meetings with the young person they are matched with. POINT Mentors come from many different backgrounds as do the young people who come forward for support. POINT are really pleased to be able to facilitate the intersection of volunteers’ desire to support young people on their journey with young people who need someone to walk bedside them for a while. The scheme fits brilliantly into the 5 ways to wellbeing, through connecting people, giving young people and the mentors the opportunity to keep learning and to give time and share skills.