The importance of mentoring
- By Vanessa Merhib
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- 17 Jan, 2017
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Did you know that January is National Mentoring Month across the United States?
At the Boys & Girls
Club, at the heart of what we do is mentor youth and create a safe, positive
place with supportive adult role models to create hope and opportunity for
youth. At the Club, a supportive adult relationship is framed in many
ways, through many programs that we have at the Club. It may be informal
in the day to day operations of Club with a teacher playing a game of dodge
ball with you, getting you a band aid when you are hurt or helping you with
your math homework when it seems impossible. It can also mean youth
working with a teacher in our small group programs that focus on a variety of
topics, including self-esteem, making healthy life choices: mind, body and soul
or learning to persevere and learning in STEM programs. Lastly, it
could mean participating in our one-on-one mentorship program, where youth are
paired up with a teacher and they get together a minimum of once a week at the
Club to talk about what is happening in their lives, do projects together and
of course, have fun!
Did you know that with a mentor, at-risk youth are:
o 52% less likely than their peers to skip a day of school
o 55% more likely to be enrolled in college
o 46% less likely than their peers to start using drugs
o 81% more likely to report participating regularly in sports or extracurricular activities
o 78% more likely to volunteer regularly in their communities
o 130% more than twice as likely to say that they hold a leadership position in a club or sports team
Check out this video from https://youtu.be/kCNHCkgKqHc and think about who mentored you, how did it help you be where you are today and consider volunteering or mentoring a youth at the Boys & Girls Club or in your community. BE Great!
Vanessa Merhib
serving Brookings, Moody County & Yankton
May is National Mental Health Month and at the Boys & Girls Club training our staff, working with our kids and partnering with our community partners to ensure we are well-educated and well positioned to successfully work with our members regarding mental health is a high priority for us.
Mental health conditions are common among teens and young adults. 1 in 5 live with a mental health condition—half develop the condition by age 14 and three quarters by age 24. It is important for our staff team to be prepared to recognize, support, guide them to resources and to be a sustainable and accessible resource for the journey they may take. In addition, the Club works closely with our local mental health agencies, like Lewis & Clark and East Central Mental Health, as well as, local NAMI and other resources in our communities to give our youth and staff access and support by experts. These partnerships have been essential to the Clubs success when working with youth and families with mental health challenges.
Some of the areas and topics we focus on with our members and staff are:
· Taking charge of a mental health condition
· How to help a friend
· How to recognize if something is wrong
· Managing a mental health condition in middle &high school and into the transition into college
· Friendship and mental health
Looking to learn more? Check out this great article. https://www.hhs.gov/ash/oah/adolescent-development/mental-health/index.html
Vanessa
