MY MENTOR'S STORY, by Ashfield Staff Mentor
Why Did I Become An Ashfield Mentor?
I was becoming more and more disillusioned with seeing the same young people returning back to Ashfield time and time again. I wanted to understand the reasons why young people keep re-offending and try to motivate them to take a different direction in life.
Being a Prison Officer and a Mentor - The Challenge.....
Mentoring is a stimulating and personal role that poses different challenges to that of being a Prison Officer.
One of the biggest hurdles I faced from being a Prison Officer to becoming a Mentor was breaking down the barriers between being "The Boss" and a young person recognising me as an individual person out of the uniform.
The first couple of meetings I had with my young person were to encourage and engage with him, so that he became more open and relaxed in my company. We had weekly meetings in a cafe. And it worked - a free breakfast always helps!
Getting to Know him.....
My young person slowly started to open up and began talking to me about his home life and the many problems he faced there. Through our meetings, we found we had things in common - and by building up a rapport with him I could point out the negatives of what he was doing and the dangers of mixing with the friends he was associating with.
Encouraging.....
Through our chats I encouraged him to look towards his future and to try and make him understand the detrimental impact that his actions could and would have on his own life.
Meeting his YOT Worker.....
I was able to sit in on my young person's MAPPA meeting and to get to know and keep in touch with his YOT worker. From this, it became apparent to me that the tasks set were of little interest to my young person. This was going to make it much easier for him to breach his conditions and end up back in Ashfield!
Support, Guidance and Motivation....
As his Mentor, I wanted to help Kane and offer support, guidance and motivation. After discussions with his YOT team, we agreed that I could approach a contact of mine to get work experience for my young person that he would really be interested in. Since taking that offer, my young person has relished the challenge to prove to himself and to others that the skills and abilities that he learnt and which were taught here in Ashfield, could be used outside to make his life better.
Job Offer.........
Since starting the work experience, my young person has kept perfect time and by proving he could do the job and that he was a competent worker, he was given a job offer, which he accepted.
Change of Direction and Attitude to Life....
Having a job has changed my young person's direction and attitude towards life. He has moved to a much happier living situation and has cut himself off from his old friends. He is doing really well in the job and is putting money aside to learn to drive and for a holiday - something he had never talked of or imagined doing in our first meetings.
Ashfield Staff Mentor - Expect Highs and Lows....
As an Ashfield Staff Mentor you can expect highs and lows; a high for me was the breakdown of any barriers and the trust that I gained from my young person, enabling him to open up to me and discuss parts of his life that he never would have done as a young person in prison.
A Thankyou Call.....
Out of the blue, this Christmas, my young person called me to thank me for my help and guidance. It was at this point as an Ashfield Staff Mentor that I felt like I had achieved my personal goal.
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