Brighter Tomorrow - Youth Mentoring
Youth Mix is offering one-to-one mentoring to young people who have been through the justice system. Our ambition is to support young people find their passion, help them identify steps to get there, provide resources to upskill and train them within their area of interest and increase their confidence and be a better version of themselves.
Research shows that the following strategies are ineffective in reducing reoffending for young people:
Short term non-residential employment interventions;
Summer work programmes;
‘Boot camps’ or ‘scare’ programmes (i.e. taking young people who offend to adult prisons); and
Vague unstructured rehabilitation programmes. The first phase of our programme is to support young females who have been through the justice system within ages 18-26. Once this is running successfully, we will consider rolling this out to young males within similar circumstances.
The interventions which are more likely to be effective to reduce reoffending relate to the person’s state of mind:
Those who are motivated to change are optimistic about the future and will manage to desist from offending. Therefore more likely success is to target motivational factors and provide a sense of hope.
Focussing on offenders’ personal strength rather than over-emphasising risks is also an effective way to increase motivation.
Offenders who are contemplating change need to believe that an alternative future is possible, and therefore, it is worth changing to accomplish future goals.
therefore our mentoring programme will support young people by:
Giving them access to our volunteers/mentors who are DBS cleared and have received professional safeguarding, trauma and mentoring training.
Providing one-to-one mentoring at least twice a month (2 x1 hour sessions) until they achieve their goals, or a maximum of 18 months.
We will assess their current needs and gaps and help them confidently think about the future.
Put a plan in place with SMART goals with the ambition to reach their potential, find their passion, training towards their current goals and/or improve their life skills to become more confident and self sufficient.
We will provide tools and education to support their journey including training courses, work experience, learning key life skills e.g. budgeting, work etiquette, time management.
Success!
With thanks to the National Lottery, Youth Mix is SO PROUD to announce that we have been successful and received sufficient funding to support this programme!
eligibility for using our services
We have been granted funding by the National Lottery to run this programme and to support people:
Who are aged between 16-26;
With a conviction and have been through the justice system;
Who pose low or little risk to the public; and
Who want to be mentored, upskilled or coached and are open to advice.
next steps
We are currently partnering with Women in Prison and have started our pilot where we have a few mentors and mentees. When our processes are ironed and teething issues are sorted, we will be onboarding more mentors and matching them with new mentees.
We are still looking for mentors who are interested in volunteering to mentor young people. Please email adam.gardner@youthmix.org.uk or hello@youthmix.org.uk if you are interested or want to know more.