Definition

A voluntary, mutually beneficial and purposeful relationship in which an individual gives time to support another to enable them to make changes in their life.

Mentoring and befriending makes a real difference to people who find themselves struggling, often at a time of change, and find that they need the dedicated support of another person to help them navigate their way through. It covers a range of supportive and purposeful activity involving the development of a relationship in which one person, who is not family or a close friend, gives time to support and encourage another.

Mentoring and befriending is found in a range of settings – within community, statutory and business – and can take place on a one-to-one basis or within groups. Whatever the setting, mentoring and befriending shares the following key elements:

•  Building relationship and trust
•  Clarifying purpose and intended outcomes
•  Communicating and reviewing progress with individuals
•  Ending the relationship

Many people who have experienced the support of a mentor and befriender tell us that it marked a turning point in their life, helping them to build new networks of support, increase their self-confidence, develop new skills and change their life for the better.

What is its purpose?

There are four main purposes for mentoring and befriending activity:

•Specific/targeted:  to find education, employment, stop re-offending, help integrate into the community, develop a career

• Change behaviour: to improve relationships, reduce unwanted behaviours etc
• Expand opportunities: to develop personal skills, build confidence, improve attainment etc
• Supportive: to build trust and resilience, reduce isolation etc

Our mentoring and befriending happens both formally and informally, but often, to make a real difference, it needs to be supported by good training, supervision and management. Volunteers often come from the project’s local community to support a particular group of people or age group.

This could be:

• Socially isolated people and those with mental health problems needing support to re-engage with others and their communities
• Unemployed people wanting to build up their self-confidence and develop new skills to enable them to re-enter work
• Disadvantaged young people lacking a positive role model
• Young people in care looking for support as they move to independent living
• Offenders and those at risk of re-offending wanting guidance often from those have been through similar experiences
• Refugees negotiating their way into an unfamiliar life
• Students who are being bullied striving to improve their attendance or results

Our mentoring and befriending relationships are mutually beneficial with both the service users and volunteers finding their involvement rewarding as it offers an excellent opportunity for personal development and obtaining new skills and experiences as well as a chance to put something back into the community.

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