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About Mentors Matter

Healthy relationships build healthy kids

Think about a person that made you feel valued and supported, that helped with your self-confidence and growth and saw potential in you. You can be that person for one of our young people in Calgary by volunteering as a mentor with Hull Services.

Mentors Matter matches volunteers to young people who are accessing one of Hull’s programs or services. Volunteers may be matched in a group setting on Hull’s main campus or one-to-one in the community. Caring and supportive relationships are essential to a young person’s development and well-being. At Hull Services, mentors are an integral part of our holistic approach to treatment and care.

Due to the pandemic, it’s important now more than ever that our kids have access to a mentor. 

  • Kids have become more isolated 
  • The pandemic has created additional strain on families and worry for young people
  • Young people are not able to connect to healthy adults in ways they did before due to closure of programs and restrictions on gatherings

So please consider becoming a mentor for a young person at Hull Services. 

Who the Program Supports

The program supports vulnerable young people between the ages of 4-23, who are looking for a positive role model in their life. Some of these children and youth live on our main campus in Woodbine, and some live in Calgary and surrounding area. Mentors are often the only unpaid support in these children’s lives.

Our Approach

With a genuine interest in young people and commitment to the role, mentors provide important social and emotional support to their mentees. Their time, perspective and skills can influence a young person’s path and future. They are a positive role model, identify and develop the young person’s strengths, build their self-esteem, improve their life skills, and expose them to new interests and opportunities. The mentor commits 6-8 hours/month and a minimum of one year to the mentoring relationship.

There are a variety of ways to mentor at Hull Services:

One-to-One Mentoring
Mentors volunteer their time with a child or youth one-on-one and develop a relationship by doing various activities together. Over time, the mentor can help the youth improve their self-confidence, academic skills, life skills, and expose the youth to new opportunities, interests and connections in the community.

Group Mentoring
Group mentors may share a talent like cooking, dancing, art, yoga, drumming, soccer or skating with a group of Hull youth. The possibilities are endless; creating that spark of interest and having fun with the kids is what’s important.

Committed to excellence

Program staff are trained to facilitate healthy relationships and provide guidance to mentors, mentees and caregivers throughout their involvement. Program staff and volunteer mentors are involved in regular training opportunities through Hull Services including trauma informed care, to enhance their skills and knowledge.

Volunteer Profile

Dana Stan

Dana Stan is a skateboarder and a mentor. But before she got involved with Hull’s Mentors Matter program, she was neither.

While these dual passions seem somewhat unrelated, the common factor is Abby, the young woman that Stan was connected to when she decided to volunteer. She wanted to offer a young person the kind of support she didn’t have while growing up. “I try to be the person I wish I had to look up to as a teenager. There weren’t a lot of role models for me,” says Stan. “It’s been such an interesting experience. You forget what it’s like to be a teenager — what they struggle with.”

Read the full story!

How can you help?

Be a positive role model, identify and develop their strengths, build their self-esteem, improve their life skills, and expose them to new interests and opportunities.

Caring and supportive relationships are essential to a young person’s development and well-being. At Hull Services, mentors are an integral part of our holistic approach to treatment and care. Mentors are often the only unpaid support in these children’s lives.

The Positive Impacts of Mentors on Supporting Brain Development

A smile can brighten someone’s day, a compliment can make someone feel good – positive interactions affect how our brain develops, which is why it’s important to have positive role models in our life. Our Senior Director of Clinical Advancement & Trauma Informed Services talks about the importance of mentors in a young person’s life and the correlation between positive relationships and brain development.⁣

How to Become a Mentor

See if mentoring is right for you by evaluating yourself using our Self-Assessment Checklist (see the attachment below).

If you are interested in becoming a mentor the next steps are outlined below: 

  1. If you have questions about the Mentors Matter Program, please call or e-mail Aidan Quigley at either 403-238-7967 or at:  aquigley@hullservices.ca. You can also fill out the contact form below and a member of our team will reach out to you.
  2. Complete an application (please see the attachment below).
  3. If selected, we will contact you for an interview. You will be required to complete an Intervention Record Check and Police Background Check.
  4. All mentors will be required to successfully complete orientation (pre-match) training and commit to completing required post-match training.
  5. Once all the background checks are processed and you have successfully completed training requirements, you will become an approved mentor.
Self Assessment Checklist.pdf 111.82 KB Volunteer Mentor Guide.pdf 111.82 KB

1. Mentor Application (1 to 1 and Group).pdf 1.33 MB

 

 Mentors Matter is funded in part by Family and Community Support Services.

Since 1966, Family and Community Support Services (FCSS) has helped prevent people from experiencing crisis by building their resilience to overcome challenges such as poverty, social isolation and the effects of early childhood trauma.

 

 

For more information contact