Mentorship has been proven to help people socially, emotionally, and academically in life; it can inspire people to pursue higher education, set priorities, or create a better life. Oftentimes, mentors can vary between volunteer tutoring, teachers, or even family friends. One can also be a mentor or receive mentorship through social networking platforms, online chats, and gaming calls. Anybody can take part in mentorship, so long as they are willing to establish a deeper connection to another individual.
Mentorship, if done properly, can be substantially beneficial for both the mentor and the mentee. It has been proven that, by having a deeper connection with a mentor, youth persons are more resilient; in areas where violence or negative influences are abundant, mentorship is even more crucial. Teens overall need a person who will listen to them. By having a mentor, teens are able to lead a more productive lifestyle. They also have a long-term support system to rely on through life.
Many psychologists and researchers wondered what patterns would determine effective or ineffective mentoring. For example, Jean Rhodes, a professor at UMass Boston, did a meta-analysis of 73 different youth mentorship programs. She concluded that active mentorship countered negative behavior, drug use, and depression, while encouraging students to do well in school. David Dewit and Ellen Lipman conducted a study on Big Brother Big Sister programs in Canada, a mentorship program catered towards lower economic classes.
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The team’s investigation of 1,000 Youth persons participating in the program proved that mentorship lead to more confidence in school work, emotional stability, and overall better mental health. Foundations such as Big Brother Big Sister are very important because they allow underserved communities to have more opportunities; this diminishes the socioeconomic gap found between the upper and lower classes in certain communities.
There are some precautions mentorship programs must take. Daniel Bassill established the Tutor Mentor Institute (TMI) in Chicago after being an effective mentor to a young boy. Bassill noticed that volunteers who wanted to give back to the community were looking for instant gratification; they did not understand that the effects of mentorship are seen overtime. Bassill also believed that mentors should be screened, matched, and trained properly to secure long-term, safe relationships with the youth; this avoids unwanted situations like sexual abuse or high turnover rates in mentors. Other barriers include the safety of a program’s setting, parent or guardian buy-in, and effective, authoritative mentoring.
There are other forms of mentorship programs as well. In California, there is a program that unifies youth persons through video games and online gaming networks. Instead of having participants meet for the program, they use an online platform such as chatrooms, voice chats, and games. College students are typically the mentors, and they talk to younger people while playing games in hopes of positively influencing them. Another program, the National Guard ChalleNGe Program, takes teens who have dropped out of high school or were set on the wrong path into a militaristic program.
After the program is completed, they are instructed to take the initiative of finding a mentor. This is structured to allow the teens to have a better relationship with the mentor. Although programs can be structured differently, all have a similar goal of helping others lead a more productive, satisfying life.
