2020 - Mentoring Plus
Mentoring Plus is an independent charity supporting children and young people across Bath & North East Somerset. They offer mentoring and activities to young people struggling with school, family or wellbeing. Their mission is to empower and inspire young lives to thrive through the help of communities, by offering positive support and opportunities to young people facing challenges.
Mentoring Plus support over 250 young people aged 5-21 every year with their mentoring programmes, working in particular, with those who face tough challenges at home and school often as a result of poverty, extreme family difficulties and poorly met educational needs. Volunteer mentors and a network of partners provide a comprehensive programme of help, alongside fun and skills-building activity group sessions and participation groups. They also support young people with professional mentors. Their vision is of a world where all young people can feel safe, feel heard and feel hopeful for their future.
ACTION
In 2020, Mentoring Plus were awarded the first ever grant of £10,000 from Bath Women’s Fund that they used for their Girls’ Group. The group had already been established and the grant would be used to continue its important work. The aim of Girls’ Group is to motivate 11-19 year olds through discussion sessions that explore issues and learn about feminism, and provide workshops where girls engage in activities and meet inspirational female role models. The group gives girls a chance to talk, learn, question, make friends and feel supported. The aim being to empower them to realise their potential and find their voice, within their own communities.
The young people they work with are often struggling in school, or struggling to engage with peer groups, and need some adult support. The funding paid for professional staff to help the girls, for example, by collecting them, taking them to a group and bringing them home again. Just sending taxis wasn’t an option, so as simple as it sounds, the funding enabled these girl to feel supported and access sessions outside of their home that they wouldn’t have been able to attend otherwise. The overall aim of the project being “To empower girls to be whoever they want to be, and to change the world”.
IMPACT
The Girls’ Group has been a great success, despite having to adapt the programme during lockdown, with the staff doing incredible work hosting online events and ensuring each girl had the resources she needed sent to her home so she was able to join in.
“I’m really proud of the work we did. It wasn’t quite the work we hoped to do, which was entirely down to the circumstances we were in at the time (lockdown). But I’m particularly proud of how the professionals and the girls supported each other, which was made significantly more difficult when so much contact had gone online. It felt really significant and important to be doing that work with that group at that time.” Ruth Keily
To find out more about Mentoring Plus visit:
https://mentoringplus.net/