Preliminary notes
Due to the sensitivity inherent to this session, Health pillar, the INTEGRA methodology strongly recommends that previous to its implementation, the Leaving Care Professional should:
- self-assesses if he/she is prepared to do the session, not only regarding knowledge/skills and also if he/she has the necessary psychological and emotional tools to be able to efficiently address the moments of emotional distress, disclosure of difficult experiences, frustration, etc. by the mentee
- Revises ethical and deontological standards to ensure absolute compliance with them
a. to be a Leaving Care Professional is not the same as to be a health professional – limit your action to the role to the process of mentoring and guiding;
b. Limit unnecessary curiosity and intrusiveness – this activity is not an assessment of health status. It is an activity of mentoring in relation to health – all sharing is, at all times, defined by the mentee;
- selects a set relevant sources (e.g., scientific databases, technical experts) to use/to ask for help in case of necessity of better information/clarification/explanation of information regarding the mentee’s health;
a. This set of sources might need to be enhanced/updated during the development of the activity;
b..It is essential to include in this set health structures, associations, technical and scientific experts that can be asked to give information/support in a limited period of time (accordingly to the specific needs – and its related urgency – of the mentee);
- identifies existent structures/NGO mentee can turn to in case of physical and/or psychological urgent needs;
a. It is necessary to verify that the selected organizations actually can provide efficient and quick support, if needed;
- meets the mentee and explains the main contents for the session and, together, both decide if they wish to do it or if an alternative option is more adjusted to mentees needs, interest and expectations.
Type of Activity:
x Mentoring
❑ Peer Support
❑ Workshop
Relevant pillar: Health
Relevant competence(s): Social & Civic, Sense of Initiative & Entrepreneurship, Communication
Duration: minimum 4 hours ((it is recommended to implement this activity at least, at two different moments in time)
Materials and Resources: laptop with internet access, printer, A4 paper, notebook, markers, pens.
One-to-one activity mentoring.
As the previous activities, this activity is organized in two components: (i) Building trust (focused on be trustful and honest, establish flexible culturally adequate boundaries and spending time together) and (ii) to support the mentee identify opportunities, interests, willingness to pursue a personal constructive path regarding promoting his/her health by becoming aware and developing a healthy life style.
Recommendations (If session 1 or 2 was implemented, this topic is not of mandatory reading. Please go to the next section, Objectives).
Please take in consideration that this is a mentoring session – not a training or educational activity, or even a workshop! The Leaving Care professional (LCP) is not a teacher/trainer/facilitator, he/she is a caring, more experienced individual(s) that will establish a relationship with a less experienced person resulting in the provision of support, friendship and constructive role modelling consistently over a period of time. The role of the LCP is to provide the young person with support, guidance, and assistance. The Leaving Care professional acting as a mentor should be able to listen and ask questions that will challenge the mentee to identify the course of action they need to take in regard to their own development.
Flexibility is an asset! – This mentoring session can combine different activities, starting from getting-to-know each other and reflecting on the self, then building the relationship, until the stage of discussing specific topics.
- To pursue the development of a constructing relationship and building trust (focused on be trustful and honest, establish flexible culturally adequate boundaries and spending time together),
- To identify opportunities, interests, willingness to pursue a personal constructive path regarding mentee’s Health (specifically regarding promoting his/her health by developing a healthy life style).
Outcomes
- Enhancement of mentee’s sense of trust, security and constructiveness in the relationship with the LCP.
- Increase of the mentees’ ability to organize her/his sense of self and to positively express feelings about her/his self, life events, and significant people, specifically focused on the challenges that health (physical, psychological and social) can pose during the ageing out process.
- Develop the mentee’s awareness of her/his choices in creating adequate strategies to ensure a healthy lifestyle and continuously promote his/her health.
Global considerations (cf. Session 1) – If previous sessions were implemented this topic is not of mandatory reading. Please go to Challenges section.
The mentoring process can be useful for a large diversity of situations and in different stages of the life trajectory. Because it is a flexible, people centred, and constructive process, where “an experienced and trusted advisor” (in this case an adult) share his/her experience and knowledge in a facilitative manner to support the development of the mentee it is particularly relevant for children integrate in state care system. It can be a very interesting opportunity for the mentee to know a positive and constructive influence in his/her life, and to develop a relationship based on trust, sharing, respect and caring.
To do that, the LCP will have a challenging role, in which he/she will be asked to:
- Actively listening
- Provide different perspectives (not only those of the mentor’s)
- Encourage self-analysis and self-reflexion
- Give constructive critics and accept that are other ways of seeing, feeling and being in this world
- Provide evidence-based feedback
- Ask questions to help understanding better situations or problems
- Both – LCP and mentee need to have open minded, positive approaches. Therefore, the LCP should avoid leading questions and always have in mind that decisions are made by the mentee.
- Provide information and knowledge, inform and share (in)formal networks
- Provide advice on educational and/or career development, and/or other topics considered relevant by the mentee
- Focus on relationship in positive and constructive approaches – provide support and encouragement
Regarding key mentoring skills, the following are commonly expressed in the literature):
- Self-Awareness –implies a good understanding of his/her own strengths and development needs
- Credibility – on personal and professional level
- Accessibility –willingness and commitment in terms of time and availability for support and guidance
- Communication – great communication skills and be able to understand the ideas and feelings of others is a must!
- Ability to empower – the LCP should be able to create a learning/sharing environment where it is safe for mentees to disclose or try out different things,
- Creativity and Inventiveness – be open to new ways of doing things and different ways of learning/working
- Empathy – Ability to empathise with the mentees
- Understanding – ability to understand different perspectives, approaches and possibly backgrounds of different mentees.
-Self-confidence and self-concept might be low, especially in relation to psychological and/or social components of health. To discuss one’s health fragilities and problems can be very hard, particularly if the mentee faces long term/chronic diseases, if his/her health problems have been motiving for discrimination and/or stigma, etc.
-Some concepts may be too abstract/difficult and seam irrelevant for the mentee (e.g., social health). Please focus on the aspects/dimensions of health that are perceived as relevant and as a priority for the mentee.
-To establish a positive, constructive and trustful relationship with the mentee (taking in consideration that children need time, opportunities to connect and develop activities together, and moments of confidence and sharing which require flexibility and support from the mentor).
-The LCP will be prepared or ask for support to adequately address emotional distress and self-confidence/self-concept doubts/difficulties, especially in relation to health.
-The LCP will use common language (if technical concepts are needed, they will be explained through practical examples, analogies and/or personal experiences) to ensure the mentee properly understands what is being said.
-The LCP will focus on establishing a positive, constructing and trustful relationship with the mentee. To do so, he/she will have an open minded, flexible approach, and will ensure the mentoring process occurs accordingly to the mentee’s needs, interests, capacities and expectations. Let the child in care dictate the timings of disclosure and the evolution path of the mentoring process. This might implicate adjustments in the objectives, contents, methodologies and/or activities of each session- in order to enhance efficiency and efficacy of the mentorship. This does not mean, however, that this guideline is to be discarded – they will always guide the mentoring path, even though each path will, evidently, be unique.
Each mentoring path is singular, and this is part of its richness. Therefore, no structured mandatory activities will be suggested for the 9 sessions of mentoring. Instead we propose to give suggestions for LCP and mentee to consider and to implement, with the flexibility and adaptation that are needed.
For this meeting, the suggestion is for the LCP to focus on discussing:
Part A
- Review of the previous session’s experiences – major positive elements, what needs change/improvement, emotional state of mind during and after the sessions,
- Help develop a doable action plan and support its implementation (regarding the topics addressed so far): give support on identification of objectives, signalization of initiatives/actions, definition of major steps to accomplish objectives, definition of monitoring strategies.
- Provide constructive feedback
- Identify strengths and achievements and explore options
- Coach on specific areas of difficulty/needs if need
- Create opportunities for mentees to gain experience
Part B
- Health
a. Brief Health history
i. major difficulties/problems during the life path
ii. positive dimensions/events regarding health
iii. positive/helpful people/organizations
iv. the relationship between physical and mental health
b. Health today:
i. major difficulties/problems during the life path
ii. positive dimensions/events regarding health
iii. positive/helpful people/organizations
c. Goals, wishes, fears and expectations regarding Health
Building trust
a. Going deep in “Getting to Know Each Other”
i. Ensure empathy and positive interaction
ii. Be predictable and consistent
iii. Ensure confidentiality
iv. Anticipate mistrust and suspicion
v. Recognize frustration
vi. Be open minded!
b. Develop a constructive relationship
i. Give time to know each other
1. Establish Boundaries
a. Physical
b. Emotional and psychological
c. Social
d. Other (e.g., spiritual)
2. Be flexible!
3. Be curious and interested – but not intrusive!
ii. Be trustful and honest
1. Be assertive
2. Ensure transparency ion your perspective and actions
iii. Spend time together – have fun!
1. Plan activities together
2. Do activities together
3. Monitor and assess activities together
Health
- “Physical health”: let’s see what my body is telling me
Justification: It is essential that mentee understands different manifestations/symptoms of physical distress and disease to be able to efficiently address them, and if needed to require help.
This activity starts with a brief relaxation exercise (the LCP can use a derivation of Jacobson’s method or a more imaginative exercise accordingly to the preferences of the mentee and his/her own experience). After recognizing different parts of the body and where the tension tends to accumulate more, mentee is asked to identify his/her most important psychical health difficulties and problems. Those are systematized in a sheet of paper and for them (as a whole or in groups of difficulties/problems) a simple and doable action plan is made (for example, instead of watching 2h TV I will go, every day, for a 30’ walking in the neighbourhood – I will do a mindful walking!”).
- “Psychological health: How to promote it?”
Justification: Psychologic health is a delicate topic for many children ageing out of care system. Even if manifestations/symptoms do occur (e.g., insomnia, aggressive behaviour) they are not recognized and/or efficiently addressed. This activity will help recognize the need for actively promoting psychological health. To do so, we propose a moment for confidence and sharing of stress, difficulties, fears, and frustration in life. From this discussion the LCP will have the opportunity to support the development of positive lifestyle measures to enhance psychological health. Information regarding formal help must be provided and it is essential that myths, misbeliefs and wrong ideas around the topic of health and when needed care are deconstructed during this discussion.
- “Social health: Am I socially healthy? – Interrogative discussion”
Justification: To actively reflect on the importance of having a positive and active social health is essential to promote a healthy lifestyle. To do so, we propose the LCP focus in an interrogative Socratic style[1], helping the mentee understand by himself/herself the importance of ensuring and adequate social health life style (“what do you think social heath is? Do you think it is relevant? Why?”).
Final tips:
- If needed, a fourth activity should be included. This activity should focus on how all health dimensions need to be kept in balance
- efficient and quick support (psychological, emotional, physical) if the mentee manifests its need and/or if any symptoms of acute/extreme distress emerge during the previous activities.