Type of Activity:
x Mentoring
❑ Peer Mentoring
❑ Workshop
Relevant pillar: Career and employment
Relevant competence(s): Transversal Elements, Social & Civic Communication, Sense of Initiative & Entrepreneurship, Learning to Learn
Duration: minimum 8 hours (it is recommended to implement this activity at least, at four 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 ones, this activity is organized in two components: (i) Promoting autonomy (creation and implementation of an automatization path, individual exploration, and actively build of intrapersonal reinforcement strategies (please see Introduction of MIP for more details on intrapersonal reinforcement) and (ii) to help the mentee identify opportunities, interests, willingness to pursue a personal constructive path regarding Career and employment.
Recommendations – If any of previous sessions was implemented, this topic is not of mandatory reading. Please go to the next topic.
Please take in consideration that this is a mentoring session – not a training or educational activity, or even a workshop! The Leaving Care professional 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 trough a mentoring relationship 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 autonomy (creation and implementation of an automatization path, individual exploration, and actively build of intrapersonal reinforcement strategies, (please see Introduction of MIP for more details).
- To identify opportunities, interests, willingness to pursue a personal constructive path regarding mentee’s career and employment interest and opportunities.
Outcomes
- Increased autonomy, specifically in relation to: (i) capacity to create and effectively implement a self-driven automatization path, (ii) decide and do individual exploration, and (ii) actively build a set of intrapersonal reinforcement strategies.
- 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 regarding career and employment.
Global considerations (cf. Session 1) – If any of 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 LCP’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, which have a potential negative impact on career and employment. To discuss one’s difficulties and fragilities regarding the definition of a career path and the employment (history and difficulties) during an especially stressful period (ageing out of state care) may produce the intensification of negative emotions, fears and concerns.
-Some concepts may be too abstract/difficult and seam irrelevant for the mentee (e.g., “career”). Please focus on the aspects/dimensions of Career and employment that are perceived as relevant and as a priority for the mentee.
-To maintain and continuously reinforce 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 LCP).
-The LCP will be prepared to adequately address emotional distress and self-confidence/self-concept doubts/difficulties, especially in relation to Career and employment (one of the topics that are mostly valued by people ageing out of care system).
-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 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 – it 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 sessions’ 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
- Career and employment
a. Wishes and goals for career path and employment
b. Support to
i. develop intrapersonal reinforcement strategies (please see Introduction of MIP for more details).
ii. identify major goals, challenges and opportunities related to the career path the mentee chooses to pursue
iii. build a plan and to operationalize the strategy chosen (e.g. include in the plan how to build a brief CV, prepare an elevator pitch[1]: “who am I?”)
iv. build and implement an efficient job seeking strategy
v. build and implement Monitoring strategy
- Brainstorm on potential risks, difficulties/barriers to accomplish the plan
- Identification of an action plan to overcome difficulties identified
A. Promote autonomy
a. Define, together, an automatization path
i. Identify key areas
ii. Identify key skills/knowledge to be developed
iii. Ensure support for error, frustration and/or resistance to change
b. Allow for individual exploration
i. If appropriate, encourage “out of the box” solutions
ii. Give support when needed but do not substitute the mentee’s decision or take charge.
iii. Do not present a “know it all” attitude
1. Implementing a positive interaction and communication style
a. The right not to tell
2. Ensure you use adequate negotiation strategies
c. Support build intrapersonal reinforcement strategies
B. Career and employment
- Pitch on mentee’s plans for career and employment – 5 minutes’ turbo pitch on “Why I wish to be …”
Justification: Previous to any exploration of the career and employment dimensions it is important to know what the mentee wishes for his/her career path/employment. One dynamic way to do it, which will also be relevant for the mentee to use when pursing employment opportunities, is to ask him/her to prepare a pitch on “Why do I wish to be…” (what he/she wishes to be). The LCP should help prepare this pitch and, additionally, to support mentee’s reflection on what he/she wishes to be and the main reasons why. Major difficulties/barriers/achievement mentioned during the accomplishment of this task need to be systematized in a sheet of paper because they are important for the following steps in the mentoring process.
2. “Going for it!” – Plan a strategy to find employment (integrated, if possible, in a career path)
Justification: For many ageing out children the most difficult component of employment/career is not, necessarily, the identification of the “job” they wish to have but to plan and implement an efficient strategy to actively pursue it. This activity is, in its essence, the development of the first stages of this strategy – to have an achievable action plan for job seeking (which, if possible, is integrated in a career strategy). To do it, mentee and LCP need to decide the template they wish to use (on scenario paper, on computer program – word, Power point, other…, directly in a A4 sheet, by post-it that will be glued together and after an organized document will be produced). With LCP’s support, mentee will identify major goals, challenges and opportunities related to the career path he/she chooses to pursue. A strategy with the operationalization of the actions chosen (e.g., build a brief CV, prepare a pitch) is, then, built. During the implementation of the strategy, the plan should be regularly monitored and updated.
3. “Intrapersonal reinforcement strategies”: Simulation of difficult, emotionally challenging and positive situations regarding employment/career related issues (role play in an interview context, how to behave during a staff meeting etc.).
Intrapersonal rewarding from the mentee to him/herself could be: “Very well! I am amazing”! or “I nailed it! I will reward myself with a movie with friends!”
Justification: This session is particularly challenging for the majority of the mentees. It is essential that the mentee develops strong intrapersonal reinforcement strategies to cope with all these challenges in an assertive way. To train these skills we propose that LCP and mentee practice, using simulation techniques, different situations, reactions and outcomes – the main goal is to reinforce acceptance, positive coping styles and the mentee strengths.