Type of Activity:
x Mentoring
❑ Peer Mentoring
❑ Workshop
Relevant pillar: Self-determination, autonomy skills and teenagers’ development
Relevant competence(s): Transversal Elements, Social & Civic, Learning to Learn
Duration: minimum 6 hours (it is recommended to do it, at least, at three 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) and (ii) to help the mentee identify opportunities, interests, willingness to pursue a personal self-determination, autonomy skills and his/her development path.
Recommendations – If any of previous sessions were implemented, this topic is not of mandatory reading. Please go to the Objective section.
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 mentor is to provide the young person with support, guidance, and assistance. The Leaving Care professional through 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 reinforce the development of a constructing relationship (Reinforce of autonomy – support during automatization, ensuring effective help in difficulties, frustration and/or during absence, support the enhancement of intrapersonal reinforcement strategies),
- To identify opportunities, interests, willingness to pursue a personal constructive path regarding mentee’s self-determination, autonomy skills and his/her development.
Outcomes
- To enhance the autonomy skills and strategies being developed throughout the mentorship activities.
- 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 self-determination, autonomy skills and teenagers’ development.
Global considerations (cf. Session 1) – If any of previous sessions were implemented, this topic is not of mandatory reading. Please go to Challenges.
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 mentor 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 self-determination, autonomy skills and teenagers’ development. To discuss one’s difficulties and fragilities 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. self-determination). Please focus on the aspects/dimensions of self-determination, autonomy skills and teenagers’ development 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 self-determination, autonomy skills and teenagers’ development.
-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 mentor 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
- Self-determination, autonomy skills and teenagers’ development
a. What those concepts mean for the mentee – accordingly to this:
i. Strategies to enhance self-determination
ii. Promotion and reinforcement of autonomy skills
iii. Knowing “my own” development
A. Reinforce of autonomy
a. Give support during automatization
b. Provide help in difficulties, frustration and/or during absence
c. Support the enhancement of intrapersonal reinforcement strategies
B. Self-determination, autonomy skills and teenagers’ development
- “Self-determination, autonomy skills and teenagers’ development”: What do these concepts mean to me?
Justification: It is essential that mentee reflects critically on what “Self-determination, autonomy skills and teenagers’ development” mean to him/her, previous to specific actions to enhance knowledge and skills.
To accomplish this, we suggest implementing a derivation of the Phillips 6-6 technique:
- The LCP and mentee write 6 key elements that characterize each of the three concepts and write them in colour posts-it (green for self-determination, pink for autonomy skills and yellow for teenager’s development – another colour system can be used, of course).
- Each colour post it will be glued on a scenario paper.
- For each topic, major similarities and differences will de identified and jointly discussed – divergence is welcome!
- A brief description of each concept will be produced – and accordingly to it, the main priorities for mentee development will be established.
- “Making a balance of this mentorship programme”
Justification: Once the mentee has defined the concepts and identified the priorities (previous activity) it is important to assess: (i) the knowledge and skills already developed during the mentorship, and (ii) other knowledge and skills that need to be prioritized. This can be done by creating a pyramid of priority skills and knowledge for each dimension.
- Let’s make an action plan!
Justification: It is not enough to identify needs and priorities – it is important to act, promoting opportunities to actively develop them. This activity is, essentially, devoted to the making of an action plan to develop the knowledge and skills previously identified as priority – please take in consideration that this action plan must be doable and should be integrated with all contents of the plan(s) made in previous sessions.