Niacro

Mentoring

Category: Working with Children & Young People who Offend

NIACRO’s mentoring programme recruits and trains volunteers from the local community to act as mentors for children and young people aged 10 to 17 who are at risk of offending or re-offending.

Mentors act as role models who can encourage young people in difficulties to make positive changes in their lives – such as regular school attendance, taking part in further education and training, or staying out of trouble with the law. Mentor and mentee meet weekly for a year. Mentoring involves a relationship with a supportive adult who will help and encourage the young person to set and achieve goals, as well as take part with them in social and leisure activities.

The Mentoring and Befriending Foundation awarded the project its Approved Provider Standard in 2005, and it won the “Outstanding contribution to working with young people in the criminal justice system in Northern Ireland” award in June 2006.

One 13-year-old mentee says “I’m glad I gave the mentoring a chance.  I like having a friend to talk to.  I talk more to him than I’ve ever talked to anyone…If I was a salesman for mentoring, I would say, give it a go, you have a choice to get involved and I’ve never been given many choices before.”

You can find an evaluation of the project in the Publications section