Youth Mentoring
Youth Mentoring is one of Le Chéile’s core services. The young people we work with come from a variety of backgrounds with the common feature being that they have either committed an offence or are at risk of committing an offence. In general, we work with young people aged between 12 and 24 years of age (inclusive).
What is youth mentoring?
Youth Mentoring is a one-to-one support that matches a volunteer mentor with a young person. Mentors act as a positive role model, advisor and friendly supporter. The mentoring relationship will typically last up to one year or more.
What is involved?
Mentoring sessions take place weekly for up to three hours. Both the volunteer mentor and the young person plan and participate in various structured activities to help build self-esteem and self-confidence. Expenses are covered by Le Chéile.
What do mentors do?
Volunteer mentors offer young people support, stability, general guidance and help them make choices, as well as set achievable goals and realistic challenges. They listen, care, give advice, and share information and life/career experience with them.
What are the outcomes?
Mentoring has been proven to result in improved self-confidence, hopefulness, communications skills, engagement in activities and, crucially, a reduction in offending behaviour
Although most of the young people we work with are referred through the Probation Service, we also run two separate projects as part of the National Youth Diversion Projects (YDP) in Dublin and Waterford.
“My mentor always kept me thinking about my goals. Even when I messed up. She made me want to have a better life when I listened to her stories about travelling all over the world. It was good to have someone outside your own family and friends to talk to every week. She never gave up on me. That helped when things were bad.”
Young Person who was mentored
Information for Young People
If you have been referred to Le Chéile and you would like to find out more about what is involved, click the link below. Here you can find out more about what mentoring is, who your mentor will be, what is involved in a mentoring session and what you can expect to get out of it.