Youth Mentoring Tip Sheets

These tip sheets feature advice from Victorian youth mentoring coordinators.

These documents are spread throughout the website, and are also available as a complete set here.

Quick links to document sections:

Getting Started
Policy and Procedure
Recruitment
Selection and Training
Making the Match
Match Support
  

Getting Started

Tips for new coordinators

Victorian youth mentoring coordinators provide tips on how to thrive in your first year in the role.

Funding

The following list was put together by Grant Writing Workshop participants, and includes first hand advice on how to best manage your funding search.

Kinds of Partnership

This article details the kinds of partnership available to you (from school to local government), and how to make these relationships successful.

Corporate Partnerships

This resource includes tips from youth mentoring coordinators on how to communicate the benefits of youth mentoring to business, and provides solutions to common issues.

Tips for dealing with the media

A comprehensive list covering how to engage with media, including a list of potential interview questions.

 
 
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Policy and Procedure

Policy – where to start?

Start your policy writing process by reading these tips from program coordinators on how to approach policy development, policy writing sequence and how to avoid getting overwhelmed.

Tips to Evaluate your program

These tips provide will give you direction on how to efficiently evaluate your program, including follow up phone calls, incorporating evaluation into your existing participant meetings and the use of surveys.

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Recruitment

Selling Mentoring to Young People

Use these ideas to positively promote your program (and mentoring in general) to young people.

Encouraging School Support

These tips will give you guidance on how best to nurture relationships with schools.

Recruiting Young People with Specific Criteria

How do you recruit enough young people when they need to meet specific criteria? This document will provide some tips.

Recruiting sufficient quality mentors

These tips provide a wealth of ideas on how to source and recruit quality mentors, including the use of media, community opportunities, and existing resources.

Recruiting Male Mentors

This list will provide ideas on how to tailor your marketing and promotional materials to attract male volunteers to your program through relevant networks and other community services.

Mentor Screening

These tips from Victorian program coordinators cover which types of information to give potential mentors, what needs to be communicated verbally, and ideal interview panel composition.

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Selection and Training

Ensuring mentor training is engaging

Ideas for mentor training, including role play scenarios, case study discussions and guest speakers.

Mentor Training Package Notes for Success

Training participant tips about what makes a successful and productive learning experience.

 
 
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Making the Match

Matching young people and mentors with busy schedules

Tips from program coordinators on ways to ensure mentoring matches can stay in touch, despite hectic lifestyles.

Matching diverse participants

Tips on how to begin the matching process amongst a diverse group of participants.

Encouraging Engagement

How do I keep mentors engaged when they are waiting to be matched, or when their match has been unsuccessful? (Also in Keeping People Connected)

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Match Support

Match support when working part-time

These tips provide some great ideas on how to manage your support of mentoring matches whilst working limited hours.

Strategies for Match Review

This list provides ideas on how to review your mentoring matches in a way that works for the mentor and mentee.

Connecting mentors to your wider organisation

Tips on how your mentors can engage with your organisation as a whole.

Keeping mentors engaged when young people disengage

Keeping mentors engaged when they are waiting to be matched, or when their match has been unsuccessful.

Tips on how to ensure mentors and mentees feel valued while they’re waiting to be matched or re-matched.

Keeping asylum seekers engaged

Ideas on how to encourage asylum seekers to stay involved in the program beyond their achievement of permanent residency, study or work rights.

Innovative ideas to support mentors

These tips cover how to ensure mentors are supported. Examples include: coffee clubs/mentor meetings, one-on-one catch-ups and celebratory events.

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