What should go in my Mentor Handbook?

Start talking people... just giving you a starting point.

P.S. An example of a full mentor handbook will be posted at www.nyccvista.org by 10/3/08.

I just so happen to be giving a presentation to undergrads Thursday on mentoring. There is excellent info on the CNCS resource center website at http://nationalserviceresources.org/ and of course VISTA Campus. You have to have a login to get some of the information, so if you haven't done so already, I highly recommend it.

Here is a very general outline for a brief guide:

I. Intro
A. What is a mentor? - A mentor is an individual, who guides another, usually younger but always less experienced, in their development. This guidance is not done personal gain. Youth mentors inspire and enable children to realize their full potential and discover their strengths in order to become productive, responsible and caring citizens. A mentor can be likened to a coach or a teacher, but most of all a mentor is a role-model, where your actions will make an impression upon your mentee.

B. Goals of Mentoring - Mentors give their mentees confidence, resources and skill to reach their potential. Mentors build 5 fundamental capacities in their mentee, but an individual mentor may focus on one area.
1. Positive Self-Identity : hope about the future, confidence to pursue dreams and goals.
2. Competencies - skills to tackle life's challenges
a. Education: includes tutoring, skills to succeed in school.
b. Employment: Skills related to finding and keeping a job, and planning for a career
c. Social: maintaining and establishing healthy relationships with others
d. Emotional: self-expression and reflection (not psychological counseling)
e. Cultural: learning about and respecting one's own identity, as well as others. Learning to respect and tolerate differences in people's backgrounds.

3. Community & Civic Engagement: learning to become a responsible and caring member of the community, taking an active interest in civic affairs, can include community service volunteer activities with mentee.

4. Health & Well-being : physical fitness, nutrition, hygiene and healthy habits
5. Moral Compass: Values such as honesty, integrity, compassion.

C. Types of Mentoring: There are many different ways we can categorize mentoring, I cover a few here.
1. One-on-one: Pairs one young person with an adult mentor (eg. Big Brother/Big Sister). This is a long-term commitment, where the mentor meets with the mentee weekly or monthly. It generally requires intensive screening, including fingerprint background checks. Mentors stay paired with their mentee typical for at least a year.
2. Team mentoring: More than one adult mentors a young person. If one mentor cannot make it, another can fill in.
3. Group mentoring: mentoring a group or team of young people. (eg. Scout programs)

D. Getting Started
1. Consider who you are serving, the mentee's age, their current social, academic, emotional, etc. level. Take into account their cultural background and individual background. Ask them questions and listen to what they have to say.
2. From there focus on the capacities that will benefit the individual mentee, and develop a strategy to build them.

E. Building Mentor Relationships
1. DO - Encourage, Respect, Listen, Establish a connection, Understand Needs
2. DON'T - Be Negative, Say "this is easy," Talk too much, or talk AT your mentee
3. Be aware of cultural differences and potential Attitudes and judgments

F. Boundaries
1. Although you are encouraged to form a bond and with your mentee, you must still maintain boundaries to ensure the integrity of the mentor/mentee relationship.
a. Refrain from giving favors, gifts or money.
b. Do not exchange personal contact informantion, offer or accept a ride anywhere, or visit the mentee at their home (only in certain mentoring programs is this ok)
c. Behave in an age appropiate manner.
d. Dress appropiately - since you are mentoring youth, this will often be very casually, but do not wear anything offensive
e. If there are any serious issues such as depression or anger problems, refer the issue to a staff member at the site or agency you are serving with. YOU ARE NOT a therapist, counselor or psychiatrist. If you suspect child abuse or neglect, contact a senior staff member, you may have to contact Child Protective Services. If there is an immediate emergency, call 911.

For my mentoring program, I created a Mentor and Caseworker Manual, and a job description (explaining their commitment).

At our training, I had the mentors brainstorm responses to about three questions. (i.e. what is my mentee (high school student) is shy?) etc.

I typed up their responses and sent it out to everyone. It included words of wisdom from previous mentors.

I also had a powerpoint explaining what a mentor is, their obligations, commitments, etc.

If you would like to see these materials, shoot me an e-mail at arneson@geneseo.edu or arneson.elise@gmail.com

I'm more than happy to share!

Hey I just wanted to add that I never keep my manuals "strictly business". I think it is helpful to include a couple of (age appropriate) ice breakers to use during those initial get-to-know you times. Also, we have just fun reference materials, like "10 Ways to say "You're Great!"", which include such classics as 'awesome idea!', and 'tell me more about that!'. These simple things might seem obvious but they're hard to think of when you're on the spot or under pressure.