Training

Strengthen your mentoring strategies with one of these learning opportunities!

We know that mentoring can be transformational for children and youth – but quality matters! Find out what you need to know to be the best mentor you can be, or ensure your mentoring program is using the best practices to maximize the benefits for children and youth.

MENTOR Independence Region offers trainings for both mentors, mentees, and mentoring programs on the research and evidence-based best practices. For more information on any of these trainings, please contact Adelaide Moschler at amoschler@mentorir.org or call us at 215-701-8108.

For Mentoring Program Staff and Board

These trainings are based on The Elements of Effective Practice for Mentoring and are intended for audiences of mentoring program staff, leadership, and board.

Align your mentoring program with the Elements of Effective Practice for Mentoring and improve the likelihood of positive outcomes for youth, strengthen your program, and reduce your managed risk. In this comprehensive and interactive training, participants will define youth mentoring and recognize the essential components of high-quality mentoring programs and apply the Elements of Effective Practice for Mentoring in your mentoring program.

Target Audience: mentoring program staff and board members

Duration: four hours virtual training or eight hours classroom training

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This training is based in the Critical Mentoring framework. Embedding critical race theory into mentorship, critical mentoring places youth at the center of the process, challenging norms of adult and institutional authority and notions of saviorism to create collaborative partnerships with youth and communities that recognize there are multiple sources of expertise and knowledge. Participants will understand what it means to build youth power in youth mentoring programs, explore tools to build youth power in youth mentoring programs, and apply youth power frameworks and tools to their youth mentoring programs.

Target Audience: mentoring program staff and board members

Duration: 90 minutes virtual training or two hours classroom training

In this training mentoring programs and support staff will understand the importance of documenting support conversations and receive tools to build their own standards of practice for high quality documentation. Participants will recognize and understand the importance to youth safety and outcomes maximization that quality documentation can provide, be able to recognize quality documentation in support for mentoring matches and have tools to create their own standardization of documentation within their programs.

Target Audience: mentoring program staff and board members

Duration: two hours virtual training or two hours classroom training

In this training participants will recognize and understand the importance of quality questioning while conducting staff support contacts with mentors and mentees, recognize questioning methods and understand how they should be applied in different support situations, and gain the skills to apply various questioning methods to their own support contacts in order to offer the highest quality of support to program participants.

Target Audience: mentoring program staff and board members

Duration: 90 minutes virtual training or two hours classroom training

A deep dive on evidence-based practices for recruiting mentors and mentees. Two hours.

By the end of this training, participants will be able to:

  • Define a targeted recruitment audience for potential mentors and mentess
  • Recruit appropriate mentors and mentees by realistically describing their program’s aims and expectations
  • Develop a targeted plan to recruit mentors and mentees
  • Apply the recruitment standard from the Elements of Effective Practice for Mentoring, 4th edition to their mentoring program practices

A thorough exploration of evidence-based practices for screening mentors and mentees for safety and suitability. Three hours.

By the end of this training, participants will be able to:

  • Summarize the screening benchmarks for mentors and mentees
  • Identify screening practices to determine whether mentor applicants will have the time, commitment, and personal qualities to effectively mentor
  • List the key components of a comprehensive criminal background check process
  • Translate screening requirements to meet the needs of their program design and setting
  • Apply the screening standard from the Elements of Effective Practice for Mentoring, 4th edition to program practices

Evidence-based practices in training mentors and considerations for training mentees. Four hours.

By the end of this training, participants will be able to:

  • Explain why training mentors leads to effective and safe mentoring relationships
  • Apply adult learning theory and principles of effective training to the design of training sessions
  • Design a training system that teaches mentors the knowledge, attitudes, and skills needed to build an effective and safe mentoring relationship within their program context
  • Recognize the importance of using culturally appropriate language and tools for training program participants
  • Apply the training standard from the Elements of Effective Practice for Mentoring, 4th edition to program practices

Best practices in pairing mentors and mentees and getting the relationship off to a solid start. Two hours.

By the end of this training, participants will be able to:

  • Describe how effective matching builds the foundation for quality and enduring mentoring relationships
  • Define the steps in the process of making and initiating a match, including the first mentor-mentee meeting
  • Use informed criteria to build program-specific matching strategy and process
  • Apply the matching and initiation standard from the Elements of Effective Practice, 4th edition to program practices

A deep dive to understand the evidence and best practices in keeping matches safe and supported. Two and a half hours.

By the end of this training, participants will be able to:

  • Describe the role of post-match monitoring and support in protecting youth safety, promoting match longevity, and achieving positive youth and program outcomes
  • Articulate the key tasks and processes involved in supporting quality mentoring relationships
  • Apply the monitoring and support standard from the Elements of Effective Practice, 4th edition to program practices

Best practices in healthy match closures that reinforce the lessons learned through mentoring. Two hours.

By the end of this training, participants will be able to:

  • Define the importance of closure in the context of a mentoring relationship
  • Communicate closure policies and procedures throughout the lifetime of a mentoring relationship
  • Facilitate closure activities that bring a relationship to a close, as well as affirm the mentor(s) and the mentee(s)
  • Apply the closure standard from the Elements of Effective Practice, 4th edition to program practices

For Mentors and Staff

These trainings are intended for mentors but are also applicable to mentoring program staff and stakeholders.

Learn the evidence-based approaches to effective mentoring and how to create a supportive relationship. Two hours in person, or two hours virtually.

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Mentors closely examine their own power and privilege in their mentoring relationship, and develop a strengths-based approach to mentoring Black youth. Four hours virtually or eight hours in-person.

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This curriculum is designed to be adapted to a variety of audiences and to be applicable to any relationship-rich space where youth and adults interact on a regular basis. Adults will learn to approach interactions and relationships with youth with a mentoring mindset and increase the quality and depth of these interactions and relationships. Participants will (1) understand the evidence-based developmental approach to interacting with youth, (2) explore concrete strategies to activate mentoring moments with youth, and (3) practice effective listening skills. Two hours in-person or 75 minutes virtually.

Mentoring relationships and programs have the power to reproduce racial inequity. Mentors and mentoring programs have a moral obligation to do no harm to the youth and families engaged in their mentoring relationships and programs. In this workshop, participants explore what white saviorism looks like as well as the harmful impact it has on youth. Participants will develop the ability to recognize white saviorism in mentoring relationships and programs and explore concrete strategies to combat its harmful effects.

In this interactive virtual training participants will:

-Be able to recognize white saviorism in mentoring relationships and programs
-Be motivated to take action to dismantle white saviorism
-Develop a strengths-based approach to their mentoring relationships and programs that centers youth of color

Two hours in person, or 90 minutes virtually.

Formal and informal Mentors, as well as mentoring program staff and board will develop awareness of trauma in order to support youth in developing resilience to cope with the effects trauma. Participants will !1) increase their knowledge and understanding of trauma, (2) explore youth behaviors through a trauma-informed lens, and (3) explore evidence-based strategies for supporting youth in developing resiliency. Two hours.

This training is targeted towards supervisors and workplace mentors of youth who are preparing to enter the workforce or have recently entered the workforce. This curriculum promotes a relationship building framework grounded in positive youth development that emphasizes a bi-directional, collaborative relationship that engages the strengths of both supervisor/mentor and intern/mentee. Participants will learn to:

  • Connect: Participants will learn tangible strategies and tactics to build trust and rapport, including support and celebration, positive youth development, and cultural humility
  • Focus: Participants will learn tools and activities to leverage with mentees in setting goals and creating action plans to achieve those goals
  • Grow: This content will review effective practices for giving and receiving feedback as well as dealing with common challenges in mentoring relationships

Three hours in person, or 90 minutes virtually. Additional learning opportunities are available through an online Mentoring Portal.

For Mentees

These trainings are intended for mentees.

In order to be successful in life we all need a network of supportive, positive relationships! MENTOR Independence Region’s Building Your Dream Team workshop encourages participants to take charge of developing their own supportive networks, engages participants with self-reflective and interactive activities, and educates participants about the importance of mentors, where to find mentors, and how to maximize mentoring relationships.

90 minutes in person, or 75 minutes virtually.

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This training is targeted towards youth aged 16-24 years who are preparing to enter the workforce or have recently entered the workforce. This curriculum promotes a relationship building framework grounded in positive youth development that emphasizes a bi-directional, collaborative relationship that engages the strengths of both supervisor/mentor and intern/mentee. Participants will learn to:

  • Connect: Participants will learn tangible strategies and tactics to build trust and rapport, including support and celebration, positive youth development, and cultural humility
  • Focus: Participants will learn tools and activities to leverage with mentees in setting goals and creating action plans to achieve those goals
  • Grow: This content will review effective practices for giving and receiving feedback as well as dealing with common challenges in mentoring relationships

Three hours in person, or 90 minutes virtually. Additional learning opportunities are available through an online Mentoring Portal.