Did the Colac forum deliver on the promise?

The 'Youth Mentoring - Communities Delivering on the Promise' forum held in Colac on October 30th highlighted the potential and challenges of both youth mentoring itself and, by extension, how to support programs regionally.

Guest speaker Jeanette Pritchard's presentation focussed on how to energise communities to support young people by taking ownership of youth mentoring programs. Drawing on her research and experience with the Standing Tall program in Hamilton, Jeanette outlined how, from a resiliency perspective, mentoring young people by adults in the community can be an effective way to help reduce risk factors and boost protective factors. However, for a program to have these outcomes it must be well run on sound principles and operate in an environment where participants and the community feel ownership over the program.

Click here to access Jeanette's powerpoint presentation via the Youth Mentoring Network's website.

The panel discussion featured:

• Shannon Lutrell (Big Brothers Big Sisters, Geelong)


• Wendy Cannon (Aspire, Warrnambool)


• Jacinta Tolland (Camperdown P-12 College)


• Sarah Johnson (Victorian Youth Mentoring Alliance - state body)


• Sylvia Utami (Youth Mentoring Network - national body).

Panel discussion points:

• do your research with potential participants (young people and mentors) to ensure there is sufficient demand for this program


• don't reinvent the wheel: use previous models and experience of other organisations, stay connected the your local network and use the resources on VYMA and YMN websites


• make sure young people feel ownership of the program as early as possible in planning process so they won't run a mile once it's set up


• develop community investment by making your program indispensible and making sure you promote what you do well


• moving outside your own sector to set up partnerships can build better programs and help make them more sustainable


• be creative in developing strategies for engaging business in your program


• be realistic and informed about the resources (especially staff time) involved in planning and running a good mentoring program

The forum then looked at potential actions for a Regional Coordination Project around supporting youth mentoring in the region. Suggestions included:

• Explore options to make the 'first step' easier for schools and organisations, such as model development, recruitment & training of mentors


• Scope potential programs and organisations in the region which could benefit from working together in partnership


• Set up a Barwon South West regional steering group to inform the Regional Coordination Project worker


• Explore links with volunteer support organisations to centralise a trained mentor pool


• Encourage partnerships between schools and community organsations to deliver a coordinated approach to recruiting and training mentors for schools to access

Feedback from participants indicated that the forum met their expectations (93% favourable) in terms of the 5 objectives of the forum:

• Increase awareness of youth mentoring and its potential in the region


• Increase understanding of the issues of youth mentoring programs new & existing


• A more thoughtful, collaborative and informed approach to planning & implementing programs


• Provide a springboard to future training opportunities


• Develop some actions for regional support

The forum will provide our new Regional Coordination Project worker (due to commence soon) with a solid foundation to work with from here. Thankyou to everyone for participating in the forum and look forward to seeing you at future events as part of the Barwon South West Youth Mentoring Network.

Thanks to our panel members and especially Sylvia from the national Youth Mentoring Network for partnering in this forum and travelling down from Sydney for the day.