The McMann Youth Centre in Drayton Valley has found a gap in services offered to youth in the community, and they are hoping to close it.
Jennifer Fuson, the family support worker of the centre, says there are services offered for Youth who are in foster care, and there are services offered for youth who have specific health conditions. However, she says, there is nothing in place for other students who don’t fit into either of those categories.
The goal of the Youth Mentor program is to offer support if those families want it.
Fuson says they are looking for people that are aged 18 or older.
“We’re looking for mentors who can provide guidance, be that positive role model, teach skills, and build self-esteem in the kids,” she says.
Anyone who chooses to volunteer for the program will be put through training. They also need to have their criminal record check and an intervention check done. Fuson says they must also have First Aid Level C, a driver’s license and a clean abstract. Mentors will also have to be double vaccinated, though the children in the program do not have to be.
She says the training the volunteers will go through will include suicide intervention, de-escalation training. Aim for Success is partnering with McMann to do mentorship training as well.
“Those three trainings are going to be free of charge,” she says, and the time commitment will only be one or two days for the training.
Afterward, the time commitment for the mentors will depend on their availability, with once a week being ideal. Fuson says they might only be able to spend time with the child every couple of weeks and that’s fine. The only consideration is that they would like the mentors to spend more than just one hour a month with the child.
“[With one hour a month] you’re not really giving the child the full benefit. You’re not really teaching them anything, because without that consistency it just falls by the wayside,” she says.
She says every child will be paired with a mentor that they have similarities with. For example, a child who really enjoys art might be paired up with an artist. Someone that wants to learn more about sports might be paired up with a coach.
Each Mentor will have a maximum of two kids to work with, says Fuson. The goal is to give each child quality time with the mentor, and that’s hard if the mentor’s time is limited too much.
