Mentors
Without mentors, we cannot accomplish the life-changing work that we do
Whether you are a current, past, or prospective mentor with Friends for Youth, your interest in helping a youth and giving them a chance means so much to us – and it means the world to them.
Learn what it takes to become a mentor. Take that first step – participate in a Friends for Youth orientation. From here you will learn more about the programs we have to offer, the various time/commitment levels, and how you will be making an impact. Feel free to browse through what our current and past mentors have had to say about the program and why your involvement means so much! Worried about if you can do it? Worry not – as a mentor we equip you with the right resources and training’s to help make mentoring easy, as well as fun events to help keep you and your mentee busy and moving without struggling to plan an activity on your own every time.
Whether you are a current, past, or prospective mentor with Friends for Youth, your interest in helping a youth and giving them a chance means so much to us – and it means the world to them.
Learn what it takes to become a mentor. Take that first step – participate in a Friends for Youth orientation. From here you will learn more about the programs we have to offer, the various time/commitment levels, and how you will be making an impact. Feel free to browse through what our current and past mentors have had to say about the program and why your involvement means so much! Worried about if you can do it? Worry not – as a mentor we equip you with the right resources and training’s to help make mentoring easy, as well as fun events to help keep you and your mentee busy and moving without struggling to plan an activity on your own every time.
Programs
If you are interested in mentoring, we’d love to help you find the right fit.
At Friends for Youth, a successful mentoring experience starts with something important – finding your place. Maybe you only have Tuesday nights free, or maybe you plan to move in 6 months. Maybe you are interested in working with an older youth, or maybe you want to stay on the east side of town.
Maybe you just simply have a calling…and now you’re responding.
We have mentors from all walks of life and each mentor that comes through our door has a unique set of interests, experiences, responsibilities and life circumstances. We have a program for you.
One-to-One Mentoring: Just you and one youth, hanging out, having fun, making an impact. Go to their basketball game, help with homework, take them on a hike, listen when they need to talk. If you have 1 year or more of your time to give a few days out of the month, our one-to-one program may be the fit for you. You could be making a life-long friend.
Because we work with youth from difficult or hurtful backgrounds, a lot of them simply don’t know what a health, positive, committed adult looks like. So when they meet one – it changes their lives.Success Journey Mentoring: Can you remember when you got your first job, or when you graduated high school? Do you want to see others experience that same feeling? Do you have a heart for older youth and helping them get back on their feet? Come take part in the Success Journey, where mentors spend 3 months getting to know a group of awesome youth before getting matched with one individually for the remainder of a year. You become their community.
Family Advocates and Mentoring: The Family Advocates & Mentors (FAM) program is designed to provide youth and families with life skills services, youth mentoring, community resources, parenting skills training, advocacy, and a variety of other services. The goal of the FAM program is to keep families together by giving them the tools and support they need to be self-sufficient and positively attached. Services are provided by trained and caring adults from the same communities as the families being served. Services are tailored to fit the needs of each family and may be provided in a home or community setting.
Success Journey EDU Mentoring: Success Journey EDU offers a weekly group program and supportive service for the entire school year and throughout the summer. Once the group commences, a Friends for Youth staff member, along with mentors, will devote one full school year to building trust- based and supportive relationships with the students.
Mentor FAQ
You are interested in learning more about being a mentor. So what does it mean to be a mentor?
Mentoring is choosing to make time for a young person in need with the hope of making a permanent impact.
What does it take to be a mentor?
Mentors come from many walks of life – different ages, cultures and interests. There is something they all have in common, however. They are all safe, healthy, and caring people.
Our mentors range in age from 21 to 81. When a volunteer decides to mentor with us, they go through an extensive screening process which includes the following:
Nationwide criminal background check
Driving record check
CDHS (Colorado Dept of Human Services) check for name in TRAILS database
Fingerprints through CBI (Colorado Bureau of Investigation)
Personal Interview and assessment
References
This process can be completed in 1 or 2 easy sessions at our office.
Why so thorough? We want all our youth and mentors to have the best experience possible in our program and that starts with the highest quality individuals we can find. Secondly, having a thorough screening process puts checks into place that provide the highest level of protection for our youth and our mentors. Also, when recognizing that we are given responsibility with other people’s children, there can be no substitute. Finally it gives us a chance to learn more about the prospective mentor so that we can find the program that will fit their interests and schedules. Our goal is for both the youth and mentor to have a positive and engaging experience at Friends for Youth.
How do I know when I am ready?
The biggest thing you can do to prepare yourself for volunteering as a mentor is to ask yourself ‘Can I commit?’ Our youth’s lives are filled with adults that have broken promises and left them hanging. It is a critical part of successful mentoring to break that cycle rather than perpetuate it. The number one reason why matches end earlier than 1 year is that mentors can no longer commit to the 4-8 hours each month. This may be due to a number of reasons, but they all point to the fact that life can get busy. It is helpful in your decision making process to factor in your commitment level towards a youth, knowing your current priorities and commitments. The time commitment for our mentoring programs is as follows:
1-to-1 mentoring: 1 year commitment, 2-4 visits each month with a minimum of 4 hours spent with the youth.
Site-based mentoring: 8-12 week commitment, 1.5-2 hours each week on a specific day/evening of the week.
We ask that you carefully and practically consider your time limitations and examine future responses to schedule fluctuations that may leave you with less time to mentor. When our kids can’t see you, they cannot be impacted by you!
I’m not sure I can work with X type of youth.
Maybe you might feel uncomfortable working with a youth with prior gang involvement. Likewise, maybe you are somebody that doesn’t really connect as well with much younger kids. We always tell mentors – if you are a safe and healthy person, you can mentor. We serve an incredibly diverse population, from ages 10-19, from all socio-economic and cultural backgrounds, with varying levels of involvement in the Child Welfare and Juvenile Justice systems. As a part of our interview process, we learn about what you are comfortable with and make an assessment on what is the best fit for you. But you don’t have to take our word for it – when it comes time to mentor, you’ll have the final say and we always receive your informed consent for a specific program or working with a specific youth, so there are no surprises.
What does it take to be a mentor?
Mentors come from many walks of life – different ages, cultures and interests. There is something they all have in common, however. They are all safe, healthy, and caring people.
Our mentors range in age from 21 to 81. When a volunteer decides to mentor with us, they go through an extensive screening process which includes the following:
Nationwide criminal background check
Driving record check
CDHS (Colorado Dept of Human Services) check for name in TRAILS database
Fingerprints through CBI (Colorado Bureau of Investigation)
Personal Interview and assessment
References
This process can be completed in 1 or 2 easy sessions at our office.
Why so thorough? We want all our youth and mentors to have the best experience possible in our program and that starts with the highest quality individuals we can find. Secondly, having a thorough screening process puts checks into place that provide the highest level of protection for our youth and our mentors. Also, when recognizing that we are given responsibility with other people’s children, there can be no substitute. Finally it gives us a chance to learn more about the prospective mentor so that we can find the program that will fit their interests and schedules. Our goal is for both the youth and mentor to have a positive and engaging experience at Friends for Youth.
How do I know when I am ready?
The biggest thing you can do to prepare yourself for volunteering as a mentor is to ask yourself ‘Can I commit?’ Our youth’s lives are filled with adults that have broken promises and left them hanging. It is a critical part of successful mentoring to break that cycle rather than perpetuate it. The number one reason why matches end earlier than 1 year is that mentors can no longer commit to the 4-8 hours each month. This may be due to a number of reasons, but they all point to the fact that life can get busy. It is helpful in your decision making process to factor in your commitment level towards a youth, knowing your current priorities and commitments. The time commitment for our mentoring programs is as follows:
1-to-1 mentoring: 1 year commitment, 2-4 visits each month with a minimum of 4 hours spent with the youth.
Site-based mentoring: 8-12 week commitment, 1.5-2 hours each week on a specific day/evening of the week.
We ask that you carefully and practically consider your time limitations and examine future responses to schedule fluctuations that may leave you with less time to mentor. When our kids can’t see you, they cannot be impacted by you!
I’m not sure I can work with X type of youth.
Maybe you might feel uncomfortable working with a youth with prior gang involvement. Likewise, maybe you are somebody that doesn’t really connect as well with much younger kids. We always tell mentors – if you are a safe and healthy person, you can mentor. We serve an incredibly diverse population, from ages 10-19, from all socio-economic and cultural backgrounds, with varying levels of involvement in the Child Welfare and Juvenile Justice systems. As a part of our interview process, we learn about what you are comfortable with and make an assessment on what is the best fit for you. But you don’t have to take our word for it – when it comes time to mentor, you’ll have the final say and we always receive your informed consent for a specific program or working with a specific youth, so there are no surprises.