Description
From @aislinndb
"This would depend on the service that it was linked to. Say the mentees are young people on a waiting list for psychological support then a typical profile would include certain needs but I imagine the service would assess their ‘risk’. Therefore profile might be as follows:
"Mentee Profile - George is 17 and recently diagnosed with quite severe anxiety, particularly school-related. He would like to start working towards his exams but needs some direction around what to expect, how to deal with it and some advice to help alleviate his anxiety. As he is on the waiting list at a service, which may be as long as 18 weeks, they signpost him to the mentoring platform.
"Mentor Profile - Gary is currently studying to be a clinical psychologist with a specific interest in young people's mental health. He volunteers to be a mentor, incentivised by a certificate for his CV. Selected because of his own experience dealing with exam stress he is paired with George.
"Rather than the platform dealing with risk factors I would see that as being provided by the service from which they are signposted. Mentors would perhaps need to provide feedback but essentially they are not responsible.
"The other way it could be used is through education system. This would mean no pre-existing diagnosis but I imagine equal levels of stress and difficulty. Consider a teenager transitioning to university or dealing with their parents divorcing. The idea of a mentor is to offer practical advice based on experience. That advice doesn’t always need to be relevant, it might just be sharing stories about playing video games. Research shows that resilience can be built through positive relationships with role models and that’s the kind of dynamic you want to encourage."