The document provides guidance for mentors working with youth in the juvenile justice system. It discusses how mentors should respond to various scenarios that may come up and stresses the importance of being a positive role model. Effective mentoring relationships are built on trust, communication, and holding mentees accountable. Programs should provide training to help mentors understand adolescent development and handle challenges appropriately. Monitoring progress and collecting evidence of outcomes is also important.
2. Consider the Following
Scenario
A mentor and mentee are hanging
out. The mentee says: “I didn’t feel
like going to work yesterday, so I
called in and said I was sick.”
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3. The “Right” Mentor would Respond:
That reminds me of a time that I
called in sick so that I could go to
the beach with my college friends.
It was a nice day and we picked up
some beer along the way and had
a great time!
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4. The “Right” Mentor would Respond:
I understand. If I was only making
$7.50 an hour, I would call in sick
too if I didn’t feel like working.
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5. The “Right” Mentor would Respond:
You are kidding. That was very
irresponsible of you! You will not hold
onto that job for very long playing those
kinds of games.
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6. The “Right” Mentor would Respond:
What do you think that was like for your
boss and the rest of the staff? Have you
been at work when someone else called
in sick? What was that like? If your
boss gets used to not having you
around, how do you think this might
affect you? Is there some other way you
could have handled not wanting to go to
work?
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9. Keep in Mind…
• Mentoring is about
Investing in relationship
Choices
Modeling behavior
• Mentoring is about giving, but we
can’t take it personally
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10. Mentoring
• From the research we know that
mentoring is an effective intervention
for:
Predelinquents
Delinquents
Juvenile offenders returning from
incarceration
• When it is done correctly, it is a “Best
Practice.”
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11. Mentoring Programs
Can inspire and guide people to
pursue successful and productive
futures, reaching their potential
through positive relationships and
utilization of community resources
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12. Mentoring Can be Transformative
• If mentors are properly “prepared”, they
can influence the youth in meaningful and
significant ways
• We may not see immediate short-term
changes, but long-term personal growth
has a lot to do with the adults in their
lives
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13. Start with a big vision for the
ultimate outcome—
Productively engaged adult
citizens
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14. Don’t aim too low
• Imagine the son of your favorite
sister has landed in either the
juvenile justice system or the foster
care system—what would you like
to see for him in terms of the kinds
of support that could be available?
• Should the kids we serve be
different in terms of our
expectations?
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15. Employers Would Like…
• Communication skills—verbal and
written
• Honesty/integrity
• Teamwork skills
• Interpersonal skills
• Strong work ethic
How can you have influence here?
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16. If you believe that it takes a village…
• At the end of the time that the youth
are involved in your program, what do
you want to be able to have in place
for the youth?
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17. When the Supportive Adults are
Lacking…
Look for ways to introduce the supportive
adults in the new environments that youth are
entering (such as college or trade schools)
The goal is to increase the likelihood of
success for the youth in those new settings
Think about the kinds of support that are
available to middle-class youth and how
important those are
- Then try and substitute your own forms of
support and pay attention to how it is
working
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18. How does the Mentor Fit In?
• Do you equip your mentors?
• Can you set the structure of the
program so that the mentors know to
seek out resources?
• A Key Skill for the Youth: Accessing
Resources
• Another Key Skill: Asking for Help
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19. About Those Needs…
• Education
• Employment
• Family Relationships
• Financial Management/Literacy
• Health/Mental Health
• Housing
• Transportation
• Prosocial Use of Leisure Time
• Peer Relationships
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20. Model for Youth Mentoring
(Rhodes, 2002)
Youth
Engagement
Socio-Emotional
Mentoring Development Positive Outcomes
Identity
Development
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21. In Addition…
• Recent research has shown
When mentors incorporate an
advocacy and/or teaching function in
their role, we are more likely to see
positive youth outcomes
the common feature is active guidance
towards objectives, resources, or
relationships
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22. Let’s Consider:
• What policies/practices related to your
program (or in the programs that you
support) interfere with OR limit OR (better
yet!) enhance the accomplishment of
preparing the youth for their long-term
success?
• What might you do about this?
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24. This Means Focusing on Each:
• Competency
• Life skills
• Positive development—Strengths-
based
• Interpersonal skills (emotional
intelligence)
• Accountability
• Decision making and problem solving
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25. Normal Adolescent
Development
• Impulsivity declines with age
• Sensation-seeking declines with age
• Future orientation increases with age
• As people age, they spend more time
thinking before they act
• Resistance to peer pressure increases
with age
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Based on scholarship of Griffin (2010), Northwestern University Law School
26. Consider:
26 From: Gardner and Steinberg (2005) “Peer Influence on Risk Taking, Risk Preference, and Risky Decision Making in
Adolescence and Adulthood: An Experimental Study” Developmental Psychology
27. When Kids Experience Trauma
during Childhood
• They experience delays in developmental
milestones
• Have higher rates of learning disabilities
• Experience difficulties with problem
solving
• Are more impulsive and engage in
problem behaviors at higher rates
• Struggle with interpersonal relationships
and emotional intelligence
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28. Make Sure
• You are preparing your mentors to
understand
• Give mentors the tools to meet kids
where they are at
• Is your program developmentally
appropriate?
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30. Communication Skills
• Expressing self clearly and coherently,
both verbally and nonverbally
• Listen and learn how the youth feels
• Not responding in a hostile, sarcastic, or
anxious manner
• Observe the youth’s subtle, nonverbal
messages in a very careful manner
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31. Trust
• Be non-judgmental
• Allow youth to talk about his/her past in
his/her own time
• Respect the youth’s confidences as long
as they do not affect the health and
welfare of the youth and others
• Relating to the youth and understanding
feeling without condescension and
emotional involvement
• Don’t obsess about the “truth”
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32. Interpersonal Skills
• recognizes and accepts the diversity of
others
• gives appropriate advice
• flexible and adaptable to new
situations
• able to suggest but not dictate
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33. Other Interpersonal Skills
• prepared for disappointments and
setbacks
AND
• uses disappointments and setbacks to
enhance relationship with youth
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34. Other Interpersonal Skills
• aware of the youth’s ability to
manipulate
• a good sense of humor
• patient
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35. Commitment
• Mentor should recognize and accept
responsibility for time and personal
obligations to the youth
• Accept the youth’s right to make
suitable or unsuitable (not illegal)
decisions
• Know the facts about situations before
forming any conclusions
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36. Be Positive
• Offer frequent expressions of direct
confidence
• Be encouraging even when talking
about potentially troublesome topics
• Offer concrete assistance
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37. Train Your Mentors to Ask
Questions Effectively
• Asking specific questions can convince
youth that a person is qualified to be a
mentor
If the youth wants help with their future, the
mentor should ask questions about their
plans/desires related to work or school
• Open-ended questions are great—
behavioral questions are better
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38. An Example:
• Rate yourself as a student on a
scale of 1-10. (1 would mean you
were a total failure and 10 would
mean you were outstanding). Tell
me why you rated yourself this way.
• What would it take for you to
become a 10?
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39. • How would you describe a good
worker? Be specific.
• Tell me about the ways you were a
good worker at your jobs. Be
specific.
• In what ways were you not a good
worker? Give examples.
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40. • Tell me about the last three times
you had money in your pocket.
How much did you have? Where
did the money come from? How did
you spend the money?
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41. • Rate your relationship with your
mother on a scale of 1-10. 1 means
there is no relationship and 10
means the relationship is perfect.
Tell me why you rated it like this.
Give me some examples.
• What would it take to make your
relationship with your mother a 10?
Be specific.
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42. Consider:
• What policies/practices related to your
program (or in the programs that you
support) interfere with OR limit OR (better
yet!) enhance the accomplishment of
building mentor-mentee relationships?
• What might you do about this?
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45. Mentoring Can Be Challenging
• youth doesn’t return phone calls
• youth doesn’t show up for meetings
• youth is rude and hostile towards the mentor
• youth doesn’t talk to mentor
• youth is sexually promiscuous
• youth breaks the law
• youth shows up high or intoxicated
• mentor doesn’t know what to do with youth
• mentor feels overwhelmed by the youth’s problems
• mentor doesn’t agree with the youth’s values
• mentor is frustrated by lack of impact on youth
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47. Effective Programs
• focus their efforts on tapping into the
internal motivation of mentors by
helping them become more competent
assessing the relevance of their work
building their sense of belonging to a
worthwhile effort
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49. Things like:
• System-involved youth have been let
down by adults many times. They are
likely to keep the mentors at arms length
for some period of time until the mentor
“passes the test.”
• This is a transient population and the
youths may change residences, have
their phone numbers disconnected or
changed, or may spend very little time at
home making it difficult to catch them.
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50. And…
Many adults have a hard time with the
progress that these youth demonstrate—it is
often very slow and can involve several
missteps and relapses along the way.
The strongest mentor-mentee relationships
grow out of crises and conflicts—yet mentors
will be inclined to avoid the youth while they
are dealing with conflict and crises.
There are many potentially upsetting
elements to working with this population.
Mentors need to learn to look for support and
not look for the way out of the program.
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51. Expectations
• In any crisis—big or small—mentors
need to know not only who to call and
their phone number, but also that they
are expected to call
• Without accountability, time together can
easily slip into simply “hanging out”
• Key issues:
Maintaining contact with mentees
What happens when kids get into trouble or are
moved without notice?
Make sure mentors have comprehensive contact
information and plans to be in touch!
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53. Evidence
• Is important on a number of different
levels
• How can you build the case that what
you are doing is working?
Compile “Good Stories”
• How can you determine IF what you are
doing is working?
• Is there evidence that the outcomes are
better for the youth? Is it the result of
your new strategy?
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55. This is about things like…
• Are you “impeccable” and thoughtful
with your words?
• Are you more likely to ask questions or
to lecture?
• Do youth believe that you LISTEN to
them? Are they correct?
• What do youth learn by watching your
behavior?
• Would you say you are “Mentor-like”?
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