Young people need mentoring more than ever

The COVID-19 pandemic is having an unprecedented effect on youth nationwide. Social distancing can have an isolating effect on young people who did not get to close out their school year as intended. Even with support from family and distant learning initiatives, the uncertainty of a global health crisis can and will build pent-up anxiety for many young people in our state. It is because of this uncertainty that mentoring matters. Mentor relationships that are always important have now become especially crucial as COVID-19 continues to spread and Connecticut’s youth look to their mentors to help them make sense of their new reality and continue to make positive choices.

Although I ended my official service as an inschool mentor a year ago, I maintain an open line of communication with my mentees and their families. Normally, I speak to three of my 10 formerly assigned mentees on at least a weekly basis. In the face of a pandemic, however, I suspected that more of the youth I established relationships with would look to me as a source of some sense of normalcy as their daily routines disappeared.

I was right. Within the first week of social distancing measures going into place, I spoke to all but one of my mentees, who contacted me the following week. These interactions, whether initiated by a member of their family or the student themselves, that when my mentees expressed those feelings, they had to do so over the phone. I couldn’t schedule an in-person meeting to reassure them or ask their parents if we could meet at the library for tutoring on assignments that they were having trouble with online.

Social distancing measures present a unique challenge to mentors who are committed to maintaining an intentional and consistent relationship with youth in their lives, and virtual mentoring presents a unique solution. Virtual platforms have allowed me to connect with my mentees as often as they need and challenge me to recreate in-person interactions using the vast number of tools and resources available to continue this critical work. Youth need mentoring now more than ever, and mentors need new skills and resources to tailor every mentee interaction to be as healing as possible.

It’s times like these that make me so proud to work for The Governor’s Prevention Partnership. Leading the way in these uncertain times, we have developed a full suite of resources dedicated to virtual mentoring. These guides and trainings are designed for the dozens of Mentoring Coordinators around the state to make sure mentor/mentee meetings can continue virtually, and most importantly, safely. We are providing guidelines for virtual mentoring sessions, etiquette tips, information on available platforms, permission forms, and online trainings. All this information is available on our website, where you can sign up to become a mentor.

Of course, our work wouldn’t be possible without community investment. That’s why we’re so grateful to have partnered with Webster Bank, which has a large youth mentoring program of its own. Webster’s generous leadership contribution allowed us to quickly develop these resources and provide them to our incredible mentoring partners around the state.

Mentors give me hope. More importantly, they give youth hope Over the course of this pandemic, we will all be asked to lift a little more. Becoming a mentor is a lift that will change your life and the life of your mentee. These relationships help shape the world view of young people and teach them the importance of connections for community wellness.

The work we do now, amid uncertainty and fear, will change the course of our state’s future. The people we touch, the kindness we extend, and the joy we choose to spread will make the difference in how strong we come out on the other side. There are many elements of COVID-19 that we can’t control, but what we can do is ensure that young people around Connecticut have the support they need to get them through this difficult time.

The people we touch, the kindness we extend, and the joy we choose to spread will make the difference in how strong we come out on the other side.