| Summary: | Spark2Life's approach aims to encourage team building and facilitate peer to peer mentoring in a controlled space. |
| Age: | 10-17 |
| Sex: | n/a |
| Cost | yes |
Aims:
- Challenging a value system supporting a crime and gang culture
- Encouraging positive lifestyle choices
- Promote strength and benefits of living in a diverse culture
Description:
Spark2Life’s (S2L) approach is based on meaningful mentoring - building trust with the group, promoting a team culture across the group, creating a safe and secure environment and good aftercare and support to mentees.
Spark2life have been working with the London Borough of Barking and Dagenham (LBBD) Youth Offending Team (YOT) since 2010 and have worked with several other YOT’s in other London Boroughs.
Key features of the Mentoring Programme –
- S2L staff have been trained through our holistic mentoring Programme and specifically on identifying the personality type and learning styles of themselves and their mentees
- We have worked in a group mentoring format (maximum 10 people to a group) on a weekly basis with approximately 140 young people aged between 13-18 who were on Intensive Supervision Surveillance (SS)
- Our one hour interactive sessions cover a range of topics such as: What are our triggers: Healthy communication: React or Respond; Leadership skills; Confidence building
- Where necessary, we devise bespoke sessions for the group
We facilitate male and female group mentoring in Pupil Referral Units (PRU)’s
Implementing the Practice:
As of 2016, 2 hours on Saturday was added to this contract. From 2016 these sessions operated without the presence of the Youth Offending Team (YOT) worker and was monitored by the S2L worker emailing weekly case notes via secure email (CJSM).
- S2L provide YOT worker with detailed weekly case notes covering the group session content, aims and objectives,
- S2L monitor each young person’s response to the session, staff member and engagement reporting back to YOT via with case notes
- After each session, young people compete feedback questioners on the session
- S2L meet with the LBBD YOT coordinator for a quarterly report on the Group Mentoring Programme
Contacts:
| Source Organisation: | Spark2life |
| Name: | Melvyn Naidoo |
| Telephone: | 0208 619 1355 |
| E-mail: | melvyn@spark2life.co.uk |
| Website: | www.spark2life.co.uk |
| YOT: | Barking and Dagenham YOT |
| Name: | Robert Harris |
| Telephone: | 0208 2273690 |
| E-mail: | robert.harris@lbbd.gov.uk |