Community Family Mentoring
Community Family Mentoring
Since launching this programme in 2019, we have:
Reached and helped many families in the Taunton and Wellington area. Families that have a wide variety of needs in order to see ‘the light at the end of the tunnel’. These needs include housing, social support due to anxieties, guidance with parenting, budgeting or admin strategies, friendship and someone to talk to, and to find opportunities to get out and meet people.
When the Covid 19 Pandemic hit and we were all locked in our homes as it were, our mentors became ‘tele mentors’, who were able to mentor their participants via video call or phone. This meant that we didn’t stop or give up. We kept up the relationships we were building with families and our referrers, and this showed that our mentors were resilient and really wanted to help no matter what came.
ROC mentors are ‘friends with purpose’. They come along side families in need to help them to see that things in their lives can be better again, and to help to give them the tools for this to happen. It is a process of empowerment that is important for every person to have.
Our referring agencies include the Family Intervention Service, Health Visitors, School support workers, Village Agents, Church leaders.
Outcomes and Testmonials
Through mentoring support, another family who was finding cooking difficult, has made an apple crumble, a mousse and has been set the challenge of making a berry crumble on her own by adapting the apple crumble recipe. The next day she messaged the mentor to say that she had made it with her son and that it was currently in the oven cooking!
She also wants to learn to ride a horse, so has been looking up places online herself!
Just a little bit of encouragement has helped her leap into action!
“The mentor has encouraged me to feel like I can do it and to have the confidence to do it for myself”.
One family said, “We were a bit worried before, cos we thought we’d be reported to social for untidy house and our old carpets… but that’s not what it’s like….. it’s like a friend coming for coffee and talking. It just helps to be able to talk about the kids with another adult”.
This family is doing really well. Dad has a new, better paid job. Mum is now studying and about to learn to drive. The youngest son is doing well at school and went to his first birthday party in years. (He was previously permanently excluded) The family started using their dining table after mum tidied (previously v messy!) dining room. Mum’s new goal is looking at building the children’s self-esteem.
Quote from a mentor, “I have been doing simple tasks with my mentee: we have been doing some cooking. She has grown in confidence and seems to blossom every time we do something together. It is a huge achievement for her, and it reaffirms her as a person. Just a tiny bit of encouragement or reassurance goes such a long way, and I can see her blossoming. Mentoring is so worthwhile, and I am so encouraged by it too! “
Another family refers to their mentor as ‘a friend who is helping us’ and having a mentor has helped to motivate her to go to appointments for debt coaching and also to set some realistic debt based goals. She really looked forward to her visits each week.
A quote from a referrer (HV Practitioner). A mum said “I would be lost without you. You have kept in touch all through lockdown and have been an amazing help. You have picked me up when I felt down, been a really good person to talk to and have been a great support to all of the family. She said you are a wonderful person, like a friend but better”!
Quote from a Dad, “My mentor is indeed wonderful. His input has been life giving to me. He’s wonderfully non-judgemental, encouraging and patient. The Lord is using him to bring order into my chaos. Thank you so much for putting this in place.”
A quote from a mum at the end of support “It’s nice to have someone to talk to and there’s no judgement at all. She has helped me build new skills and to be a better parent to my son. I also now enjoy baking and have made an apple cake, scones and bread. Maybe I could look into starting a baking business!”