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Calendar
Mentor Training
November 19: 6:00 pm New Mentor Training for all current mentors wanting a refresher course or brand new prospective mentors at the IA State Extension Office RSVP to Cassie
December 3: 5:30pm Mentors only get-together to support one another, learn new mentoring techniques, and activities to do with your mentee. at the IA State Extension Office
How to Introduce Drugs, Tobacco, & Alcohol Prevention
January 26: 6:30
Presented by Jennifer Lehman. Learn how to introduce the topic of alcohol, drugs, and tobacco prevention during your normal outings with your mentee.
SAVE THE DATE! |
Discount at The Rec Center! Regular prices are $5 per person for a day pass - the Rec Center has special coupons that are $3 for 2 people for the day. You cannot beat $3.00 for use of the pool or gym!
All coupons are available at the IA State Extension Office and must be presented to receive your discount.
Our Price: $ 3.00 for 2 people all day at The Rec Center (click here to learn what the Rec Center has to offer) | |
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| Activity Ideas |
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| Wondering what to do?
Here are a couple of wonderful activities you can do 1-on-1 with your mentee:
Car Maintenance Night
A "Car Maintenance Night" teaches youth about simple car repair and maintenance skills. The skills you can teach your mentee include: checking fluids, changing tires, checking air pressure, jump starting a battery, changing windship wipers, fuses, and burned out brake lights.
Life Journal
This activity is wonderful to do when the weather starts turning cold and rainy! Your match can create a pictorial life journal using photographs, pictures from magazines, newspaper pictures and/or words, construction paper, glue, rubber stamps, and markers.
Simply purchase 2 blank journals/notebooks (typically $5.00) and then cut out pictures that tell your life story...or your future plans! This is great for any age group and is a great activity to get to know each other better.
See December's Newsletter for even more ideas! |
| The Tough Talk - Part One |
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How do I answer a tough question?
Do you ever wonder what will happen if your mentee asks you about alcohol, drugs, or even sex? What will you say?
Here is some advice on how to handle the difficult issues.
Delicate topics are likely to come up during discussions you are having with your mentee. A mentor will have to tread cautiously as these are touchy and delicate topics and will strongly affect your relationship. Generally speaking, delicate topics should only be discussed when initiated by the mentee. At that time, confidentiality takes on an even greater importance. Also, we do not want to focus too heavily on changing behavior when these issues arise, however we should be aware of the challenges that our mentees face, and over time, a mentor may be able to help the mentees improve his/her decision making process.
Talking to an adult about a delicate issue can be a risky thing for a youth. As a mentor, we want to make them feel safe sharing personal information and offer the best possible support for his/her situation. Here are a few tips:
- Stay Calm
- Use body language to communicate attentiveness (maintain eye contact, sit at the same level)
- Avoid judgement statements like, "Why would you do something like that?", or "I think you know better"
- Be honest if you are getting emotional or upset.. but never accuse or berate
- Let the mentee know you are glad she/he came to you
- Reassure the mentee that his/her confidentiality will be honored (unless he/she is harming herself or someone else)
- Use tact but be honest
- Allow the mentee to talk at his/her own pace
- Don't pry - allow the mentee to bring up topics she/he is comfortable with
- Don't collaborate with mentee's family to provide discipline - to do so compromises your role as a neutral and supportive party.
More on this topic will be discussed at an upcoming Mentor Support Group meeting & the December Newsletter! Stay tuned...or call Cassie today for extra support or advice 385-8126. |
| Program Survey Results |
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What do the mentors think about our program?
Highlights of the online Mentor Survey
The online survey that was sent to mentors of the Henry County Mentoring Program last month provided us with ways to improve, and let us know what was working well.
The majority of the respondents had been with the program for at least one year and there were a few who responded that had been involved for 2-3 years.
67% of the respondents would like to talk with other mentors in the program more often, and 72% of responders would like to attend a quarterly Mentor Meeting with other active mentors.
We also heard that what is needed are ways to communicate with other mentors, ideas of things to do, and help with activities that are low cost or free.
THANK YOU for your responses and feedback. We heard you and appreciate the time you took to complete this important evaluation of our work.
In response to your feedback, starting December 3rd we will be offering a quarterly meeting for all mentors. This will allow you to network, talk about things to do, and be a forum for us to provide ongoing training on issues that you bring up to us. | |
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