On Thursday 27 March, over fifty mentors from across South Lanarkshire joined our team in celebrating commitment and achievements in ensuring young people, who have had the most unfair start in life, have someone to help them find their path.
Proving a very exciting time for all involved, following an announcement of imminent expansion of MCR Pathways mentoring services to eleven further schools in the region, the event celebrated all that’s been achieved over the past six years as well as an opportunity to look forward to the future.
Reflecting on what’s been achieved in that time, over 16,654 volunteer mentoring hours have supported 863 young people in numerous schools across the region. The event shone a spotlight on some of the inspirational stories behind that success, as well as to gather thoughts and feedback on how to further enhance service provision.
Marian, pictured below, has mentored young people in Trinity and Rutherglen High Schools for over three years, who was first up on the evening in sharing her story:
“It’s been a wonderful experience. This forum is really needed, it’s what I wanted and I am in awe listening to what people have been doing.
“I was pleased to share my story because it’s been very rewarding for me, and I believe in MCR Pathways, I didn’t find it daunting because the organisation wants to recruit more mentors, and I knew there were people thinking about becoming mentors in the room. So, if I appeared confident tonight, it was my motivation to help people know that mentoring is a great thing to do and to celebrate the stories of the young people I have mentored.
“Mentoring is a really worthwhile thing to do, and I would say you prepared yourself to give it your full attention for that one hour a week. It can only be rewarding, so don’t hesitate – there’s such great support, it’s a really focused programme, structured to support young people and their mentors too.”
Marian’s story focused on the value in building human relationships, based on recognising potential, encouraging aspiration and promoting positive wellbeing:
“The young person I am mentoring right now has a real passion for stage/acting, and it’s so important to listen to her talk about her aspirations and encourage her to pursue them in any way I can. Everybody has mental health, to varying degrees, that changes day-by-day, minute-by-minute, and you develop a very protective nature when it comes to looking out for their wellbeing. From overcoming significant life changes to receiving formal diagnosis, it’s really important to ensure young people feel heard and supported.”
Having expressed that mentoring isn’t simply about listening, Marian described how a mutual passion for dogs led to confiding in her young people for advice that served to galvanise their relationship further:
“These young people have a wealth of experience and will know lots of things that you don’t know. I knew she was an animal lover, and I was really struggling with my rescue dogs. So, I confided in her – it’s not about me listening to her: it works two ways. You could see her growing in stature, because she was the expert here providing advice and tips that were really helpful. We still talk about the dogs all the time.”
Having not had the best start at School, and benefiting from someone investing in her own potential at an early stage in her career, Caroline, pictured below, was next up in sharing her story who has mentored young people in Lanark and Calderside Academies:
“I am really proud to say that I am a Mentor with MCR Pathways. I’ve learned so much through the young people – it’s making me a much better, kinder person. I think many young people don’t often realise the potential they have and mentoring is about making an investment, letting them find their potential, which is truly limitless.”
The expansion in South Lanarkshire will require greater numbers of mentors to consider giving just an hour a week to support young people, so we asked Caroline to provide a message to anyone considering getting involved:
“I love spending time with young people. The full experience is really enjoyable, I tell everybody about mentoring with MCR Pathways, I really recommend it. I would say try it. It’s possibly a little scary because you don’t know what to expect. But there’s nothing much to it: It’s holding space, listening, giving advice when you can. If not it doesn’t matter. Because some of these young people don’t get that contact, they don’t get anybody listening to them.
“It’s simple things, nothing magical or difficult: it’s that human contact that’s so important and it’s missing in so many young people’s lives. You probably won’t ever appreciate the impact you’re having but I would say just go for it because you will have an impact, you will make a difference to their lives, and they might just remember what you did for them for many years to come.”
It was then the turn of Sharon McIntyre, Chief Executive Officer of MCR Pathways, in recognising the truly immeasurable impact mentors across the region had achieved in raising educational attainment, career aspiration, life-chances, and much more.
Sharon also expressed an importance of listening to young people from care-experienced and wider challenging backgrounds, in driving informed decision forward in meeting specific needs across South Lanarkshire in the future:
“Our phenomenal team, partners and mentors continue to work together in realising our ambition of operating in every secondary school across South Lanarkshire. We want to do much more beyond that ambition. Challenging fiscal times requires significant adaptability, flexibility and agility, and we have listened to the voice of young people to develop a new strategy to evolve support models in the future.
“From our present services within South Lanarkshire secondary schools, to post-school mentoring and supporting young people back into school bridging the gap between schools and the community, we will ensure mentoring is available to all.”
Thank you to all our mentors who attended our event.
If you would like to find out more about becoming an MCR Pathways Mentor in South Lanarkshire, we have a number of information sessions running in April:
South Lanarkshire Council & MCR Pathways Information Session 15/4 at 10am
South Lanarkshire Council & MCR Pathways Information Session 17/4 at 12pm
South Lanarkshire Council & MCR Pathways Information Session 21/4 at 4pm
