Meet the Mentors Who Offer #HelpingHands

#HelpingHands is the latest campaign by Young Glasgow Talent. As we aim to inspire 1000 more Glaswegians, and more organisations, to support our city’s most deserving young people.

Throughout our December campaign, we’ll share incredible stories of the resilient young people, motivated mentors and committed organisations that make Glasgow. Who hold out their #HelpingHands. Who go above and beyond for those in our city that desperately need support. Who are encouraging you to join them!

Can you offer a helping hand?

Today, we’re meeting Mairi. Who has fitted in mentoring alongside an incredibly busy work and home life. Mairi began mentoring young Simone back in early 2015. Now, Simone is pursuing the extremely exciting next stage of her journey. Heading to college to study a subject she absolutely loves.

Here’s Mairi phenomenal words of her mentoring experience:

As someone who didn’t have the easiest childhood, it’s been important to me to lend a helping hand to other young people who might have had a bit of a tricky start to life. By offering that helping hand recently, I’ve been able to encourage a talented young person to have enough self belief to see a brighter future for herself – she’s now studying fine art at college and a whole new world’s opening up for her. As individuals, we can play such a huge part to make positive change in young lives, and the personal payback is priceless, so go on, folks, offer your #HelpingHands!

Doc Marten boots and David Bowie…
These immortal style icons were the main topics of chat which flowed excitedly between Simone and I when we met for the very first time. She shared her love for Japanese manga and anime art with me too, and I talked to her about two of my life-long passions – punk rock and photography.

Fast forward to now, and our formal mentoring arrangement is coming to its natural end, but 16 months after that first hour of enthusiastic cultural chatter, I still look back on that meeting as something really special.

Back at the beginning of our mentoring story, Simone was a sixteen year old schoolgirl and I was a fifty-something wife, mother and insanely busy small business owner. On paper, it wasn’t necessarily a mentoring match made in heaven. But despite the gulf in our age and life experiences, Bowie, boots and a love of all things alternative gave Simone and I an immediate connection which has stayed solid and strong ever since that first tentative hello.

I’ve watched on with huge pride, and no little amazement, as this wonderful girl has blossomed in ways I could never have imagined when we first met. Back then, she was a girl who was shy and unsure, who couldn’t really be bothered with school, and whose home life was complicated and often a bit bumpy. Her talent was evident right from the start – the girl’s a natural born artist – but she didn’t have any real ambition or drive for her future. She couldn’t really see beyond the end of her street, so to speak.

All the more amazing then that Simone made it to college to study fine art, and that she’s sticking in too. She’s made a new circle of friends, and is beginning to see whole new horizons opening up for her. Believe me, watching the transformation unfold has been mind-blowingly brilliant – money just can’t buy that kind of reward.

If that all sounds a bit self-important, rose-tinted and dewy-eyed, let me set the record straight. It’s not always been easy. Simone’s timekeeping has often been dire, and there’s been more than one wasted journey for a simple no-show. It was sometimes upsetting to see her exhausted, disinterested, down and lacking all hope. Sometimes I’ve wanted to give her a shake or a bit of a dressing down, but more often than not, she just needed a big hug or a few kind, encouraging words. At other times I thought the mentoring thing might not be working, but then Simone would always do something surprising, something which kept us connected and close.

It’s that solid connection, that commitment to providing a consistent source of support which strikes me as the key to mentoring success. If you can stick in there with your young person during good times and bad, you too might be lucky enough to witness real change, to see a bright future beckoning for a life that might not have got off to the best start.

I’m sure Simone and I will stay in touch now and then, but the time’s about right for me to bow out. I’ll have a huge lump in my throat when it comes to goodbye, but I’ll always be willing her onwards and upwards. Put your best Doc Martened foot forward, kiddo, it’s been a blast.

This is the difference that YGT mentors make to our city’s young people. There are so many more incredible young people like Simone. Who simply need a listening ear and the encouragement to explore and follow their aspirations.

Our young people need more #HelpingHands. Having someone who can simply meet with them for one hour a week provides the consistency and support they need. We’ve shown that having a mentor improves attainment, staying-on rates and positive destinations reached for young people.

We need 1000 more Glaswegians to offer their #HelpingHands. To support those in our city that desperately need our help. You’ll make a life-changing difference.

Can your organisation help? As well as individual mentors, we need Glasgow businesses, large and small, to provide a helping hand to our young people. Can you join YGT Partners including The Herald, Wheatley Group, University of Strathclyde and more, to provide mentors and/or Talent Tasters. We can’t wait to work with you to offer our city’s most disadvantaged a gateway to an expanding menu of opportunities and tasters of employment, college and university. Get Involved.

Please continue to SHARE, SHARE SHARE our blog and social media posts. We also want to hear from YOU! Like the images below, we would love to see a picture of your helping hands! With a message that sums up why you support our city’s most deserving young people getting the help they desperately need.

Please include the #HelpingHands hashtag in your post and send it in to our Twitter page.

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