Yorkshire & Humber

Photo courtesty of Yorkshire Forward

Mentoring & Befriending in Your Region

Mentoring and Befriending activity in Yorkshire, Humber and North Lincolnshire is vibrant and the sector is growing fast.  The range of projects reflects the wide variety of communities found in the region, from projects working with problems of inner city communities to those focusing on the challenges of social exclusion in the rural communities.  It is in all of these communities that the Foundation aims to reach through its work with charities and voluntary sector bodies.

At present we work with 717 mentoring and befriending projects and organisations in the region. To date 384 of these had taken part in our registration process. 31% of the projects consulted with were befriending, 50% mentoring and 19% peer mentoring (both pre and post 16). Most of these projects were in the non profit sector with the majority being run by voluntary organisations and charities. The largest client group that these projects work with is socially excluded, isolated and lonely people.  Significant client groups also include pupils and students. These are also largely run by voluntary organizations and charities. 

Yorkshire & The Humber have many examples of good practice in Mentoring & Befriending, including;

  • The Hull Churches Home From Hospital Service (HCHfH) is a local charity supporting the adult population of the city upon discharge from hospital.  The Adult Service is offered to those who do not meet the criteria of statutory services i.e. low to medium need and who have little to no local support networks to assist through convalescence.  Further support is also available through our additional projects: Carers Support Service, Telecare/Telehealth Service and Families Together Project.

    The Home From Hospital Mentoring programme provides an experiential mini-apprenticeship  period.  This is not unique as the same method of mentoring / learning was used in nursing / medical training in the past.  However we have found that this approach fast-tracks the volunteers confidence, alertness and ability range.  They have a period of time in fieldwork with the mentor when any questions are answered instantly, any hesitations supported calmly, any errors corrected gently with explanation and demonstration of correct approach.

    The work of HCHfH can be viewed at www.hchfh.org.uk     

  • The Together Women Project (TWP) is a community based service delivered from centres in Leeds, Bradford and Doncaster. The service works with women offenders, ex-offenders and those at risk of offending aged 18 years and over to make a difference to their lives.

    They do this through offering interventions to meet specific needs of women with areas of support covering accommodation, education, drugs, alcohol, finance, children and families. Together Women have a range of skills and experience enabling them to provide the best and most appropriate support in every situation.

    It also runs a mentoring programme which offers support to the women helping them to meet their goals. Mentors are seen as an important and valuable part of the services provided.

    For more information visit www.twpyandh.org.uk
More examples of the real impact of Mentoring and Befriending within local communties can be found at our case studies or regional news pages.

We have representatives in all of the nine government regions throughout England, making a direct impact upon the communities that you live in.  They can help you with a number of things; either setting up a project, developing an existing programme or achieving Approved Provider Status  (APS) status. 

Contact your Regional Co-ordinator