Who is a Mentor?

Peer mentoring

Mentoring is a structured relationship, based on mutual trust, that brings together people.

In this relationship there is an individual, the Mentor, a person with more experience that offers guidance, support, help and encouragement to other individuals (one or more), the Mentee/s, that has to learn certain skills.

The mentor relationship can be created in different environments and for different objectives, in the education field, with a mentor that support a mentee in dealing with a difficult school subject that the mentor masters, in the workplace, with a mentor that guides and supports a mentee in developing some particular skills that the mentor already has, and so on.

These are all examples of traditional mentoring, in which the mentor is an individual that has experience in a particular field, often an adult person, that supports, guides and helps the mentee, a newly arrived person in that particular field, often a young person, that wants or needs to learn something in that field.

The particularity of the Peer Mentoring is that the relationship is between two persons close in age and even though the mentoring has the same characteristics such as trust, guidance, support and encouragement, it is not only based on academic results and skills acquisition, but on building a relationship that both the mentor and the mentee will benefit from. In this type of mentoring, the mentor is a person that helps, supports and guides the mentee in dealing with something the mentor has already been through.

• The benefits for the mentee are:
  • greater self-efficiency
  • improved social skills
  • greater feeling of connection to peer
  • decision-making skills
  • greater self-confidence
  • receiving new perspectives;

• The benefits for the mentor are:
  • improved reasoning skills
  • conflict resolution skills
  • self-esteem
  • empathy
  • patience
  • organizational skills;

• There are also benefits that come for both such as:
  • improved social skills
  • broadened personal networks
  • personal growth
  • better communication skills.

Thus, a mentor is a friend but also a companion and a coach that supports, advices, helps, guides and encourages, by being a positive role model, a person to talk to; a Mentor is a resource for new ideas, opportunities and experiences, is a daily positive support.

Bibliography:

• Mentors Guide – SALTO YOUTH 
• Coaching Guide – youth initiatives and participations 

After reading the short text about mentoring, link the words to the image according to the answer to the question: Who is a mentor?