REBOUND Mentoring
Mentors in REBOUND: Who, why, what?
REBOUND works with mentors on different levels. But what is a mentor? A mentor is a person supporting an inexperienced, often young person (his so-called 'mentee') and accompanies him/her over a certain period of time in his/her life. Mentors can, but do not need to be older than the mentee. The mentor is more experienced in life (sometimes including professional experience) and therefore can counsel the mentee, support his/her development and often serves as a role model. Experience of life helps the mentor to teach his/her mentee knowledge and help him/her to develop his/her individual resources and potentials.
Why does REBOUND work with mentors?
Young mentors (aged 15 to 24) can relate well to the age group. As peers, they often share similar experiences and can help improve your relationship with your class and support the course instructor as assistants.
Older mentors (aged 24+) can also contribute interesting experiences from their lives. Additionally, they can talk about personal experiences in an authentic manner. This is often impossible for the course instructor because he/she has to set certain limits in his/her role as a teacher.
The mentors' job can be summarised as follows:
- Spark interest
- Manage relationships
- Serve as role models
- Support learning processes
What tasks do mentors assume in REBOUND?
In REBOUND, we distinguish three different types of mentors:
- Course assistants (young mentors aged 15 to 24)
- Lesson visitors (Mentors Lesson in the curriculum; talking about authentic experiences)
- Year mentors (one on one mentoring of selected pupils for 12 months)
Course assistants (15 to 24 years old)
REBOUND course assistants usually are young people aged 15 to 24 years supporting the course instructor in course organisation and helping to 'build a bridge' between the pupils and course instructors. These mentors should be ready to contribute their own experiences to the course, actively get into contact with the pupils, blog in the class's e-learning course, accompany the video project and stay in contact with course instructors. In addition to that, a course assistant should be interested in the topic of 'alcohol and other drugs' and should be able to think critically and self-critically about the topic. Other characteristics of young mentors should be openness, communication skills, willingness to learn and a high degree of initiative.
Class visitors (Mentors Lesson)
Class visitors are mentors of all ages who have had certain experiences in their lives and want to share them with young people, i.e. people who volunteer to visit a school for 90 minutes and have pupils ask them questions on their lives. This is not just about having reached a certain age, but about a richness in experience they would like to share and have young people benefit from. Many different topics could be addressed, such as resilience (coping with setbacks and stress), important decisions, experiences and role models.
Year mentoring (one on one mentoring)
Year mentoring is an optional component of REBOUND. Selected pupils from the REBOUND classes will meet adult mentors from the fields of business, sport, music, politics etc. Mentor and mentee stay in touch for a year and can learn together and from each other. The topic of 'alcohol and other drugs does not need to be adressed if the mentoring couple is not interested in the issue. The meetings are about the core component of mentoring: promotion of resilience through personality development and active planning of one's future. Year mentors often come from companies, universities or other institutions where they can form a group and talk about their experience as mentors. The organisation acts as a sponsor for a particular school or region.
This documentary of the mentoring pilot project (one on one mentoring) provides an impression of this REBOUND pillar.
the first phase of Project REBOUND