Liam McNally
Sparkways is calling on Melton residents to help mentor vulnerable young people in the community.
Sparkways is a youth service which began in 1983 and has been running a mentoring program in the western suburbs for 20 years.
The program connects young people who have been involved with child protection with adult mentors.
The pairs catch up every two weeks for 12 months and do activities based around the young person’s interests, aimed at building confidence and setting goals.
Sparkways mentoring program team leader Fletcher Curnow said Melton is the organisation’s “biggest area of need” as there are currently about five mentors volunteering in Melton, but there are 25 young people waiting on Sparkways’ referral list.
“We’re really wanting to tap into the Melton community of mentors,” he said.
Mr Curnow said that as a mentor he loves seeing “little wins create big wins”.
A recent success story he shared was of a young mentee who was struggling with anxiety who was not engaging at school and would lock herself in her room as soon as she got home.
Her mentor encouraged her to try one positive thing when she gets home each day – going for a walk, walking the dog, meditating, chatting to mum, helping her with the cooking.
Her mentor also taught her to play soccer, which her friends did but she felt she wasn’t good at enough to join in.
“She’s not staying in her room at all now, she’s learnt soccer and made three new friends,” said Mr Curnow.
“[Mentoring] feels pretty incredible… We get to make such an impact on young people’s lives but also collaborate with mentors and community members and see them grow and develop as well.”
Details: sparkways.org.au/mentoring/become-a-mentor
