Sarah Oliver
Council on the Ageing (COTA) Victoria has welcomed a group of 30 new mentors for its Women Working Together network, including a resident from Melton.
Gail Vas, who is in her early sixties, said she decided to become a mentor to encourage other women to “share their experiences, knowledge, culture, challenges and life skills with others in the hope of building a richer community”.
“I think there is a generation of women out there with a wealth of experiences, values, goals, motivation and passion that can generate a sense of meaning and purpose in life,” she said.
“Melton is no exception to this. Sometimes it’s a little bit of kindness that has the biggest impact.”
The mentors come from highly diverse cultural and professional backgrounds, with 12 languages spoken amongst the group and roles ranging from chief executives to psychologists to IT specialists.
Mentors complete eight hour-long training sessions before heading into the community. Mentees are matched with a mentor at one of COTA’s speed networking events.
Although Gail has not experienced being a mentor in an official capacity, she sees this opportunity as “a challenge to overcome my own fears as well as being able to help one another by being open, building confidence, trust, independence and self-satisfaction”.
“I think mentoring is a two way street where both the mentor and the person being mentored can learn a lot from each other by just sharing their experiences and learning how to do things better,” she said.
“For me, having a job means independence. Financially, it empowers me to get the things I want, it gives me the peace of mind that the bills are paid and provides me with confidence, independence and the freedom to choose what I want to do.
“Not being afraid to ask for help because great things can be achieved if we all try and work together.”
