What is a Therapeutic Mentor?

Therapeutic Mentoring provides children and adolescents with activities that promote growth and emphasize the mentee's need for:

1. improved interpersonal skills,
2. resiliency in the face of adverse conditions and
3. a close therapeutic bond with a role model in the community.

This in turn can decrease the child's sense of loneliness, hopelessness, alienation from the community, and acting out behaviors. The Therapeutic Mentor provides one- on-one services in the child's community and all activities are selected based on the mentee's social and emotional needs, academic and vocational interests, as well as family- and individual- centered goals. Therapeutic Mentors work collaboratively with important caregivers in the child's life and work to bolster the child's support network by working closely with the family and other providers involved in the child's care.

While the scope of services provided can vary widely depending on the mentee's developmental level and social/emotional needs, all services are client-centered and goal-oriented. All areas of a mentee's development (social, emotional, academic, vocational, physical) are taken into consideration when goals are developed, so that the child can: learn new coping skills in various life domains, engage in developmentally appropriate and constructive behaviors, identify and nurture their own strengths, become an active participating member in their community through affiliation in different organizations, and feel confident in their ability to transition successfully into their community upon completion of the mentoring program.