There are many components to our services, and how we support youth with learning life skills, applying for jobs, and advancing their education. One of these important components is our Mentorship Program.
For youth who are interested, the Mentorship Program connects an adult from the community to a youth at CHV, to help them achieve their goals, whatever they may be. As in our hiring practices, there is a very stringent screening process for those who wish to be a mentor.
This November marked nine years since the program first became available at Covenant House. To give you a glimpse into the transformative power of this program, you can read about the experiences of a youth named Peter. To have a better understanding of what becoming a mentor means to the adults in the community, you can read about Hannah.
Lisa Mendes, Mentorship Coordinator at CHV, reflects on the program and its nine years of serving youth:
“When I look back at the time from when I was hired to create the program in 2015, to today, nine years later, it’s hard to not get emotional when I think about all of the young people that I have met and introduced to mentors. It has been an absolute pleasure to walk alongside these matches, to see the growth, and the truly inspiring relationships, of which many still exist, today.
When I first started, I was so excited, and also fearful, as this was an opportunity to bring together areas of my profession that I was so absolutely passionate about — vulnerable youth and mentorship. At this time, mentorship was not something offered to youth as the assumption was, due to their transient and traumatic lives, that they would not be able to commit to these relationships — but the reality was literally the exact opposite!
These incredibly resilient, brave, and inspiring young people can commit and have committed to these relationships. Not only have the young people benefited from having healthy, supportive role models to help them achieve their goals, but the mentors have benefited as well. Many of the mentors have said to me how much their relationships with their mentees have changed their lives, opened their eyes, and have inspired them, by seeing their mentees incredible love, resilience, and passion, despite all of things that they have been through; and how they have just needed one person, one mentor, to be in their corner, to cheer them on and believe in them, while they achieved what they had set out to do.
With over 100 mentors recruited and youth matched, it’s hard to only share a few of these experiences. With that said, there are a few that stand out. There are mentorships where we weren’t sure if it would be the right fit for the young person, but then seeing how the relationship developed, it was exactly what the youth needed to excel and achieve the goals that they felt were unattainable in their lives. There are mentorships that have been maintained for over nine years now. Some of the mentors have been able to take their mentees on experiences such as kayaking, swimming, bike riding, and touring of local universities — things that the mentees could never do in their home countries.
Some mentors have led holiday experiences for their mentees like the Capilano Suspension Bridge to see Christmas lights for the first time, or the opportunity for a mentee to bake and enjoy their very first birthday cake, at 21 years of age. Transgendered matches where the mentor could relate to, and support, youth in a way that none of us could. There are so many other experiences that I have been so privileged to hear about and be a part of that it’s not hard to see why I love my job so much and how lucky I feel to even be a part of a youth’s journey.
As I reflect on the nine years of this program, I am left with much pride and hope that we can continue to grow the program, as we have grown the organization, to match more mentors to youth and give any young person that is ready to commit to a mentor, the opportunity to develop a lasting, sustainable, healthy, and supportive relationship to an adult mentor in the community.”
If you are interested in joining our Mentorship Program, we are seeking people that have experience in baking, cooking, art and civil engineering.
All interested mentors can email Lisa at mentorship@covenanthousebc.org.