Mentorship Programs and their Benefits
A fact- an adult can offer the best mentorship and can be a powerful role model for a child in his growing years. Under right mentoring and guidance, youngsters get encouragement and support to grow and succeed in their life. For this reason, many schools and universities offer mentoring programs in order to harness the power of positive role models hoping that relationship with mentors would support students in their cognitive and socio-emotional development.
How does Mentoring Work?
Change and challenges are an unavoidable aspect of humans, especially youngsters. Therefore, having a mentor is a valuable way of learning about yourself, community and profession.
While mentoring opportunities are offered in a variety of ways, all mentoring programs have a few things in common, including:
- Being a voluntary arrangement between you and your mentor
- Helping you understand and reach your potential
- Offering a supportive and compassionate environment
- Being safe for you and your mentor and all others involved
Often people get confused between mentorship and counseling. However, these aren’t the same. It is also not the same as hiring a coach. In simple words, mentoring is about setting up your own goals based on your interest and skills and getting the right support and guidance to achieve them.
But are all mentoring programs effective? What are their benefits?
Benefits of Mentoring Programs
Various researches have revealed that youngsters who are associated with any mentoring program are benefited in numerous ways. Having an adult who helps you in making choices makes great differences in getting insight of life and its various aspects.
Have a look at the following statistics related to the benefits of mentorship programs:
- Youngsters who stay connected with their mentors are 52% less likely to skip their school than their peers.
- Mentoring reduces the chances for a student to drop out of school.
- Mentorship programs help in improving youngsters’ confidence and self- esteem. They also offer support to teens trying new behaviors.
- Mentorship programs offer students a valuable place to spend their free- time and learn new things.
- Youth under regular association with their mentors are less likely to fall in unethical practices like drugs and drinking. When they find someone to share their ups and downs and find solutions to their problems, they stay away from such bad practices.
- Mentorship programs promote positive social relationships and attitudes.
- Mentorship programs help build and expand students’ network. With this, students can meet industry professionals to find internships and job opportunities.
While the benefits of mentorship programs are numerous for the youth, these are also significant for the mentors. Many public safety professionals associate with mentorship programs to help people and make a difference.
Benefits of Mentor/Mentee program are:
- It creates an enhanced sense of maturity, achievement and satisfaction in the mentors by offering them with opportunities that have positive influences on students’ life.
- Helps them develop new skills and hone the existing ones.
- Offers insight into the lives of young people
- Offers them with opportunities to build new and positive relationships with all kinds of people
So, it can be said that mentorship programs is a win-win situation for the students as well as mentors. Students often look for someone to guide them through their career, show them path to become successful person in life. Mentorship programs are a great way to offer them a reliable, trusted mentor they can look up to.