Women and Mentoring (WAM) are seeking volunteer mentors for our Young Women's Program. The WAM Young Women’s Program assists young women, gender diverse and trans people aged 12-24, who are identified as at risk or who are in the early stages of contact with the criminal justice system. The program acts as both a preventative and early intervention approach for vulnerable young women living in the Frankston, Mornington Peninsula and Kingston communities. Participants are matched with an individual supportive volunteer mentor. WAM mentors are trained and resourced to provide appropriate support to the program participants, to share their skills and help participants reach their goals.

Mentors would have the following availability and characteristics:

Identify as female, gender diverse or non-binary.

Ideally be aged 21 years and above.

Be available for face-to-face Mentor training over two days.

Live in or close proximity to the Frankston, Mornington Peninsula or Kingston LGAs.

Have availability and flexibility to meet their mentee during the week (during the day or after-school, depending on the participants schedule).

Be able to commit to mentoring for a minimum 12-month period.

Be open minded and utilise active listening skills.

Mentors believe in a community that is safe and welcoming for all women.

Be able to apply a strength-based approach to mentoring.

Be available for monthly peer supervision meetings.

Key functions of the mentoring role are:

Building rapport: Mentors focus on listening carefully and attentively to their participant and to focus on hearing the strengths; feeding back about how utilising their strengths they may be able to manage issues and difficulties themself (rather than fixing problems for them)

Practical Assistance: Mentors could write court support letters, assist participants to search out and access resources, send appointment reminders, and other tasks as required by the participant. This may involve liaising with professional services such as court, police, and the social service sector during the week, with support from a WAM Coordinator.

Boundaries: The mentor is a voluntary representative of WAM and always behaves professionally. However, as the role is voluntary, the mentor is also required to consider when activities are beyond the scope of their role and access assistance and referrals with informed consent from the participant.

Social connectedness: Mentors work with participants on connecting with the community around them. Mentors are knowledgeable about opportunities for positive connections in volunteering, employment, social, activity groups.