Committing Time as a SAYes Youth Mentor or Drop-In Mentoring Instead
If you are thinking about becoming a SAYes youth mentor, it’s important to understand that the time commitment is substantial.
You will be asked to spend one hour each week, face‑to‑face with your mentee. However, every month, there’s also a two‑hour Saturday workshop that you’re encouraged to attend. While the workshops aren’t mandatory, they are informative and give mentors the chance to hear about other volunteers’ experiences. Most importantly, the mentees attend all of these workshops and look forward to seeing their mentors there. So, when you consider the programme, think about whether you’ll be able to make at least a few of the monthly workshops as well.
While the time commitment feels quite significant in the beginning, as the year progresses, it just becomes part of your life. Remember, SAYes wants to make this work for you, so it’s okay if there are times when you simply cannot make a meeting with your mentee or be at a specific workshop. As long as you’re communicating clearly and being open with your mentee, helping them to understand that your absence isn’t a reflection on your relationship with them, your involvement will still make a significant difference in their lives.
For example, I’m writing this blog post from the USA where I’m currently visiting family. My mentee and I are in WhatsApp communication, and while it’s not ideal in terms of being able to offer her my full attention, we’ve set things up so that we check in with each other regularly every week while I’m away.
If you’re travelling for six months next year, there’s still space for you to get involved with SAYes. Becoming a drop‑in mentor is a volunteer option that requires less of a time commitment while still offering a valuable service. A drop‑in mentor shares their knowledge and understanding about a particular topic or profession in which they’re well versed, once‑off when requested by a mentor‑mentee pair. If you want to find out more about what volunteering with SAYes is like, becoming a drop‑in mentor is a great place to start.
I’d suggest visiting the SAYes website to find out more about what volunteer option would best suit you ( www.sa-yes.com ).
Thanks for reading, Cherry