Mentoring

A 19 year old client came into the mentoring services exhibiting derpressive symptoms due to the grief and loss of his mother a year earlier. The client was drinking heavily and lost his job due to lack of motivation and his inability to focus and stay engaged at work. The client was also expecting his first child and was experiencing a lot of stress associated with this new role he'd soon be playing. Upon initiating mentoring services for the client,  goals were set to assist the client in narrowing his focus as well as to relieve some of the depression and anxiety that he was feeling in his life. The client identified that he wanted to change and agreed that by working together with a mentor, they could make those changes. The mentor and client were quickly able to build rapport and focused on preparing the client to become a father. By focusing on this stressor and helping client prepare for this role, the client was able to regain focus and motivation and discover how he would be able to support his child. The client was able to secure a job and ensure that he could financially care for the new baby. After the child was born, the client's self-confidence sky rocketed as he felt confident and prepared for caring for the new baby. A few months later, the client suffered several losses in his family and instead of falling back to his previous coping methods of isolation and alcohol abuse, he was able to reach out to his mentor and process his feelings about his grief. He was able to stay focused on his needs and responsibilities and overcome his depressive symptoms. 

A 13 year old client came into mentoring services after she was having some difficulties at home and at school.  The client struggled with opening up and communicating her feelings to her family and also struggled with low self-esteem.  The client would become combative at times to authority figures and struggled showing respect towards mother, teachers and providers.  It took the mentor some time to build rapport with the client at first, but after it was established the client was able to be open and honest with mentor about her feelings and struggles.  The client’s home life was always a struggle for her and it was apparent when there were issues happening in the home as her behaviors would change and would begin to regress back to prior behaviors. The client constantly struggled attending school consistently and would fluctuate on her motivation to finish high school.   The mentor really focused on this with the client and family and was able to assist the client with setting goals for herself and staying accountable for her role and actions in this process.  The client was eventually able to see that boarding school would be a positive experience for her and give her the ability to build independence away from her home and community and stay focused on finishing school.  The client is currently in her second year at boarding school and is on track to graduate at the end of the school year.   

 

A 16 year old client came into mentoring services struggling with a history of past abuse and abandonment which had left her emotionally hardened and with difficulties trusting others.  On top of that, the client also had a learning disability which caused her struggles in school.  The mentor and client quickly build rapport and the mentor was able to quickly see progress in the client.  The client was able to open up about her past and her previous unhealthy coping habits of utilizing marijuana and self-harm.  Mentor was able to support the client with overcoming her feelings of abandonment from her mother and help her focus on the support she had in her life currently.  With the continued support from her mentor and family she was able to graduate high school, being the first person in her immediate family to do so.  This gave the client the confidence to be independent and move from her family home and out into the community.  The mentor supported client through this transition, assisting the client with learning to be self-sufficient and how to access resources within her community. The client is now married and starting her own family.