Becoming a mentor
What is a mentor?
A mentor in Girlguiding is a confidant, who supports, encourages, and builds confidence in any volunteer they’re working with. As a mentor, you won’t need to know it all, but you’ll have up-to-date and relevant knowledge to share in relation to the training scheme you’re supporting
volunteers in.
As a mentor, you will:
volunteers in.
As a mentor, you will:
- Help build self-belief and confidence of the volunteer you’re supporting.
- Focus on each volunteer’s development and guide them in a way which suits their learning approach.
- Help volunteers solve their own problem in their own way.
- Communicate with each volunteer you support, sharing knowledge and resources, maintaining support and enthusiasm.
- Signpost volunteers to relevant local training opportunities.
- Carry out check-ins for leaders in training, evaluating their progress, helping them understand their role and what is expected of them, and helping them to reflect and identify areas for development.
- Complete the check-in forms with a summary of the visit, which the leader in training can upload to the learning platform.
Who can be a mentor?
To becoming a mentor for the leader development programme, you need to have completed the scheme yourself (or the obsolete leadership qualification). You will also be required to have completed the safer guiding training (within the first 120 days of being assigned the role on GO) and you will need a DBS. You may have these in place already.
There are also a few skills you will need:
Read the full role description via the link below.
There are also a few skills you will need:
- People skills
- Discretion
- Communication and listening skills
- Driven
- Self-awareness
- Comfortable giving feedback
Read the full role description via the link below.
How mentoring works in Gloucestershire
Our mentors, our mentor coordinator and our LiT coordinators are all part of a WhatsApp group. Leaders in training put in a request when they reach a check-in point of the LDP, or if they need support more generally. Our mentor coordinator will put the request in to the WhatsApp group and a mentor comes forward to pick up that support need.
Mentors can support as often as they are able and would like, so there's no mammoth commitment to supporting others through their LDP journey. You sign up to the request you want to, in the geographical area you're happy with.
Mentors can support as often as they are able and would like, so there's no mammoth commitment to supporting others through their LDP journey. You sign up to the request you want to, in the geographical area you're happy with.
Getting ready to mentor
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To make sure every leader in training gets the best start to their qualification and volunteering experience, we want to ensure all mentors are working to the same standard and have the same understanding of the leader development programme. We therefore ask all new mentors to complete the mentoring training. You can book the webinar on the learning platform via the link below, or we occasionally run them locally too.
You will also need a recommendation from your commissioner so be sure to talk to them about your desire to be a mentor.
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Signing up to mentor
To formally sign up as a mentor, please contact our leader in training coordinators who will check the above is in place and then set you up on GO with the county role. We'll also buddy you up with another mentor whilst you mentor your first leader in training, so you have someone to guide you through the process and to support you if you have any questions.
You can also email the leader in training coordinator if you have any questions about the role or getting involved.
You can also email the leader in training coordinator if you have any questions about the role or getting involved.
