Becoming a mentor

What is a mentor?

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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:
  • Help build self-belief and confidence of the volunteer you’re supporting.
  • Focus on the volunteer’s development and guide them in a way which suits their learning approach.
  • Help the volunteer solve their own problem in their own way.
  • Help the volunteer set personal goals and be their accountability buddy.
  • Keep good, regular communication with the volunteer you’re supporting, sharing knowledge and resources, maintaining support and enthusiasm.
  • Signpost the volunteer to relevant local training opportunities and help them to register for these.
  • Evaluate the volunteer’s progress regularly, making sure they understand their role and what is expected of them, helping to identify areas for development.
  • Carry out the visits required throughout the training programme - and help them to reflect on and learn from their experiences. Provide a summary to be uploaded to the learning platform, if appropriate.

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 hold a safe space level 3 (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:
  • People skills
  • Discretion
  • Communication and listening skills
  • Driven
  • Self-awareness
  • Comfortable giving feedback

​Read the full role description via the link below.

Getting ready to mentor

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.

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.