Mentoring can be used as a strategy to reduce mental health stigma and support a wide range of meaningful outcomes for young people. Additionally, technology is quietly transforming mental health services and has the potential to revolutionize youth mentoring. Youth Mentoring Collaborative (YMC) intends to train mentoring practitioners to support clinical services or deliver light-touch mental health interventions through a Healing-Centered Mentoring™ (HCM) framework.
Why Healing-Centered Mentoring™?
Healing-Centered Mentoring™ (HCM) is a framework that will build the capacity of mentoring organizations to increase the number of youth receiving evidence-based mental health services through mentoring, simultaneously reducing the burden on existing systems of care, and reducing the barriers to mental health services, particularly for BIPOC youth.
The demand for child mental health services, including those provided by psychologists, counselors, and social workers, has long exceeded the supply; this trend is expected to continue or worsen unless substantial structural changes are made in how mental health services are provided (Society for Community Research and Action, 2021).
The Healing-Centered Mentoring™ Fellowship
YMC will provide training, technical assistance, and capacity-building services to up to ten (10) youth-serving agencies that have a mentoring component, addressing their individual needs and improving the implementation of specific mentoring standards and practices through the use of evidence-based practices and technology that protects and promotes the mental health and psychosocial wellbeing of BIPOC youth.
Participants Receive
In addition to quality training and content:
- Coaching to apply HCM skills within their organization or program
- A $2,500 stipend to compensate practitioners for their commitment to the HCM cohort
- Access and training on utilizing ROSA to support youth mental health outcomes
- Peer learning opportunities with supportive and accountable professionals
Timeline
The team at Youth Mentoring Collaborative will select Fellows for the first HCM Cohort for enrollment and orientation between February and April 2023. HCM Fellows are expected to participate fully from April to October 2023.
In-Person Retreats
- APRIL: Friday, April 28; Saturday, April 29; Sunday, April 30, 2023
- JULY: Friday, July 28; Saturday, July 29; Sunday, July 30, 2023
- OCTOBER: Friday, October 6; Saturday, October 7; Sunday, October 8, 2023
Virtual Sessions
- Thursday, May 25
- Thursday, June 22
- Thursday, August 24
- Thursday, September 28
Fellowship Requirements
Selected fellows are required to participate fully in each program component in order to receive the Healing-Centered Mentoring™ certification. Participants must agree to:
- Travel to in-person retreats in the Triangle area of North Carolina (travel expenses are covered)
- Attend and learn during virtual sessions in between retreats
- Complete independent work that moves them toward full implementation of HCM at their organizations
APPLICATIONS CLOSE ON FRIDAY, MARCH 24TH AT 11:59 PM.
- Understand how to leverage technology-delivered interventions to produce improvements in health, school adjustment, stress management, depression, and anxiety in youth
- Deliver HCM training to organization's staff and mentor
- Provide feedback on the HCM framework that will support the improvement of the program
- Learn how to track mental health outcomes and provide support to youth based on data
- Share lessons learned with the broader community and solicit additional support | The first cohort of participants will participate in a HCM panel session at 2023 Carolinas Youth Mentoring Symposium to share about their experience to potential future cohort members.
- The history of mentoring and positive youth development in the United States
- Mental health challenges for youth in the United States
- Child and Adolescent Development
- Interactions between youth, social systems, and institutions
- The impacts of race, social class, gender, sexual orientation, and religion on adolescent development
- Key components of effective mentor-mentee relationships in adolescence
- Roles, responsibilities, and boundaries when supporting children, youth, and families
- Adolescent Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT) skills training
- Core Mindfulness
- Distress Tolerance
- Emotional Regulation
- Interpersonal Effectiveness
- Approaches to technology-delivered interventions
- Child and Adolescent Mental Health Policy overview
- Building a self-care regimen as a helping professional
YMC has assembled an all-star team of youth development practitioners, mental health professionals, and other passionate community members to develop and deliver content for this innovative program.
We are proud to work with the following people on the HCM Working Committee:
- Margaret A. Brunson, Ph.D., MPA
- Shauna M. Cooper, Ph.D.
- Atrayus O. Goode, MSOD
- Micah Griffin, Ph.D.
- Melchor Quick Hall, Ph.D.
- Harvey Hinton, III, Ph.D.
- Marcus Howard, Ph.D.
- Aidil Ortiz, MA
- Frank Pollock, MBA
- Kennedy Ruff
- Jasmin L. Spain, M.Ed.
- Malenia Swinton
Our Guiding Principles
Learn more about how YMC conducts our work through the lens of racial equity.
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