Mentoring Critical to Supporting Youth Now and Throughout Recovery: Guest MINDSETTER™ Schofield

Mentoring Critical to Supporting Youth Now and Throughout Recovery: Guest MINDSETTER™ Schofield

The upheaval caused by COVID-19 is having a dramatic impact on our kids now and will continue well into the future.  Make no mistake, this crisis is traumatic for our state’s youth, especially those already living with the systemic issues of poverty, marginalization and discrimination. In many homes, kids are experiencing loss, stressors and toxicity. As adults, we miss our extended family, friends, and social interactions. 

Think of the average middle school student who biologically places much more value on their time with peers over family. Now their routine is gone, their connection to activities is gone, and, for some kids, the safety of school is gone. Peers are no longer a part of their everyday life except for online. Anything that was their normal has changed. 

We’re also discovering as the days of distance learning continue, that not all kids are able to “show up” for school in this new world. Some students simply lack the ability to engage with school on their own and may not have the support they need for remote academic success.  Mentors and positive adult relationships have always been a key to helping kids navigate difficult circumstances, like feelings of loneliness, self-consciousness and even trauma.  Knowing you have someone in your corner is a gift that mentors freely give. 

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So, how can we show up for kids in this new normal?  Like so many other parts of our lives, this pandemic has forced the mentoring movement to adapt.  We’ve always preached the virtues of face-to-face mentoring interactions.  While this will always be the preferred method of mentoring, it is neither safe nor possible right now so we must transition to virtual mentoring opportunities. It is essential that kids don’t lose these critical connections to caring adults.  

I’m proud that MENTOR Rhode Island is helping to facilitate that transition for mentoring programs throughout the state.  Along with MENTOR: The National Mentoring Partnership, tips and guidelines for virtual mentoring have already been created, appropriate platforms for conducting virtual mentoring sessions have been explored, and mentor trainings and workshops are being reworked so they can be delivered online.  But this mobilization is not enough.  

There are many challenges in the days and months ahead. We must prepare programs and mentors for the inevitable explosion in the need for mentoring as restrictions on human interactions are eased. When kids return to school, there will be more outbursts, a bigger academic gap for students who were already struggling to keep up, and more kids living in difficult financial situations because of the devastating effect this crisis has had on our economy and many of our families.  We’re going to need an army of mentors to combat this new reality.  While the need for mentors increases, many mentoring programs are going to lose mentors to economic circumstances, the virus itself, or the need for some to protect themselves because they are older or have underlying health issues.   

Through generosity and countless acts of kindness, the community has responded in an amazing way to the COVID-19 crisis. The inequities, disconnection, greed, and hate of our pre-COVID existence will no longer serve us. This is our chance to reevaluate our priorities. This is our chance to make a difference for future generations. Long after the stay-at-home order is lifted, we will remember how this isolation impacted all of us. Let’s weave a vibrant social fabric so that together, we will make a difference for our State’s youth. Together, we’ll be stronger. Together we will be there so every child has a safety net.

I hope you will consider the power of mentoring and the positive relationships it fosters as a way you can help our kids, our families, and our community heal.

Jo-Ann Schofield is President & CEO of MENTOR Rhode Island.  She has been part of the mentoring movement for more than 20 years.  MENTOR Rhode Island provides resources, expertise, advocacy, and leadership for mentoring programs across the state and operates school-based mentoring programs in several school districts. www.mentorRI.org