Keen volunteer mentor Abby joined Team Raise and boosted her impact. By running in the HBF Run for a Reason she raised enough to recruit, screen, train, and onboard a new mentor, whose work will help support young people during the critical early teen years, and build resilient communities.
Law and business student Abigail is someone who loves to give back while adding to her already impressive skill base. She previously volunteered for the Law Society and is currently the Undergraduate Student Representative for the Board of Studies for Business and volunteers for the Kwinana Youth Advisory Council.
Looking for opportunities to add another string to her bow, Abigail found an ad offering students 20 years or older the opportunity to volunteer for Raise.
“I’d always volunteered every opportunity I got, even in high school. Because of my degree, and the focus on Human Resources, I saw Raise as an opportunity to improve my communication skills while helping young people like myself. In the end, I learnt more than I ever expected” says Abigail.
“The main thing I learnt was about how to communicate with someone who is not used to opening up. I had to lean into my empathy and active listening and always remember it is not about me – it’s about the mentee. I also learnt how to create a safe space.”
Abigail told us the Program Counsellor and support from the other mentors was amazing. “At times during the mentor support sessions I felt like I was being mentored myself, I was really well looked after. Every mentor gets so much out of it - one of the mentors was about to welcome their first child and supported young people while upping their parenting skills” she says.
“It's only an hour every week and some weeks I felt like all I was doing was listening. We didn’t always follow the curriculum but I intertwined the topics into our conversations. I wasn’t sure I’d made a huge difference, but at graduation I learnt what a difference I’d made. My mentee said they were so happy I’d made a safe space for them to talk about anything and everything and that they’d never forget me. We both cried.
“I realised that this young person just needed someone to listen to them, they’d experienced periods of loneliness and the biggest thing they were looking for was somewhere to feel safe. I used to struggle to listen, to be there and be present. I’m so proud I mentored and learnt how to do those things. It was such an interesting and rewarding experience."
Knowing the cost of running school programs is over $42,000, and experiencing how impactful these programs are, Abigail decided to do more than mentor.
“I’d never done fundraising before but wanted to do something so other schools could have the program” she says. “The high school I went to was in a low socio-economic area and many students struggled. Looking back, if I’d had a mentor when I was at that school I can see the difference it would have made to my life. Even though I’m not really a runner, I decided to join Team Raise in the HBF Run for a Reason and raised $400.”
This amount goes a long way to funding the $444 it takes to recruit, screen, train, and onboard one new mentor, empowering them to make a lasting difference.
“I didn’t train for it but I was thinking about my mentee the whole time, so when I got tired I thought ‘I have to finish this for them’. In the end it was the highlight of my year” Abigail says proudly. “I’d say to others - go out of your comfort zone and mentor a young person. Fundraise too. You learn a lot about yourself doing both.”
