Lily shares her mentoring journey, how it helped her overcome her own high school experience and become one of our valued Youth Advisory Council members.
A fun, rewarding challenge
My mum’s passion for the program was so infectious that I felt inspired to apply and start my own mentoring journey.
When I went through the training I kept thinking about how much this would have helped me at school, especially at the age of 13 - 14 which is a tough time. I was excited to help in whatever small way I could to prepare the next generation for this world.
I loved mentoring with Raise right from the get-go but it wasn't without its challenges. Going back into a school environment was hard for me but connecting with young people in such a safe environment really helped ease me into feeling safe in a school again. Mentoring was so exceptionally fun, rewarding, and challenging. It was amazing to see such deep relationships develop over 23 weeks and see the changes in the young people as they progressed.
It will change two lives
The mentees have taught me so much, which is something you will hear every mentor say. It's one of the things that I was excited about when I heard about mentoring because connecting with young people is always such an enriching experience and the thought that I could also be enriching to them was amazing. My mentees have taught me about video games, social justice movements, artistic design, trends, mathematics, music, and - above all else - the thing I am most privileged to have learned from them is all about themselves.
The power of connection
The highlight of my mentoring experience happened with my most recent match. We had both missed the introductory jitters session, so we were paired together. When we met a magical thing happened, we clicked immediately. We started talking about everything under the sun and instantly formed a connection which usually takes weeks to forge. It was so rewarding for the both of us as we could just immediately jump into the handbook with so much trust.
From little things, big things grow
I started out listening to my mum's mentoring experience, then I became a mentor myself and recently I took another step in my connection to Raise and joined their Youth Advisory Committee (YAC).
The aim is to support Raise to keep everything youth focused. As a group we look at everything from Marketing, to attending Youth Summits, reviewing the mentee handbook, and more to provide feedback from a younger audience to ensure Raise are well informed and can continue to help young people across Australia. Led by the feedback from the Youth Summit and other information sessions with our young people, our primary goals are also to recruit younger mentors and have much more diversity and inclusivity at Raise.
If you'd like to make a difference in a young person's life, sign up to mentor today.
