70 Vulnerable Renfrewshire Youngsters on The Lookout For Mentors
Care-experienced children and young people across Renfrewshire need support from local mentors to help raise their attainment in school and their overall confidence.
Aberlour Child Care Trust and Renfrewshire Council recently joined forces to launch the Aberlour Attain Mentoring Service in Renfrewshire. The service aims to raise the attainment of Renfrewshire’s care experienced children and young people through a flexible, relationship-based mentoring support.
Recently both the charity and council held a showing of the powerful film ‘Paper Tigers’ at The Abercorn Conferencing Centre, to demonstrate the power of relationships and to showcase the values of the new Aberlour Renfrewshire service to council employees and potential future mentors.
The film follows a year at an American High School where the Principal has changed the school’s approach to discipline to help students overcome traumatic events in their lives. The teachers focus on building trusting relationships with the young people to recognise and build on their strengths, work on their goals and aspirations, and provide the support and encouragement they need to deal with the difficult and challenging situations in their lives.
Sarah-Louise Davies (pictured at the end on the right), Aberlour Attain Mentoring Service Manager, said:
“We know that care-experienced children and young people often have lower attendance at school and higher exclusion rates. This impacts upon their life experiences. We need to instil confidence and support our young people to succeed.”
“We have been working in the local area since the start of the year and have a number of successful mentoring matches in place, however we still have 70 children and young people waiting for their ideal mentor. Every day we receive more applications for young people who need help.”
John Trainer (pictured in the middle), Head of Child Care and Criminal Justice for Renfrewshire Council, said:
“We are delighted to partner with Aberlour Children’s Charity to create a fantastic mentoring support service for care-experienced children and young people living in Renfrewshire. Many of these youngsters do not have the support from a significant adult to encourage them to succeed and support them when times are difficult. We want to make sure every child has that person in their life. Our children and young people are filled with talent – they just need their mentor’s support to unlock it.”
Karen Anderson, current Aberlour Attain mentor and Renfrewshire Council employee, said:
“I recommend volunteering with Aberlour to everyone. Aberlour helps you all the way through the process and there’s a positive outcome for a Renfrewshire young person. You don’t need a degree in psychology or any special skills: you just need to care and want to support a young person to grow.”
If you would like to find out more about becoming an Aberlour mentor, please get in touch by emailing volunteering@aberlour.org.uk or calling Aberlour Attain Mentoring Service – Renfrewshire on 0141 260 9180.