What makes an effective youth mentor is a great question and there is an equally great answer. To begin with an effective youth mentor must love young people. You cannot mentor young people if you do not love them and you cannot love young people and not mentor them in some way. He or she must recognize the perils and pitfalls of youth as well as the potential of youth. He or she must be someone who has mastered the principles of personal leadership and thereby lives a highly effective lifestyle. An effective youth mentor is a man or woman of influence who knows how to wield it in a positive and impactful manner.

There are five steps to effective youth mentorship: The first step is having a genuine desire for the young person's good and a willingness to spend time with them engaged in dialogue or in some meaningful educational or recreational experience in order to create a pool of shared meaning. This pool of shared meaning creates a safe environment of self-disclosure and understanding. The second step is compassion-having a genuine care and concern for the welfare of that young person. The third step is seeking to meet the felt needs as is appropriate to the time, place and relationship that you have with the young person. The fourth step is winning the young person's confidence by showing yourself to be trustworthy and worthy of their trust by being a good example in character. The fifth and final step is inviting that young person to commit to excellence in their personal life by setting very clear expectations of how they want to live and behave.

In following the above five steps an effective youth mentor creates a series of defining moments for that young person that last a lifetime. Through the encouragement given over the course of the mentoring relationship the effective mentor increases the young persons awareness of themselves and of the world around them. In so doing, the effective mentor affirms the value that young person and reinforces a healthy self-respect. An effective youth mentor knows that while he or she may dispense advice and use every opportunity to teach and instruct, that for the investment made that he or she is made richer ten fold.

Learn more about this author, Ulrick Graham.
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