Refer a Youth

How do I connect a youth to the program?

We recommend a brief conversation or email with our program staff as a first step. If the program staff feels that the youth would be suitable to come onto the program, we’d request a referral form be submitted to us.

FAQ

What age range is mentoring available for young people?
We don’t have a fixed age range at Heart for Youth but our primary focus is on youth aged 12-18. 

Are there any scenarios where a youth would be ineligible to participate as a mentee?
As adults, we all understand the benefit of having mentors and role models in our lives.  We certainly wish that for all young people. However, we do have some requirements to ensure the safety of our mentors.

Generally, we will not accept mentees people who:

  • Are in a current stage of severe mental instability, e.g., suicide threats, attempts and current self-harm

  • Are known to be aggressive or violent

  • Are currently using hard illicit drugs or clearly showing signs of alcohol/ drug addiction.

  • Have strong oppositional defiance towards authority, adults and establishment/society in general.

  • Are not currently living in a stable home/program environment, e.g., run aways

  • Are currently in the care of Child Protective Services but not currently in a stable placement.  For this reason, we would not want to go through the process of supporting a young person where their living arrangements are uncertain for the near future.  This would be detrimental to the benefit of the young person if a match had taken place and for whatever reason the young person was relocated to a different community as a result of needed care.

  • Generally, if the family is known to have active negative gang involvement or is known to be delving into serious crime including hard drug use and violence.

If you have any questions or would like to discuss further, please contact us.

What training and safety checks do mentors undertake?
Mentors generally undertake in excess of 16 hours training with our organization, submit to a police background check, reference checks, and are interviewed by our program staff prior to being accepted onto our program.

Our organization has extensive policies and procedures for our mentors to follow and adheres to the Child Abuse and Neglect Reporting Act, California Penal Code (PC) 11164 through 11174.3  We are in regular contact with our mentors to track the relationship and offer support if needed.

Is the matching process monitored ?
Yes, the matching process is monitored intensively especially for the first 3 months where monthly contact is made with the mentor (and in some cases the mentee) to see how things are going.  A formal meeting takes place after 3 months where goal setting is discussed.  This will also take place again at 9 months and certainly at the end of 12 months where it is decided whether the mentor and mentee would like to carry on together.