Toronto District School Board
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Mentorship

Mentors - What is Mentorship?

Mentorship Programs are...


All about relationships between a young person and an adult.

  • These relationships are founded on an atmosphere of trust.
  • These relationships lead to open conversations where your mentee can talk without being judged and the mentor listens.
  • These relationships are meaningful and occur consistently.

An avenue to connect with mentees to help them make sense of their world.

  • This requires the mentee to think about and consider the mentee's social context.
  • This requires time and opportunity to allow the connection to be meaningful.
  • This requires patience as purposeful connections with young people can be difficult.

An avenue to unite around issues of social justice.

  • A place to critically think about and consider who the young person is in the context of the world around them.
  • A place to engage with issues that are relevant to the young person.
  • A place to challenge social norms and overcome societal barriers.

An opportunity to change lives by caring about and supporting a young person.

  • An opportunity for conversations about school and its challenges.
  • An opportunity to support mentees through their schooling experiences and life choices.

Mentorship Programs are not...


Programs for solely "at risk" youth.
  • The programs should include children with a variety of social and academic differences.
An opportunity to impose "the right" perspective on young people.
  • This is an opportunity to share, advise and encourage young people to see their choices from multiple vantage points.
An opportunity for students to get out of class and/or only engage in fun activities.
  • While fun activities are important in relationship building and children should enjoy these experiences, it is a balance between fun, work and critical activities which sets the stage for successful and healthy mentees.