With the funding from the Earmark II, we expanded our wraparound services to teen parents and also to school-based clients by hiring and training mentors as stable supports when needed by any of our clients.  We matched clients to mentors when the clients indicated a desire to access this type of support. Mentors were recruited at college campuses, community agencies, and churches. Most applicants were students of EMU or Oakland University (in Oakland County). Mentors were screened, interviewed, and, once they passed state and federal background checks, hired and trained. They were required to meet with their mentee(s) a minimum of 4 hours a month and were paid $10 an hour. Some mentors were matched with more than one mentee, depending on their abilities and our needs.

We hired 17 mentors in our mentor program, 6 in Oakland County and 11 in Washtenaw County (2 were for school-based wraparound clients).  Four mentors left the program for personal reasons before being able to work with a mentee. Mentors who were matched and able to engage with their mentees (13) stayed in the program an average of 9 months. When we discontinued working with clients in December of 2011, 7 mentors were retained to continue meeting with their mentees. This served as a transition for our clients as they acclimated to life without wraparound. As of June 30th, 2010, four mentors were still working with their mentees. The other 3 mentoring relationships resolved naturally as clients were ready to move on.  As this final element of the project is winding down, exit interviews were conducted with the mentors to elicit feedback and input as to what elements were most beneficial in the mentor-mentee relationships.

The chart below sorts clients by level of engagement and program and shows how many clients felt the need to be supported by work with a mentor in each category.

*Number includes only wraparound clients with mentors. In Washtenaw County, two boyfriends of our teen mother clients were actively involved in the wraparound process and were matched up with mentors.

The chart above helps in analyzing the value of adding mentors as “natural supports” for our high-risk teens.  There were clients who were not engaged or were early dropouts and did not stay in the program long enough to be matched with a mentor, even though the facilitators recognized this might be the element to help them stay engaged.

Clients did benefit from the support of teams that included mentors.   Participator clients had the most mentor involvement and completed the most goals with their mentors.  Mentors supported their mentees at wraparound-sponsored program events, such as budget workshops where they helped the teen mentees understand the material as well as provide childcare while they attended.  There was also a Fall Outing where clients, their children and their mentors enjoyed cider and doughnuts, as well as a wide range of activities at Cider Mills and Apple Orchards.  Social activities are identified by clients as valuable and supportive for the teens and their children, which also contributes to improvement in parental functioning.

Exit interviews were conducted by the project coordinator with 7 mentors who responded to the request. Typically, interviews were held in person, tape recorded, and transcribed, or answers were accepted in writing if no common time was found for the interview.  Mentors were adults ranging in age from college students to retirees. Highlights of their input included the following information:

• Building trust and rapport between mentor and mentee took approximately 1-3 months, of 4-8 hours/month contact.
• Barriers to building the trusting relationship between mentor and mentee included the difficulty in maintaining any scheduled sessions due to various life events of the mentee, lack of phones/cell phones for the mentee to communicate with the mentor, and negative experiences of mentees with adults.  For example:

“It was difficult because she was expecting me to be like every adult in her life to be telling her what to do. So I really wanted it to feel like ok, you’re leading the session so what do you want to do? How do you want this to go? …So, I think that initially she was trying to prove like I was every other adult. So it was battling that. … It didn’t take too long to build the trust, but I think maintaining the trust was hard. I really had to show her and I couldn’t push her in any way.”

• Communication was a key element of success.  The most typical way that mentors/mentees kept in touch between meetings was texting.  Most mentees/mentors texted every few days or at least once a week. Reasons for contacting mentors were for updates, confirming meetings, or asking for help. The times mentees asked for help was mostly because they needed rides to certain places, including work, the grocery store, and doctor appointments. One mentor described Facebook as a better way to keep in touch since her mentee did not have a cell phone.
• Activities done together built solid relationships between mentors and mentees.  The mentors of teen parents described activities like window shopping, going to the mall, taking walks and going out to eat. Time was also spent going to appointments and getting things accomplished in order to complete a wraparound goal, such as going to DHS and completing paperwork, going grocery shopping, picking up/dropping off children, and looking for apartments. For the school-based clients who were younger and did not have children, mentors and mentees did activities like going to museums, fishing, swimming, and playing games/sports.
• Mentee expectations of the mentor focused mostly on wanting the mentor to just be available to listen and help in any way possible.  Only 2 mentees wanted their mentor involved in their wraparound team, but most mentoring relationships were kept separate from wraparound and worked on separate goals and activities, such as learning how to drive, getting a job, finding a church home, or improving social skills. Many mentors talked a lot with their mentees about education choices and future career goals, including the U.S. Air Force and beauty school. One mentor even took his mentee to an Air Force recruiter to get more information.  While mentors met some family, friends, or significant others, none of the interviewed mentors had a significant relationship with anyone except their mentee.
• Challenges for mentors often included worry about the choices made by the mentees, such as their suspected use of a controlled substance, or of a negative situation between a mentee and her live-in boyfriend, or when a mentee wanted to be emancipated but was perhaps not ready for the responsibilities for herself and her baby.  (Note: All difficult situations were brought to the programs attention and were addressed accordingly.)
• Recommendations from mentors for future mentoring programs included:
  • More planned outings/activities
  • Have mentor meet-ups and also mentee meet-up opportunities, where they could share their experience and hear what others were going through.
  • More time to spend with mentee: Many of our mentors were students and had quite a busy schedule. Most mentioned wanting more time to devote to their mentee.
  • Provide opportunities for social work students to mentor since social work students need to volunteer for 40 hours in order to graduate.
  • Have mentors and mentees set  specific meeting times/schedules