Ignite Mentoring
After losing funding in 2017, Ignite Mentoring has received a much needed boost by the Riverina community after becoming a charity partner for the 2018 Thomas Brothers Wagga Wagga Takes Two!
This means that this valuable service can continue supporting young people at risk in the Wagga community. For these young people, mentoring isn’t about receiving advice but about having a positive role model, someone they can rely on to listen and who has a heart to understand and support them through lifes ups and downs.
Through the generosity of locals, Wagga Wagga Takes Two raised more than $400,000 for local charities in 2017 and we are thrilled to be selected as one of the 2018 charity partners of WWT2.
Follow Ignite Mentoring on Facebook to keep up to date with all Wagga Wagga Takes Two Events!
Become a Mentor
Champion a vulnerable young person in the Riverina
What mentoring programs does Anglicare run?
Anglicare offers several mentoring services in the Riverina assisting young people from primary school up to 18 years of age. The programs are called Little Readers, IGNITE and Joint Support Program (offered in partnership with the Department of Justice).
Anglicare offers several mentoring services in the Riverina assisting young people from primary school up to 18 years of age. The programs are called Little Readers, IGNITE and Joint Support Program (offered in partnership with the Department of Justice).
Who are the young people that Anglicare are assisting?
Many young people are from vulnerable backgrounds in, or at risk of entering the juvenile justice system.
How does the mentoring process work?
Our mentoring teams recruit and train volunteer mentors from the community so they can guide and champion a young person within the safety of our programs. A volunteer needs to provide compliance documentation and be able to commit to training and weekly or fortnightly mentoring sessions for a minimum of 12 months.
How successful are the Angicare mentoring programs?
Results have been outstanding! By giving hope, guidance, understanding and personalised care to a young person, our programs have seen a virtually zero rate of re-offending.
Steven’s Story
Youth mentor, Steven, knows the power of investing in the lives of young people at risk of becoming offenders. In the Wagga region, around 20 per cent of crime is committed by young people aged between 10 and 18 years of age. But Steve insists that positive reinforcement and guidance are needed rather than hard line punishments.
“A lot of these young people have difficult home environments and are looking for someone they can count on. I’ve got a young kid at the moment who fell into the wrong crowd and had a lot of people give him trouble at school,” says Steven. “We’ve worked with him and mentored him and now he’s closely communicating with his teachers and setting goals, rather than breaking into cars.”
Steven is delighted by Anglicare’s commitment to fund mentoring programs in the Riverina, and wants to see more programs made available. “People are quick to criticise these young people but what people in the community need to do is take responsibility to help them turn their lives around,” he said.
Staff member at Anglicare’s Ignite mentoring program, Alarna Thomson, said in the seven months she has worked in the role, not a single teen had re-offended.
“This incredible outcome shows the impact of giving young people a safe environment and having dedicated adult role models to give them time, care and support – basically someone to champion them.”
Anglicare’s mentoring programs operate in the Riverina region and include community mentoring for at-risk young people, as well as mentoring for young offenders in the juvenile justice system.
Want to know more?
Contact us today to find out how you can give a young person hope for the future by becoming a youth mentor.
