Mentoring Programme Officer Dublin Central

Foróige’s Mentoring Programme connects a vulnerable young person with an adult volunteer mentor to facilitate a positive transition from adolescence into adulthood. Foróige’s Mentoring Programme has undergone numerous evaluation studies to assess outcomes for young people. Results show that the mentoring intervention is effective in improving emotional wellbeing and social support and is a model of best practice in youth work provision in Ireland.

The programme matches an adult volunteer to a young person in need of support. Its core assumption is that a caring and supportive friendship will develop and reinforce the positive development of the young person. Typically the matches meet once a week, for one to two hours, and the initial commitment is for one year. The underlying assumption is that the adult volunteer will become a role model, a mentor, but perhaps most of all, a friend. A blended mentoring programme can be offered to support young people by matching them with a caring adult volunteer who they can connect with weekly in person or online. The successful candidate will be responsible for facilitating a range of Foróige’s Mentoring models including; Big Brother Big Sister, MentorMe, Site based Mentoring, and Peer to Peer School Mentoring.

This post is responsible for the provision of youth mentoring services for young people involved in Youth Diversion Projects (YDPs) and JLO Services in communities across the country. This post will be part of Foróige’s Mentoring Programme and will take referrals from the network of Foróige managed YDP’s or JLO services across the county. This post is a funded post by the Department of Justice and Equality through the Irish Youth Justice Service, in conjunction with An Garda Síochána and will be managed by Foróige.

Young people are referred to the programme based on a range of issues including: cultural or economic disadvantage; poor social skills; early signs of antisocial and criminal behaviour; underachievement at school; lack of adequate adult support; is insecure and distrusting of adults; is introverted, shy or withdrawn.

In this initiative young people will be referred primarily from Foróige managed YDPs or JLO services. YDPs are community based, multi-agency youth crime prevention initiatives which primarily seek to divert young people who have been involved in anti-social and/or criminal behaviour by providing suitable activities to facilitate personal development, promote civic responsibility and improve long term employability prospects. The projects may also work with young people who are significantly at risk of becoming involved in anti-social and/or criminal behaviour. By doing so, the projects contribute to improving the quality of life within communities and enhancing Garda/Community relations.