Mentoring for Healing and Growth

This case study highlights the journey of YP5, a 15-year-old who faced trauma, safety concerns, and emotional challenges due to the murder of his father and removal from his mother's care. 

Reason for referral/background:

YP5, 15, experienced trauma following his father's murder and his removal from his mother's care due to her substance misuse and mental ill health. YP5 lived with his grandmother, although still had contact with his mother, who regularly visited his grandmother's home. YP5 received mental health support from the local authority and also the Youth Justice Service (YJS). The referral noted there were concerns around YP5's mental health, emotion regulation, potential depression, insomnia, and poor diet.   

YP5 had knife possession charges and there were additional concerns for his safety in his local area, regarding clashes with local gang, which has resulted in youths attacking the house where he lives. 

YP5 was of mixed heritage and was the only member of his immediate family with Black ancestry and there concerns about messages he has received about his ethnicity and skin colour.  The YJS referred YP5 for mentoring to help support him to form positive relationships, enhance his self-esteem and build confidence through regular engagement in positive activities. Wipers were informed that YP5 would also need the support from his mentor to explore his heritage and to help to promote his attendance at school. 

At the start:

At the beginning, YP5 was unresponsive towards engagement and mainly refused to get involved for long periods of time. YP5 would divert to other actions such as using his phone or watching TV. Once the mentor explained his role and possible aims, including engagement in sports and music, YP5's engagement and attitude became more enthusiastic and open to the ideas he was presented with. As the sessions continued, YP5 began to engage more interactively and would inform the mentor on what things he would like support with.   

The mentor’s initial observations were that YP5 wanted to change and was not intending to continue with his previous way of life. He demonstrated remorse for previous actions he had undertaken and the impact this had had on his family. YP5 was keen to have his offence put behind him and wanted to move on with his life. This was evident as he rarely spoke about the actual event that led to him attending the YJS. However, YP5 was wary of leaving the house and stated that he couldn’t travel to certain areas of London for his own safety. The mentor was impressed with YP5's enthusiasm to keep himself active and busy in a positive way, which was reflected in his passion for music and sports.  

YP5 was eager to be put forward for sessions at the local music studio. He also showed an interest in playing basketball with a team.

Work completed: Achievements & Challenges

Many of the mentoring sessions occurred at YP5's home. He engaged in sessions around communication, geography and culture of the Caribbean and history of his ancestry. YP5 and the mentor explored YP5's educational path, including the current Pupil Referral Unit (PRU) that YP5 was attending. As the sessions continued, these would take place at the local music studio where YP5 was able to use the facilities to make music.

As the mentoring support progressed, YP5 also engaged at a local sports centre for basketball training. It was evident to the mentor that YP5 was increasing in confidence and was able to articulate himself in a mature manner. YP5 was increasingly proactive when preparing for journeys to different parts of London away from the family home, which led to more independence in achieving things by himself.     

YP5's communication with the mentor outside the sessions became more consistent, due to the regular engagement of sessions that he wanted to undertake. These discussions now were based on understanding the future of the education system, with a view to finally being placed into full-time mainstream education, which showed initiative on YP5's part. YP5 learnt about various lifestyles and how you can overcome and achieve greatness if you put your mind to things. He demonstrated good resilience by consistently taking part in sessions of various forms of music and sport.  

Throughout the mentoring process, YP5 did not re-offend, which is a huge achievement. Most challenges were based around YP5's ability to maintain a stable sleeping pattern. This could disrupt the mentoring as he would not always be awake and, as a result, sessions needed to be rescheduled.

Areas of Strengths and Development:

YP5 went on to comfortably engage in group sessions and began to communicate more fluidly. He developed good organisational skills, demonstrated in his participation in sessions and informing the mentor when unable to attend. YP5 also became more confident whilst travelling by himself to studio sessions and meeting friends. An important element for development was identified with YP5 – an improved sleep pattern, created through better sleep hygiene, with planned sleeping and waking times. 

YP5 began to assist his grandmother in the upkeep of the house. He also learnt to keep calm during situations that frustrated him. Suggested future interventions to support YP5's continued progress included advice on family relationships and better communication with his mother, further mentoring on boundaries, and the effects of gang membership and violence. Additionally one-to-one support within his education setting could have led to improved attendance and supported a return to mainstream school. And access to local sports provisions could have helped improve his overall fitness.