Background Checks for MMSD
Every year mentors need to fill out the background form with MMSD. You should have done this when you first became a mentor. Please fill this out by mid-September. Your coaches will follow up with you.
Weekly Training Resource
This week’s training resource is the the third chapter, about making room for fun and play, of a training called Becoming a Better Mentor.
How does this help me in my mentoring relationship? “There are four core types of mentoring activities: 1) playing, 2) talking, 3) learning, and 4) doing…the strongest mentoring relationships reflected a balance of these four types of interactions. The ordering of these activity types in our framework was deliberate. It underscores that being playful is a critical tool in a mentor’s relationship-building toolkit, even if they are part of a mentoring program that is more goal-directed or structured. The capacity to be playful is tool number one. It’s that important! It’s also that challenging. This chapter tries to coach the skill of playfulness by revealing what it means to be a “playful” mentor, why it is important, and how fun in mentoring varies across contexts, and provides some ideas to help you be playful.”
Don’t forget to fill out the response form after completing each training.
Challenge for the Week
For September, the challenges will center around the theme of Back to School. This week’s challenge is to set aside some time to talk to your mentee about how they are feeling about going back to school. Make a list of the things they are afraid of or anxious about and the things they are excited about or looking forward to. Be intentional about helping them address their fears and anxieties and find out why certain things excite them. Keep this list in mind so that you can come back to it in a few weeks to check-in! As always, talk, question, listen, challenge and encourage your mentee!
Tip of the Week
Did you know that there are several different types of trauma? Trauma can be experienced in the form of a one-time event, a series of events (possibly over a period of time) or through historical events (cumulative emotional and psychological wounding across generations). Some events/experiences that may cause trauma are natural disasters, human-cause disasters, community violence, school violence, family trauma, refugee trauma, medical trauma, poverty, racial trauma and/or historical trauma. Not everyone responds the same to any one event or any series of events. It’s our job to understand this and to do our best to help our mentees build their capacity to unlearn the damaging effects they may be experiencing (possibly unknowingly) as a result of trauma.
We love seeing photos of you and your mentee spending time together! Please share them with us via your coach or using the hashtag #intentionalmentoringmadison
Mentor Coaching Group Meeting Dates:
VAL: Monday, September 26th 6:30 – 7:30pm val@intentionalmentoringmadison.org
RYAN: Monday, October 3rd 5:30 – 6:30pm Ryan@intentionalmentoringmadison.org
If you have a change in personal information (phone/address/email) please respond to this email or notify your mentor coach ASAP.
All the best,
Intentional Mentoring