Take a deep dive into our Raise Youth Mentoring Program Evaluation Review for 2021. You can see the impact our mentoring programs made, find out how the program works and more.
Raise Youth Mentoring Program 2021 Evaluation review The power of showing up raise.org.au
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At Raise, we do one thing and we do it really well – youth mentoring
We deliver in school mentoring for one hour a week for 20 weeks, typically for year 8 students. Our qualified Program Counsellor oversees volunteer mentors who work one on one with your students. We know the statistics below all too well and we also know the teenage years are a challenging time for young people. Since 2008, we’ve made it our mission to positively impact youth wellbeing and engagement through early intervention mentoring programs. We know that support from a caring independent mentor during this time can help young people cope better with life’s challenges. That’s why we deliver our evidence-based, best-practice youth mentoring programs to over 130 public secondary schools right across Australia.
Young people are the least likely group to ask for help
Suicide is the highest cause of death amongst young people
1 in 10 are disengaged from education
1 in 4 are unhappy with their lives
3 in 5 experience bullying
Our differentiators
One-to-one face to face
Program is fully supervised by a qualified counsellor, who manages the program from end to end.
Raise recruits, screens and
Screening of mentors includes WWCC, national police checks and screening for suitability.
Mentors complete ongoing training and skill development in their weekly mentor support sessions that are conducted immediately after mentoring.
youth mentoring conducted on site at the school.
trains our mentors who are bound by a strict code of conduct.
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How we create positive impact for young people and the wider community
Participants
Outcomes
Impact
• Asking for help • Finding trusted adults who can help • Knowledge of resources Mental health support
Social & emotional wellbeing
• Resilience • Confidence
• Coping strategies • Hope for the future • Awareness of capabilities • Ability to set goals • Ability to achieve goals
Mentees
Young people are able to navigate challenges, believe in themselves and others, and are equipped to shape a purposeful life
School engagement
• School belonging • Better relationships • Academic confidence • Improved attendance
• Transferable skills • Empathy with young people • Understanding of youth issues • Increase sense of purpose • More confident mentors in society • More connected generations Mentor outcomes
Mentors
• Increased capacity for School Wellbeing Teams • Wellbeing needs of students are met • Schools able to meet key Australian Wellbeing Framework objectives School outcomes
Schools
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A diversity of issues
Mentees told us what they want from the program is:
76% A space to be able to talk openly and be listened to 67% Advice and guidance from their mentor 60% Help to set and achieve goals
The most common issues experienced by Raise mentees prior to commencing our program are:
Suicidal thoughts 27%
Anxiety 68%
Bullying 43%
Depression 42%
Disordered eating 22%
Self-harm 23%
Discrimination 23%
74% of mentees said that the program helped them cope with these issues 97% of mentees enjoyed the program 94% said they would recommend the program to a friend 78% felt that things were different for them because of the program
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Top 4 outcome areas for young people
Hope for future
Asking for help
Mental Health Support Young people are the least likely of any age group to seek help. Through mentoring, young people have more capability to ask for help and a stronger likelihood of accepting it. They develop trust in adults, improve communication skills, and can find support and resources.
Social and Emotional Wellbeing With higher levels of hope, young people improve socially and academically. They are able to set and achieve goals, and develop a growth mindset with mentor support. Hope is a buffer against stress, anxiety and suicide ideation.
School belonging
Resilience
Social and Emotional Wellbeing Mentoring improves a young person’s ability to bounce back after stress and enhances recovery. Mentors help young people to increase confidence, adapt to new situations, develop coping skills to deal with adversity, and overcome challenges.
School Engagement Through mentoring, young people improve their relationship with peers and teachers. Mentees attend school more, resulting in increased grades, higher school completion rates, stronger academic confidence and better economic outcomes.
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A deeper dive into our Mental Health Support outcomes
Asking for help
Mentees made statistically significant improvements in: ability to ask for help ~
ability to trust adults who can help #~ knowledge of where to seek help ~ number of supports they can turn to for help ~ # achieved for the whole cohort ~ achieved for mentees with low scores at the start of the program
‘This program saved my son, he is suffering from mental health issues that we as a family were unaware, having his mentor he was comfortable to open up and speak about something so serious, we are grateful this program exists, please don’t stop.’ - John, parent
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A deeper dive into our Social and Emotional Wellbeing outcomes
Mentees in the program saw a statistically significant improvement in their resilience #~ , confidence ~ , and belief in their ability to cope ~ . This means they are better able to adapt and cope with new situations and deal with challenges and adversity.
Resilience
58% of mentees said they felt better about themselves because of the program 67% of mentors noticed an improvement in their mentee’s ability to cope 75% of mentors felt that their mentee’s confidence improved Schools staff also noticed improvements in: • students’ confidence 86%
• ability to cope 74% • and resilience 79%
# achieved for the whole cohort ~ achieved for mentees with low scores at the start of the program
‘It has helped give me more insight on life situations and how to cope.’ – Coen, Mentee
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A deeper dive into our Social and Emotional Wellbeing outcomes
Raise mentees saw a statistically significant improvement in their hope for the future ~ , which buffers against stress, anxiety and suicidality. Hope improves problem solving and goal setting, and means that our mentees are better able to cope with challenges that arise.
Hope for future
Mentees also saw a significant improvement in awareness of their capabilities ~ (growth mindset) which is associated with achievement and goal setting and protects against anxiety 67% of mentees set a goal, and over 90% achieved or partly achieved their goal. They also saw significant improvements in ratings of their ability to set ~ and achieve goals #~ . 67% of mentors felt that their mentee improved in their ability to set and achieve goals 67% of school staff members surveyed also noticed an improvement in students’ ability to set and achieve goals
‘My mentee has been empowered to speak up and have a voice. They have gained resilience and inner strength to make decisions that are best for their wellbeing.’ -Chris, Mentor
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A deeper dive into our School Engagement outcomes
School belonging
Mentees in the Raise program saw statistically significant improvements in school engagement outcomes including: self-rated attendance # ~ and grades ~ school belonging ~ relationships with friends ~ and teachers # ~ . Mentees also had statistically significant improvements in: their belief in their ability to finish school ~ and find employment ~ . # achieved for the whole cohort ~ achieved for mentees with low scores at the start of the program
“As Principals, we’re all challenged by the increasing levels of young people experiencing anxiety and mental health issues. We’re at a loss of how to tackle this within the school setting and that’s why I recommend the Raise Program as a solution and a powerful option.” – Stephanie McConnell, Principal Lindfield Learning Village
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A deeper dive into mentor outcomes
Raise mentors saw statistically significant improvements in their:
Confidence in their ability to mentor a young person outside of Raise
Understanding of youth issues
Empathy for young people
Other benefits that Raise mentors experience include:
93% Improved listening and communication skills 94% Increased likelihood of volunteering in future 93% Increased empathy 88% Improved connection with the community 87% Improved mental health literacy 98% A sense of contribution to my community
10% of mentors volunteer with Raise as part of a student placement for their university course, and some outcomes they experience include: 96% Improved mental health literacy 94% Improved leadership skills 92% Skills to help with finding employment
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Corporate mentor outcomes
8% of mentors volunteer with Raise through their workplaces, who partner with Raise as part of their corporate social responsibility (CSR), ESG or community involvement strategy. The benefits of this for organisations include a decrease in employee turnover and an increase in employee engagement and commitment. Benefits that Raise corporate mentors experience include: 96% Felt a sense of pride in my employer for partnering with Raise
78% Improved leadership skills 67% More likely to stay with my employer 65% Increased engagement at work 62% Increased networks in my organisation 85% Able to apply mentoring skills in my workplace
‘Mainly it’s been a great reminder that everyone has different perspectives, challenges and priorities. I feel like this reminder has helped me be more empathetic at work and with friends and family.’ – Bradley, Mentor
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This year, we delivered 155 programs in 131 schools across New South Wales, Victoria, Queensland, Western Australia, South Australia and the Australian Capital Territory. Working with school partners to deliver successful mentoring programs
‘The Raise mentoring program provided wonderful support for some of our vulnerable students. This weekly time with a mentor gave them someone to speak to and gave them the experience of feeling valued, respected and heard. I feel privileged to be able to offer this wonderful program at our school.’ – Rhiannan, school contact
Our reach
96% would recommend the program to another school
97% of schools asked for the program again in 2022
92% of respondents rated the Raise Program Counsellors as 5 stars!
72% rated the program as excellent, and 26% rated it as very good
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How the program works
Our Model We run the program for you on the same day and time across Terms 2 and 3 and the first 3 weeks of Term 4. As an early intervention program, we most commonly mentor students aged 13-15 years, usually in Year 8 and 9 who are showing early signs of disengagement. School staff noticed improvements in school engagement for students in the Raise program, even in a COVID year, including:
Building hope and resilience We help schools achieve their goals and KPIs for student attendance, engagement and wellbeing. Aligned with the government wellbeing framework, we provide an opportunity to actively engage students to enhance their own wellbeing. Students that graduate from the Raise Youth Mentoring Program see an increase in their resilience, improved hope for the future and are better able to cope and recover when they are faced with difficulties. Reaching those at risk of disengaging Our qualified counsellors match up to 15 young people in your school with their own volunteer mentor, and together they deliver one-to-one support across a 20 week program. Effectively extending the capacity of a school’s wellbeing team by 15 hours a week, the program provides 300 hours of additional support to young people who might otherwise be unreachable. Youth safety is paramount to Raise The program is fully supervised by a qualified Raise Program Counsellor, who is your single point of contact for the program duration. Raise recruits, screens and trains volunteer mentors to be part of your school based program. These mentors are screened for both child safety and suitability and must complete a police check and comply with legislated WWCC requirements. In addition to compliance to the school rules, all our mentors are bound by the Raise Code of Conduct. We operate to a comprehensive and detailed Youth Safety Framework.
50% Attendance 67% School relationships 51% Classroom engagement 54% Leadership qualities
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As part of our commitment and ambition to offer our program in schools right across Australia, we know that we have to explore new methods to accommodate the very landscape of our country. Expanding into rural and remote areas alone will pose challenges to our program delivery that we must address through innovation and creativity. Currently we are exploring an online only program offering, as well as Youth Initiated Mentoring (YIM). Throughout 2021 Raise ran 5 pilot online only mentoring programs, across 4 schools: Innovating our delivery models by exploring online only mentoring
100% Enjoyed the program 100% Would recommend the program to a friend 70% Feel that things are different for them
Outcomes that mentees experienced include:
68% Feel able to make better choices
63% Feel their communication skills have improved
63% Feel more likely to help others
50% Feel more likely to continue school
44% Feel better about school
44% Feel better about themselves
Next steps: We believe that online mentoring could play an important role in our ability to offer mentoring to more young people as we scale our program Online mentoring could be a vehicle for offering mentors to young people in regional and rural areas We are currently exploring technological options for replicating our best practice, one-to-one and face-to-face program for an online model that adheres to our Youth Safety Framework
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Continuing our exploration of innovative new models
In 2021 we ran our Youth Initiated Mentoring (YIM) program in 4 schools. This was delivered as a ten-week workshop style program, facilitated by a Raise Program Counsellor. Some programs also had the support of a small number of volunteer mentors. The YIM curriculum is designed to build skills in help-seeking, resilience, hope and school engagement. YIM participants are also supported to identify and initiate their own mentoring relationship.
100% of participants enjoyed the program
100% would recommend the program to a friend 83% said things are different because of the program 80% feel their communication skills improved
64% feel able to make better choices 60% feel better about themselves 60% are more likely to help others
56% feel more connected with their community 56% feel better about school after the program
52% know more people at school now 36% are more likely to continue school
Next steps: The YIM model is an effective way of supporting young people in schools where we may not have been able to find the full cohort of mentors to volunteer We will deliver our YIM model to schools in this instance, as a preliminary offering, and move to our regular
mentoring program once we have recruited volunteer mentors We are updating the YIM curriculum to reflect program feedback
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Next steps
• Complete the Expression of Interest Form to help secure your spot at raise.org.au/schools • We will be in touch to discuss next steps Your program pathway – what to expect once you sign up with Raise Once the school partnership agreement is in place, handover to Raise and we will lead the way.
Pre-program • Meet your Raise Program Area Manager (PAM) to discuss the mentor recruitment plan (November) • Welcome meeting with your Program Counsellor (PC) and PAM (late February) • PC hosts a student information session (week 8/9, term 1) • Select mentees together with your PC and obtain parent/carer consent Program delivery • Mentee and mentor orientations conducted by PC (begin week 1, term 2) • Jitters – program launches (week 3, term 2) • Program runs weekly all of term 2 and 3 • Graduation (week 2, term 4) • Separation – the gift of goodbye – program concludes (week 3, term 4)
Post program • Post-program evaluation (term 4) • Program review using Parent/Carer and school surveys • Wrap up meeting and planning for following year (November) • Sign School Partnership Agreement Form for following year
Register your interest today at raise.org.au or email schools@raise.org.au
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