Mentoring Plus

Mentoring Plus is an initiative unlike any traditional mentoring program. With the vital personal support of a strong adult role model, youth are provided a full array of services giving equal emphasis to social, spiritual, physical, intellectual and emotional needs.

How Mentoring+ Differs from Other Mentoring Programs While one-to-one mentoring is a powerful and proven intervention and the "heart" of the program, we also partner with community agencies to meet the needs of youth and their families. We recognize that addressing critical family needs is key to long-term and lasting change for the youth. We engage youth in their community in positive and healthy ways such as team sports, the arts, organized youth groups and community service. This process offers youth an opportunity to break away from a negative peer culture and form healthy relationships with adult role models. Life Coaches model healthy spirituality and present opportunities for youth to explore their personal spirituality. Life Coaches interact with youth through supervised and structured activities. How the Mentoring+ Program Works The program serves youth in Northern Kentucky between the ages of 13 and 18 who have a history of substance abuse, poor school performance, delinquency and poor peer and family relationships. Program staff work with the youth and family to develop a Coordinated Care Plan that guides all service delivery to meet the needs of each youth and family via Mentoring Plus services or community agency referral. Each youth is matched with a trained volunteer who serves as a positive adult role model (Life Coach), spending about 2-3 hours per week with the youth for a commitment of at least one year. One-to-one interaction between the Life Coach and youth serves as the central program component. Along with mentoring, four core areas are addressed by program staff: substance abuse, life skills, career/job skills and education. The Life Coach, supported and guided by the staff, is the person who directly assists the youth to learn and to effect change.

We believe it takes a holistic approach and a full family and community effort to bring about healing and to improve the long-term quality of life for youth and families. By coupling family assistance with the personal care and support of an adult role model, Mentoring Plus creates a strong environment where every family member can benefit. In this setting youth will be more open to achieving a healthy and productive life.