I've always enjoyed taking youth on outdoors adventures through things like scouting and doing school talks with work (DOC). But for two reasons I wanted to do something like BBBS: I always felt that I'd like to help youth who really needed a caring reliable adult in their life whereas most of the scouts already have that, and also with scouts I spend a little bit of time with a lot of youth, so I was keen to also develop a closer relationship with one particular youth. I'd wanted to do something like BBBS for a long time, but wasn't able to due to work taking me out into the backcountry lots. When I changed jobs to one with more predictable hours I saw a BBBS sign beside the road and it reminded me that I should look into it. I did and I'm really enjoying it, the team gives great support and run lots of awesome and varied group activities..

It helps if you can...

In my opinion it helps to be open-minded and not judge youth by their life circumstances and the behaviours they might therefore have that differ from what you're used to in your own circles. It helps to be prepared for a weekly commitment - a week comes around quickly if things like work get busy! It helps to keep your eye out for the subtle signs that they're enjoying activities with you, as they might not express happiness or enjoyment in ways that you're used to. It helps if you do what you say you're going to do, i.e. be reliable.

Things we like to do together...

Building fortresses on the beach. Cooking hamburgers for dinner on a gas cooker in the outdoors. Swimming in rivers or the sea. Exploring new places and trying out new activities like kayaking, horse-riding and fishing. Playing silly games and challenges at playgrounds. Building a campfire and cooking sausages over it. Wood-working. Go-karting. Doing army commando course challenges. Going on the BBBS group activities such as fishing, games at Rabbit island, and jetboating.
All sorts!

Memorable moments we have had together are...

Sasha catching her first fish, filleting it and frying it over a gas cooker beside the sea. Then rapidly progressing to catching huge kahawai and driving the boat back to the marina! Another time we took a boat out at twilight from the marina to the Haven where we got fish and chips, then ate the fish and chips out at sea as the sun set.

A heart-warming moment was..

When Sasha was insistent that I come inside where she was living so that she could show me her treasures - a camo-coloured speaker and a fancy computer mouse. The very first time we went out together we went to Tahuna beach and promptly "saved" dozens of sand dollars from drying out because the tide was out. How excited she was about cooking and eating the first fish she ever caught. How she trusts me to be there for her when she tries new things that scare her a bit, like jumping into deep water, going fast on go-karts, riding my horse etc.

My Mentoring tip is...

To be open-minded and non-judgemental, try different activities, listen to your mentee and the stories they tell you when they feel like talking, treat hanging out with your mentee as spending time with a good friend and enjoy and celebrate with them all the good moments both big and small.

Mentoring is/isn’t for you if...

It is for you if you care about all youth and want to befriend them and help them have positive experiences with a friendly and reliable adult, no matter their background. I don't think it is for you if you expect all youth to behave a certain way, if you expect to have as much control as e.g. a parent, if you can't reliably be there for them every week, or if you aren't willing to examine your own behaviour and make improvements as you learn on the way!