Reflections on the Use of Mentoring in a Juvenile Reentry

Program

G. Roger Jarjoura Aftercare for Indiana through Mentoring

rjarjour@iupui.edu

Mentoring Programs

Can inspire and guide people to pursue successful and productive futures, reaching their potential through positive relationships and utilization of community resources

Mentoring Can be Transformative

If the program incorporates evidence-based characteristics and is well-implemented

On the other hand, mentoring programs that do not meet these criteria may actually do harm

It’s all about…

The “R”-word

Consider the risk factors that contribute to the

likelihood that the youths are going to be delinquent

Dysfunctional Family

Problems in School

Challenges around work

Negative Peers

Drugs and Alcohol

Disadvantaged neighborhoods

Low academic achievement

Low self-esteem

Choices about spending

leisure time

These can all be reframed in terms of dysfunctional

relationships

The relationship

the kids have with their families

The relationship

they have with their teachers

The relationship they have with

work

The relationship

they have with their peers

The relationship they have with drugs

and alcohol

The relationship they have with the community

The relationship

they have with learning

The relationship

they have with themselves

The relationship

they have with their free time

The relationship they have with

money

What is mentoring?

Supportive relationships with adults other than parents

Adult role models—the evidence points to better results for mentors over 21, with maturity and life experiences being critical factors

Caring adults—the motivation of the mentor is significant

Volunteers as mentors

Can a Mentor Have a Criminal History?

Applicants are screened on an individual basis

Positives and negativesIt all depends on how they tell their story

Training of Mentors

6 hours of pre-match trainingDOC orientation is optimalWeekly class meetingsOn-site supervision

Content of Training

System-involved youthMentoringHow to work with system-involved youthCommunication skillsBuilding relationshipsScenarios of difficult situations

A Best Practice

You must train your mentors so that you have a better chance of retaining them

The focus of the training is very important

We use Innoculation

If we tell the new volunteers they are likely to want to quit for certain reasons (that we walk them through), it decreases the probability they will actually quit when faced with the challenges they were warned about

Things like:

System-involved youth have been let down by adults many times. They are likely to keep the mentors at arms length for some period of time until the mentor “passes the test.”

This is a transient population and the youths may change residences, have their phone numbers disconnected or changed, or may spend very little time at home making it difficult to catch them.

And…

Many adults have a hard time with the progress that these youth demonstrate—it is often very slow and can involve several missteps and relapses along the way.

The strongest mentor-mentee relationships grow out of crises and conflicts—yet mentors will be inclined to avoid the youth while they are dealing with conflict and crises.

There are many potentially upsetting elements to working with this population. Mentors need to learn to look for support and not look for the way out of the program.

Contact with the Outside World

While they are incarcerated, juvenile offenders really value contact with the outside world.

This becomes important for building the relationship between the program and the youth.

Take advantage of the different ways to have approved contact with the youth: letters, visits, phone calls.

Within each correctional system, you would need to work out the parameters of this contact.

Some additional tips

Provide written correspondence about the services you can provide upon their release, and invite any questions or requests for specific connections with other community-based services.

Reach out to the families to educate them about the services you can provide.

Make sure before they leave you have comprehensive contact information and plans to be in touch!

On-Going Support of Mentors

Key issues: Maintaining contact with mentees What happens when kids get into trouble?

Mentors are Responsible for Building the Relationship

Taking responsibility for making and maintaining contact

Understanding that the feedback and reassurance characteristic of adult-to-adult relationships is often not a habit of the system-involved youth, although they can learn if the behaviors are modeled

The Use of Mentor Teams

Matching is the responsibility of the teamHelps with retention of mentors and menteesAn efficient way of managing large numbers

of volunteers

How do we shape the mentoring experiences?

The best evidence we have is that one-on-one mentoring is the most effective--this does not mean, however, that one mentor cannot successfully work with more than one youth at a time, as long as the youths receive individual personal attention

The evidence also leans in favor of same-sex matches between mentor and mentee

How do we shape the mentoring experiences?

Mentoring is going to be more effective if it involves regular (at least weekly) contact over an extended period of time.

The youths anticipate that adults are not in it for the long term and when they learn otherwise, they take the kinds of risks in the relationship with their mentors that lead to real personal growth and development.

Additional Considerations

In programs working with delinquents, it is helpful initially at least to be able to leverage the participation of the youths with the mentors.

At the same time, it is important that the mentor have some influence in case dispositions—if the mentor wants to advocate on behalf of the youth, it can strengthen the relationship if it appears that the mentor’s input is at least considered.

Outcomes to Focus On

the development of real competence on the part of the mentee

it is critical to increase the level of skills of the youths in the areas of decision making, problem solving, and accessing resources in the community.

Reincarceration

Group 1: 43.8%Group 2: 50.0% Group 3: 62.2%

Among those in Group 1 who participated fully in AIM and had a mentor that followed through on commitment:

27.8%

* (p < .05)