The YMCA's national Reach and Rise Mentoring Program, which has provided services to Garland County youths since 2013, recently expanded to include group mentoring, which pairs six youths with two mentors, in addition to its traditional 1:1 mentoring, which pairs one youth with one mentor.
Garland County's Reach and Rise program director, Elan McAfee, said the therapeutic program is meant to help youths "expand horizons and build upon the strengths that they already have," adding that the mentors basically serve as a good influence for children while modeling good behavior and showing them a different outlook on life.
Mentors may participate in different projects, field trips and other activities with the youths they are matched with depending on what the children like to do, what area of town they live in, and whether they are given permission to go out into the community with their mentor as opposed to staying at the YMCA during their time together.
"It's very dependent on the situation. They could go bike riding, they can go to museums, they can hang out (at the YMCA). If they're older kids they might even go visit colleges together. There are lots of options and we kind of help them brainstorm things to do that are going to help them toward their own personal goals," McAfee said.
As part of the program, volunteer mentors 21 years of age and older are trained to provide direct one-to-one mentoring services to the youths.
"We do provide a lot of support and we do give them training so that we aren't just throwing them into this situation without any tools," McAfee said.
She added that mentors must enjoy working with children, must be dependable, must have a clean background check and must have a spirit of altruism, as Reach and Rise is a volunteer service and they are the "bread and butter of this program."
Individuals interested in becoming mentors must complete the application process and commit to at least one year with the program.
Youths are referred to the program in a number of ways, from school counselors, teachers, principals, social welfare and counseling agencies, the juvenile justice system, YMCA programs, friends, family and self-referrals.
Matching mentors and mentees is another process in itself, McAfee said.
"There is a process. We interview the family and meet the kids so we know about their personality and which people they might mesh best with," she said. "If you put that little extra time in the front leg of the work then it's set up for success as opposed to just trying to throw two unrelated people together and make it work."
While the program serves young people in Garland County experiencing behavioral problems, poor academic progress, peer difficulties, family conflict or poor decision-making, McAfee said the program is also open to youths who just need a little extra support.
"We do get a lot of referrals from the juvenile justice system. Typically minor stuff like shoplifting or something like that, or truancy, that's another big one. But we also have kids that have never had a problem before, they just need a little extra support. Maybe they come from a single parent family and they don't get a lot of attention or may not be able to get out of the house and see things very often," she said.
McAfee began working at YMCA in Hot Springs as a part-time fitness instructor and personal trainer and realized last year that she was ready to get back into nonprofit work. She has worked with domestic violence victims in the past with a company called Transcending Abuse and said she was excited to get back into something "more meaningful." She is currently still teaching some cycling and yoga classes at the YMCA but has mostly focused her time on her work with Reach and Rise.
Reach and Rise is funded by the office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention, which recently launched a $2.5 million national research project for the program to allow it to explore new training methods, including cognitive behavioral training in order to "hopefully be more intentional about program identification and solving processes," McAfee said.
The research project will compare the difference in shown behaviors between mentees and mentors with the traditional training and those who receive training with greater emphasis on cognitive behavioral methods.
Until the research project kicks off in September, no more mentors will be trained, although support to existing mentors and youths will continue as usual and applications are currently being accepted for participation in the fall.
Space is limited. The program is open to youths ages 6-17 and mentors ages 21 and older. Call 623-8803 for more information or to begin the process.
Local on 06/20/2017