
Marking Mother’s Day when mum isn’t at home
With Mother’s Day coming up, our Rise mentoring team has been busy helping kids create cards for their mums, nans, aunties, sisters, and all the special people bringing up these great kids! […]
One of our volunteer mentors, Kat*, shares her experience mentoring a young person in custody:
The suffering and abuse Ben* faced through his childhood, from a very young age, is unimaginable to me. When I first met him in custody, he’d never had a family member or friend visit… not one.
Looking back on his youth, he once said to me, “I never thought I’d amount to anything other than a criminal”.
In the time since we were first introduced at the youth justice centre, he’s had a transformation.
He has cut ties with old friends from gangs and has really, deeply reconsidered his identity and potential.
I’ve seen him become so much more self-reflective and hopeful for the future life he can build. He has taken up journalling and meditating and has completed his HSC and a leadership course.
Now he’s completing TAFE work and is applying to study at university. He was so excited when I explained what university O-Week was! In the future, he wants to find meaningful work and build a new community outside his old life.
He recently said to me, “I never would have thought I could do this (go to uni) without you”… that was such a huge thing for me. The idea that through our conversations, he was opening up to a different view of what his life could be.
“I never would have thought I could do this (go to University) without you.”
When I think about this program and the impact it has had, I think the opportunity to speak openly and be listened to without judgement made a huge difference.
At the end of the day, we are all hardwired for connection, and it’s so heart-warming to see what just showing up and showing you care for someone’s situation can do for their sense of hope and their belief that they can build a better life.
Without the SHINE for Kids program, Ben might never have had a visitor, let alone someone to support him through his journey and show him that there are other paths we can take.
*Names have been changed to protect individuals’ identities
With Mother’s Day coming up, our Rise mentoring team has been busy helping kids create cards for their mums, nans, aunties, sisters, and all the special people bringing up these great kids! […]
These are self-portraits of children in our Rise school mentoring program created for a ‘What’s Under the Surface’ activity. In the activity, students draw half of what they think the world […]
Sometimes things work out perfectly, and one good thing can lead to another. That’s precisely what happened when mum in custody, Brooke*, started our Bringing Up Great Kids parenting course. […]