Mentoring

Background

Time to Talk West Berkshire provides a confidential counselling service for young people aged 11 to 25 who are residents of West Berkshire or who are in education, training, working or registered with a GP in West Berkshire. Free at the point of delivery, counselling is provided from Time to Talk's premises in Newbury and at some schools. The charity follows the British Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy’s Ethical Framework and its counselling services are fully accredited by BACP. The organisation also carries out other outreach work and runs courses.

Challenges

In September 2022, Time to Talk's Service Manager Tammy Willsher approached the Cranfield Trust to apply for our mentoring programme which supports charity leaders who are looking to develop themselves both personally and professionally. Leading on the day-to-day running of the charity, Tammy felt she would benefit from building her confidence and developing her leadership ability.

"Our volunteer consultant was engaging, an effective listener and understood the nuances of working with trustees, leaders and the team. His knowledge, expertise and approach ensured an incredibly successful journey for us in developing our new strategy to change the lives of young people in the UK for the long-term."

Solution

Following her application, Tammy was matched with Naveed Ahmed, a volunteer mentor who was best placed to provide the right support and guidance. Following an initial meeting where Naveed was able to fully understand Tammy's challenges, they were able to set some objectives of what Tammy would like to achieve from the mentoring sessions. Within each session, Naveed and Tammy worked through any specific issues or challenges that Tammy was facing, helping to reframe her perspective and find solutions.

Impact

"My mentor helped me to focus on what I was doing right and tweak the things that weren't going as well, but more importantly, he showed me how to tell the difference. This has been an extremely valuable process for me and I have really enjoyed the journey. I now have more confidence to lead and empower my staff. This has and will continue to lead to a more efficient organisation with happier staff."

Mentoring is two-way relationship and both mentee and mentor benefit from the learning process. It also had a positive impact on Naveed enabling him to more deeply understand and become an even better mentor:

"Effective mentoring provides insights to resolving work issues and allows non-judgemental discussion" - Naveed Ahmed, Mentor.