Young people today face an array of challenges and pressures that previous generations didn’t have to deal with. You know this. 🙂 Skyrocketing academic expectations, cyberbullying, the aftermath of the pandemic, the constant access to information about war and oppression around the world and the omnipresent influence of social media – it’s a lot for teens to navigate on their own. That’s why mentors are so vital. Unfortunately, there’s a stark mentoring gap leaving millions of youth without this support.

The Statistics Are Concerning

The numbers don’t lie – far too many young people are growing up without a caring adult mentor in their lives. According to research coming out of the USA:

1 in 3 young Americans will reach adulthood without having a mentor of any kind
There are currently 9 million youth across the US in need of a mentor
This gap is most pronounced in underserved urban, rural, and low-income areas

When youth lack guidance from role models, they are at higher risk for substance abuse, academic disengagement, and other adverse outcomes that can derail their future success.

The Impacts of Mentoring

Having even one consistent, caring mentor can provide struggling youth with the empowerment and direction they need. Longitudinal studies have shown that after being mentored for just 18 months, young people are:

46% less likely to start using illegal drugs
27% less likely to begin drinking alcohol underage
52% less likely to skip school
37% less likely to skip a class

Beyond prevention, mentors help cultivate positive mindsets, self-esteem, and pathways for achievement. Young people with mentors have better attitudes toward school and higher levels of personal growth.

We know from the latest research that, “Experienced, present, trustworthy adults are the single greatest protective factor for Gen Alpha.”

(Höfrová et al., 2024)

The Rise of Paid Coaching + Mentoring

While volunteer mentors are always needed, more and more families are electing to invest in paid coaching and mentoring services to ensure their teens receive quality guidance. Over the past decade, there has been a marked increase in parents hiring private life coaches and youth mentors for their children at fees of $500 per month or more.

Families seek out mentoring for myriad reasons – managing academic stress, navigating social pressures, developing emotional intelligence, mapping out career goals, and learning life skills. One of the biggest benefits of engaging and youth mentor and coach for your child is that it’s an additional nurturing adult in their life, who is there just for them, who sees the whole person, who isn’t trying to heal or fix past traumas but is focussed on being there for them 100% in the moment and, where appropriate, helping them come up with the best moves going forward.

Paid mentoring and coaching services for youth have emerged particularly across the U.S., U.K., Australia and other nations where parents can afford to secure this additional support and where, unfortunately, therapeutic support can often have very long waitlists.

However, access to mentoring should be accessible for all young people, not just those whose families can afford it.

Community-Based Solutions

While wonderful, supportive and great if you can get it, 1:1 mentoring can’t fill the entire youth mentoring gap. Community-based mentoring solutions are key, such as:

Group mentoring in local community, either low-cost or free for the mentees and supported by local business, local government or other funding sources
Partnerships between local mentoring organisations and schools/youth centres/sports clubs/dance schools etc
Corporate volunteer initiatives that allow employees to mentor young people in the community (provided a well-developed program is managed and ensures adequate matching and training of mentors
School-based wellbeing and confidence-building programs delivered by local mentoring businesses

With concerted community efforts to elevate mentoring opportunities, every youth can benefit from having a supportive and reliable mentor in their life. It’s up to each of us to help close the mentoring divide.

Want to become a youth mentor?

If you’d also like to become a youth mentor and be part of our Shine From Within community, as well as start your own youth mentor business in your part of the world, here are a few free things to get you started!

You can take the free quiz, ‘Do You Have What It Takes to Be a Youth Mentor?’ and discover your youth mentor archetype here.
You can listen to our podcast, The Youth Mentor Podcast here.
You can watch our free training, ‘How to Start a Youth Mentor Business’ here.
Or watch our free masterclass, ‘Understanding Gen Z and Gen Alpha’ here.

And when you’re ready to go further and get the support you need to build or grow your youth-related business, come and join us in the Youth Mentor Training!

We also offer business coaching and consulting for more established businesses, organisations looking to train up their volunteers so they are more equipped to support young people, or folks who need a more personalised approach. Book in a complimentary 15min call with me here or reach out via email at info@shinefromwithin.com.au