Meet our Mentors: Pay What Your Can Sponsored Places
We want to support MANY teens by training as many youth mentors as we can in our Youth Mentor Training program!
We’re committed to making this training accessible and we provide a Pay What You Can application process for those who are not in a position to afford the full rate or who live in emerging and developing economies and/or hold a marginalised identity. We don’t ask people to share specifics about their identity or circumstances, but encourage them to share whatever they feel is relevant.
In each round of the Youth Mentor Training, we provide up to 25% of places to folks with a marginalised identity and/or who is joining us from a country where the exchange rate from Australian dollars does not make it easy for them to join. To date, we’ve trained youth mentors across 26 different countries including Tanzania, Nigeria, Nepal, India, China, Thailand, Zambia, Ukraine, etc.
An added bonus of this is bringing together a richly diverse community each time and this in turn adds so much wisdom to the group.
Today, we wanted to introduce you to three of our ‘Pay What You Can’ youth mentors!
Olha
Ukraine
“Mentorship is not quite as widespread in Ukraine as it is in some other countries, to say nothing of youth mentorship, which certainly requires a different approach. When I started 10:11 – the first mentorship program for high school students in Ukraine – for a long time I was looking for guidance, resources and practices that already work. When I came across the Youth Mentors Training it looked exactly like the answer to all my questions. Now in the middle of the course, I clearly feel the impact it had on me and the way I run 10:11. It has helped me improve the way we prepare our mentors, focus on mentees’ wellbeing, engage with parents more, explore the ways we could become financially sustainable, and countless other improvements. I wish I had all the wisdom from the training when I started 10:11, so many things would have made sense right away.”
Find Olha: LinkedIn | Instagram | Facebook | Instagram for 10:11
Lissa
Tanzania
“I had been searching for a course that could give me confidence in reaching out and working with the young girls. Shine from Within has given me that and more. I now have a great support system, great mentors, and so many resources to guide me on my journey as a youth mentor. I am truly blessed to have been a part of the program.“
Find Lissa: Instagram
Katie
Australia
“I was so grateful to be accepted into the Pay What You Can enrolment as I was stuck overseas during the pandemic with no way of earning an income. I was searching for something that aligned with my vision of what I wanted to create in the world and a friend emailed me a link for the SFW Youth Mentor Group. The training has given me the foundation to gain more knowledge in the youth space and also the foundations for setting up a business, all in one space. The live calls were particularly helpful to network with people who are working in the space and bounce ideas off. Mandy and Leah are incredibly supportive and provide such a rich curriculum for anyone interested in working in this space. It literally saved my mind and I will be forever grateful.”
With your support, we can provide additional sponsored and Pay What You Can places in the Youth Mentor Training to support more teens in more communities.
You can become a VIP mentor supporter on Patreon, and you’ll be helping us provide these places to youth mentors around the world.
Thank you for believing in our work and supporting these mentors to get their programs up and running!
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.