PODCAST: Season 3, Episode 9 – Honouring your Youth Mentor Archetype with Amanda Rootsey

YMP S3 Ep9 – FULL TRANSCRIPT

Sound bite

Okay, so Mama Bears, and let’s be really clear. First of all, this has nothing to do with gender or being a parent. Mama bears are just, uh, they’re nurturers, right? You might find that others feel really comfortable in your presence, and they go to you to feel heard, valued, and understood. People might say things like, Gosh, I feel really seen when I’m with you, or, Thanks so much for listening.

You’re really present with me. You know, or you just get me. They might say things like, You’re, you’re just so calming, or, I love your gentle nurturing energy. Or you give the warmest hugs. You, you might find that you are in this mama bear kind of role with lots of people and perhaps even animals in your life too.

And you might have been told that you were really helpful and kind as a child. Like that might have been some of the feedback that you got on on report. The way that you present that mum of Bear energy will be different for everyone, but you really wanna spend time with folks and you’re a caring soul. 

generic intro

Hello and welcome to the youth mentor podcast. This is your short burst of inspiration tips and research about teens for parents, educators, and mentors. I’m your host, Amanda Rootsey, founder of teen personal development school Shine From Within and coach to incredible youth mentors all over the world. Now I certainly don’t know it all.

So I interview the experts about what’s going on for youth today. From psychological insights to really practical advice, this is your moment of inspiration, motivation, and a few laughs amidst the ever changing world of teens and tweens.

Episode Begins

Hi everyone. In this episode of the Youth Mentor Podcast, I’m going to dive a little deeper into the five Youth Mentor archetypes. If you’d like to find out which archetype you are, you can head to youth mentor training.com to take the free quiz. But you don’t need to do that right now. I’m going to tell you all about the different types so that you can have a listen while you are walking or driving or whatever you’re doing, and get a sense for yourself right now, which archetype you might be, and then how you could show up in the world as a youth mentor, really honouring your archetype.

Harnessing your archetype can give you clues on how to be the best youth mentor you can be, and perhaps even grow a youth mentor business that works in with your values, strengths, and goals for yourself. When thinking about working with youth, we can sometimes feel like there’s only one way to do it, right.

What I love about this quiz is that it breaks through this notion. We can sometimes have of, Oh, I can only do that if I’m like, I hear this all the time from folks thinking about becoming a youth mentor. They know they want to help. That’s never what’s in question. They, they can see how much this is needed.

They know that there’s a mental health crisis going on. They know that we need more support and services in that, in that middle space, in that preventative, nonclinical space to support people before they need those, those services, and before they’re in crisis. Right? Like that’s, that’s never the question people.

Want to help, of course. And, and they’re feeling that calling to be a youth mentor, [00:03:00] but thoughts like, Oh, I’m too old to work with young people. Or, I’m too young to work with young people, or, I’m too quiet, or I’m too loud, or I’m not experienced enough. Or My own kids don’t listen to me. So why would any other young people, you know, so much can, can really pop up and pop into our heads?

And so I hope taking this quiz and reading through the ebook that goes with. We’ll help you to feel a little bit more confident and open to the possibility of doing this without changing who you are. This is what I’m all about, empowering people to find freedom in the way that they want to serve the next generation, so that they can tap into their own power and values and build something sustainable over time.

Because, you know, working with young people, it isn’t something that you get into for. A quick fix of income. It, it takes so much of your heart. It takes time to build trust, to try out your offerings and to find your flow. Um, but it’s my favorite thing in the world to help folks find their own way of doing it, co-creating with the youth who need them, with the communities they find themselves in.

And perhaps co-creating with a higher purpose too, Like really tapping into how you can be of best service to the next generation right now. This type of insight before you get started, or even if you have started to grow your own coaching or mentoring business, or perhaps even if you’re a teacher or you work in another way with young people getting really clear on this early on, it will help you to focus on the things that you know you do well that come naturally to you, and that cuts your learning curve and it helps you grow and build faster and ultimately help more young people faster.

There are one point. Billion teens in the world, how amazing would it be if they all had nurturing spaces to hang out in and a trusted mentor in their world to cheer them on. I know you know this because you listen to this podcast, , so you, you know this stuff already. Um, and me, you know, I’ve been working with teens for, for two decades and teaching youth mentors since 2016 through our award-winning youth mentor training certification.

I really wanna help you to hone in on what makes you magical so that you can show up as the best youth mentor that you can be. I love pairing this with the tools to hold nurturing spaces. Understand, you know, your duty of care, understanding youth on their level, facilitating incredible youth led experiences where the focus is on them and not on you, and run kind of every type of event, retreat camp one-on-one, mentoring all the things so that you can understand what’s out there.

You can tap into the wisdom of lots of different people working in this space and develop your own unique style of mentoring your own curriculum. Your own events and your own business. So let’s talk about the archetypes we have, the mama bears, the natural educators, the wellness warriors, the inspiration of aficionados and the motivational speakers.

I’m going to share a little about each one with you now and the [00:06:00] different ways that you might choose to show up and support youth based on your archetype. We have been running this quiz for about five years now, and I love reading people’s emails about what they got and then what they’re going to try out.

I know quizzes can be limiting, and of course, we are so much more than whatever new box or label we find ourselves in. Right. Um, but I don’t know about you, I’m just, I’m a bit of a sucker for a quiz. Um, so let me share a little about each of them with you and you can try to guess which one you might be.

And then we’re actually planning on doing a bit of a, um, a webinar and a masterclass and more detailed videos about each one too. So if you haven’t taken the quiz, have a listen, see which one feels good, and then actually go and sign up for the quiz2@youth-mentor-training.com so that you can have those results in front of you.

Okay, so Mama Bears, and let’s be really clear. First of all, this has nothing to do with gender or being a parent. Mama bears are just, uh, they’re nurturers, right? You might find that others feel really comfortable in your presence, and they go to you to feel heard, valued, and understood. People might say things like, Gosh, I feel really seen when I’m with you, or, Thanks so much for listening.

You’re really present with me. You know, or you just get me. They might say things like, You’re, you’re just so calming, or, I love your gentle nurturing energy. Or you give the warmest hugs. You, you might find that you are in this mama bear kind of role with lots of people and perhaps even animals in your life too.

And you might have been told that you were really helpful and kind as a child. Like that might have been some of the feedback that you got on on report. The way that you present that mum of Bear energy will be different for everyone, but you really wanna spend time with folks and you’re a caring soul.

You love to make sure that everyone is okay. You might reach out to folks just to check in on them when you can or when you know that they’re going through something. You might really love to do things for others. Um, you might be quite sensitive and have deep empathy for others too. This could lead you to also feel drained in large spaces or crowds, smaller groups, and really getting a chance to know people on a deeper level, uh, is probably your jam.

And, um, we actually get a lot of mama bears. Coming to our world. I definitely resonate with this type too. And so I think I probably, and so does Leah, who’s our youth mentor. Mentor. So I think we tend to attract other people that, um, are a little bit like us too. Right. . Um, but I definitely resonate with some of the other types too.

And that’s, you might find that too, that you really resonate with two or three of the archetypes. And that’s, there’s nothing wrong with that. That’s actually. Really special too, because it, it opens up your world of, of the ways that you could work with young people in a really authentic way for you. Um, yeah, it just opens up those possibilities even further.

So it’s not, it’s not a bad thing. Um, Yeah, so be kind of gentle with yourself if you feel like, Oh, maybe I’m, maybe I am a mama bear. But then when you [00:09:00] listen to the natural educator or the, um, inspiration of AAO or the motivational speaker, you might go, actually, yeah, there’s some traits there that really resonate for me too.

So as a mama bear, you love language if you’ve gone through the love language. Before, Um, I don’t know if you can tell, but I love a good quiz. Um, it might be quality time. Um, you could be quite a good mediator, a peacemaker, a nurturer, a giver, a soother. Those are some of the things that might come up when you, when you may have done other, um, kind of quizzes or just things that really resonate for you.

So how can this work for you as a youth mentor if you are a mama bear? You’re kind, nurturing soul will be perfect for smaller group work. Uh, and as you and you know, you’ll really just make your students feel safe to share openly and to dive a little bit deeper. You might find that this is what you’re most excited about too.

Rather than say getting up in front of hundreds of students to do a high energy presentation in a school or to be in charge of a camp with hundreds of kids. Um, so, so some ideas for them on my bears are things, Trust circles or um, sisterhood evenings, um, where, where kind of young people get to come together, sit in circle, and explore different themes together.

One of our youth mentors, Rashmi, runs trust circles monthly online, in our online academy, and they’re the most nurturing experiences. Um, and prior to getting to experience the way Rashme does that, I think I would’ve felt like, you know, that kind of thing really needs to be in person and that’s the way that I’ve always posted them.

But, um, yeah, seeing that you can do that in a really beautiful way, in lots of different formats, um, has been really cool too. You’d probably, as a mama bear maybe, um, really love to work one on one with, with students as well in a coaching slash mentoring capacity. Um, so we dive deeper into how you can do that in the youth mentor training to.

Yeah. And you might be really interested in learning more about that mother-daughter connection or that parent-child connection to support deeper relationships to blossom through intimate retreats as well, which is one of my favorite things. That mama bear energy may also see you opening up a permanent space.

Where young people are, are kind of welcome anytime to just drop in, feel at home, maybe do their homework or do some art and craft kind of stuff. Have different workshops happening there. Maybe there’s like yoga once a week. Just this beautiful space that they can come to. Um, and a few of our youth mentors have got things like this set up.

Actually, I know Angela. Had that happening with her business, Bloom within, in her hometown in regional Australia. Um, Beck from Rebel Stai in, um, Auckland, New Zealand. She has a beautiful space to, and quite often her mentees come in and say that her space is like room goals or something, . Um, Yeah. And she has a dog coming in for a lot of mentoring sessions too, which is really sweet.

Um, we’ve got a recent graduate, uh, Lisa, who’s been, um, creating this team [00:12:00] shed in Regional Queen Queensland as well, and the council’s really behind it. They’ve already started doing projects and workshops with, with the young people, and they’re just fitting out the shed at the moment, and she’s already getting approached from councils.

A little bit further a field asking her, you know, how, how they can get set up as well with, with something like that. So, um, there’s a real need for, for that kind of thing too. Um, and even out of VO shade for DE who’s one of our graduates, but also a youth mentor mentor with, within our training, um, she has an called Brighter Girls in Lagos, Nigeria.

And. She’s had a space set up there as well. Okay, so that’s kind of mama bears for you. Okay. The next one is motivational speakers. So, The motivational speakers are bubbly, they’re energetic. They love sharing, uh, their enthusiasm for life with others. Um, and if you feel like you might be a motivational speaker, you’ll, you’ll find that people are really drawn to you and you might really love being in a crowd.

Um, you, you kind of the opposite of what I just explained as a mother bear, right? Um, you don’t mind talking. You love to share what you’re learning. You can really like rally the troops, so to speak and motivate folks towards a common purpose. What a gift. The world may have sometimes told you that, that perhaps you’re too loud, but you’re all heart.

You want everyone to have a good time and feel energized and inspired. You make others feel really welcome and you’re one of those people who feels comfortable speaking in front of audiences. Motivational speakers, they aren’t necessarily loud or dominating in any way, but they do have the energy to have big experiences and they want to share that energy with young people.

So you might kind of look around and wish that young people had more confidence and wanna help them achieve that. You might want to really create fun experiences for them. And, um, Even though this is primarily about you as, as a speaker in this archetype, you might actually really wanna bring together lots of folks too, for, for like a large scale event or a series of events.

Um, and just because you can speak and you love to speak, you might, you might not necessarily feel a hundred percent confident just yet in you being the center of attention or the expert. Um, but you just know how to make sure everyone’s having a good time and, and you can see the benefit and have had really beautiful experiences yourself when you’ve been in, in those sorts of environments too.

Your love language might be acts of service or words of affirmation, you know, um, words are really important to you, I suspect. And having experiences with your loved ones might be at the top of your list of ways to express love. So how can this work for you as a youth mentor? So this is the motivational speakers I’m talking about at the moment.

As someone who feels energized from being around people and seeing them smile with joy, you, you might feel at home, you’ll probably feel at home on stage in front of an audience, or potentially you might really love to organize the events and bring in a bunch of different speakers. Sometimes the motivational [00:15:00] speakers don’t quite feel confident just yet to be the one at the front, even though they absolutely have that within.

So for motivational speakers, I really recommend that you start to hone your message, um, getting clear on your personal story and then start to put it out there. Um, some folks can feel like they need to have a really intense story in order to be a speaker or to connect. Um, But it’s really not true. You know, we’ve, we’ve all been through something that can connect with young people and we can learn how to weave together a great speech.

Um, and we do share a bit of a framework in our youth mentor training about that and pair that with how to share your story in a way that connects with youth so that you’re engaging, um, and, uh, opening them up to, you know, and doing it in a really safe way as well. Sometimes when people are sharing their stories with young people, they can, they could have been through something, um, that they remember as, as a teenager, and they wanna share all of the details with them and take them on that journey.

But, um, there’s a, there’s an appropriate and a, and a safe way to, to do that so that you’re not, um, triggering, you know, any kind of, Drama response in the young people in your audience. So yeah, there’s a bit of a delicate balance to it. Um, but there’s just so much power in sharing stories, right? Sharing your own story, holding space for others to share their story.

It’s just, it’s magical. And when you show up authentically as you, that’s always what’s most important. And it’s such a beautiful, beautiful example for young people to see as well, because we. You know, we have so much in this world that isn’t really authentic. It’s not real. There’s so, you know, so many filters, so much quick flashes of.

Of social media stuff, you know, these days, um, the way that stories are crafted in our, in our media, in TV shows, movies, it’s really dramatized and it’s really, um, sharing highlight reels and things like that. So when someone just shares their story from the heart, it can really connect deeply and it can be really transformative.

So own your story and your voice and find a way to share it in a way that, as I said, that does engage and that is safe for young people as. One of our guest teacher experts that I think you’ll really love in this training if you are. If you are a motivational speaker is Josh Ship. He has spoken to over 2 million teams live.

Um, he’s pretty incredible. And he’s been on Oprah. He’s had his own documentary in, in the US too. Um, yeah, and he shared some in, in his class, in our, in our youth mentor training. He shares some really, really great tips on honing your message, on getting it out there on, um, connecting with, with the schools and with parents to actually get the booking so that you can support the young people and connect with them.

Um, yeah, it was really, So some ideas for motivational speakers include, um, just looking for opportunities to practice really is the number one thing. Um, and look out for, for high energy youth camps, large scale leadership conferences, school assemblies, that kind of thing. Do some [00:18:00] research on events like this in your area and see if you can get involved somehow.

You might even wanna put a call out for some youth to join you in, in co-creating a really cool event too. One of our youth mentors on the Gold Coast in Queensland, Australia, um, she’s about to run a teen printer marketplace and just bringing in a bunch of teens that, um, are crafty, that have started their own businesses or, or would like to start their own businesses.

And they’re all going to be selling their, their stuff in the lead up to Christmas, which I think sounds so fun. It’s not, it’s not really a motivational speaker thing, but it’s that level of, of high energy. I think that. That’s, um, that’s often accompanied with motivational speaker. Um, we’ve got a few youth mentors that, that resonate with this type.

We’ve got Mazu Zaja who joins us from, um, who joined us from Oman, and she’s spoken at conferences and youth forums in Egypt, Bahrain, Jordan, Russia, the US. Lebanon, oh my god, so many countries. Um, that she’s a really casual, fun speaker as well, from what I’ve seen of her facilitation style in our online academy with our teens.

And, um, she even taught us how to do some mindful cooking. She just isn’t afraid to, um, To get up and, and do some, do stuff. You know, she’s, she’s a free spirit. She moves around a bit and then she just takes any opportunity she can to speak in front of. And with young people, she really sees that speaking engagement as a, as a two way thing.

Um, yeah. And another youth mentor that comes to mind is Tanya Meeseman, who started Girl Shaped Flames a few years ago. And the main offerings in her business are, um, her camp Courage, which is a really fun three or four day camp. I. , it might be Four Days , uh, which is for teen girls, and it’s high energy.

It’s designed to get young people out of their comfort zones and believing in themselves. Uh, and the other thing that she does is she goes in and speaks to large cohorts in schools, so maybe all of the senior girls or something like that at once. Uh, and she’s really stepping more into this power as a motivational speaker for herself too.

But, um, initially she was really driven to bring together other speakers to create inspiring workshops and events. Um, yeah, so she, she loves collaborating with others, working with others. Um, she does, she does really shine as a speaker and, and, um, is embracing that more and more and it’s really awesome to see, and it’s so cool to see the way that she has built her business authentically around what’s most important to her and her strengths as well.

So how are we feeling so far? We’ve talked about the the mama bears and the motivational speakers. Let’s now turn our attention to the inspiration of Fishs. I’d love to, yeah. To get a sense if you resonate with this type. So the inspiration of Fishs, um, We, you, us , we are all about self development and, um, you might really wish that you had access to a lot of what you know [00:21:00] now as a teen and that’s something that’s often quite common across all, all youth mentors.

Um, perhaps you were a teen who, who was already into crystals and books and podcasts. Maybe if you’re a fair bit younger than me, there certainly weren’t podcasts around when I was a teen. Um, you might be really into card deck. Uh, yeah, all of those things. You might have been really drawn to that stuff as a team or you’ve found that kind of stuff now and you’ve found it so supportive and you just wish you had that kind of stuff around you when you were a team.

Um, and you might really feel a calling to help support the next generation to usher in this new higher consciousness and want to give them the support and the tools that they need to be ready. You know with all of your heart that the youth will save us. And if you can support their wellbeing, their self-discovery, and their connection to source heaven, inspiration the planet, whatever feels right for you, then you’ll feel like you’ve made an impact.

Imagine if you got to hang out in a trust circle or got to learn about crystals or sit around tapping into Oracle cards, taro, or even had an inspiring book club to be a part of when you were a teen. How. And if you think about all the young people who love escaping into magical worlds, the Harry Potter, nevermore, fairy tales, animations, gaming, you know, we, there, there are so many young people that are, are drawn to, to this sort of staff.

You know how cool if they, if they had a space that you developed where they could tap into their own version of magic with a trusted guide. . So how could this work as a youth mentor? And remember the, the point of me kind of going through all of these things is to, to show you where you can focus your attention.

Because often when we’re thinking about supporting young people, we know that they need help. And we often have a lot of ideas of ways that we could do that. You know, things coming at you all the time of like, Wow, wouldn’t that be a cool idea? Or maybe I could do this. So this is all about really honing in.

Going a little bit deeper and figuring out exactly where you could be of, of most service and, and how you could, um, connect with the young people that most need you. So as someone who is already tapping into their intuition and is surrounded by inspiration and has been collecting tools and resources that have been super helpful on your own journey, I really recommend starting there and, and having a look at everything you have and thinking.

what kind of fun experience could you create from some of the stuff that you really love? And sometimes we can kind of overcomplicate things and when we hold a simple space for young people and um, we strip it back and we just have some of these tools and we just open up the conversation often, they have so much to share.

All sorts of things as well. And, and that’s where the magic is too. And, and you probably heard me say that before at some stage on the podcast. Um, [00:24:00] Yeah. We, we can get really caught up in thinking about all the things we want to teach young people or getting the words right that we need to share with them.

But if we can just start the conversation. , giving them a space to be able to feel, heard themselves, to express themselves the way that they feel like, to start to explore their own ideas around these topics. That’s, that is truly where the magic is.

So if you are, if you do resonate with this type, this inspiration of Fido, it, it can feel, you know, it might have been a, a big part of your life’s work, or at least a big chunk of your life lately. Diving into different tools and unpacking stuff and learning new things. So it can feel overwhelming at first about what you’d like to focus on.

But um, yeah, I would start by looking through all of your inspiration and pick out three things that you feel would’ve been most powerful to have when you were a team, and then create some kind of a workshop or a circle, or. Uh, experience around this. You might like to teach young people the power of journaling.

Um, sit in circle and, and read Oracle cards. Adopt a gratitude practice. It could be just so many things, but if you keep it simple to start with, then you can see where it, where it wants to go and, and how it needs to unfold. , if you are, if you’re a parent or you have some nieces or nephews or neighbors around you that you can just get together, I recommend just getting some folks together, even if it’s just two or three young people, and see what they respond to.

You know, just keep it really casual. Ask them questions, you know? Have you heard about. Mindful breathing, or how do you feel when you’re getting stressed at school? Have you heard of some of these tips? What tips do you have? Um, it can really be that simple. Um, because the magic is in, is in holding the space, is in the connections and is is often in, in the longer term relationships that you can build as well.

One thing I’ve keep in mind is the context of where you are and the community that you’re a part of already. So, If you’re already a part of a yoga community, for example, then talk to the folks who run the yoga studio and see if they’d be open to a short workshop for young people on the school holidays.

You could even collaborate with a yoga teacher. Perhaps you, you might already be one yourself. You, you could combine some movements, some mindfulness, some time to journal It can be, yeah, it doesn’t have to be complicated. Is is my point. Um, yeah, and we’ll dive, we’ll dive more into all of this stuff in. In a masterclass that I’m going to be running on Wednesday, the 16th of November.

So if you’re feeling like you want to come along and really deepen into what your archetype might be, how you can show up as that archetype and, um, yeah, ask questions and really come away with a bit of an action plan based on your archetype, then yeah, I hope you’ll join me for that. I’ll put the details for that in the, in the show notes.

Um, so some examples of some youth [00:27:00] mentors that I think are are inspiration of fishs, um, how fun is that word by the way? Aficionados, we used to have, it used to be inspirational guru, I think. Um, and I just realized that I didn’t feel comfortable using that word anymore, so was looking for something different.

And yeah, I love afic. Okay, so one of our youth mentors who come to mind for this archetype is Courtney from Sparkling Souls, who has recently designed her own card deck for teens and women called, I Love My Body Deck as a new mom. She’s, um, she, she’s not in a position to, to do a lot of in-person stuff right now, and she really loves designing and creating these products.

Um, some other youth mentors that come to mind for this arch. On the ones who love rituals and setting up beautiful circles to celebrate, men are the moon cycles. Even mother daughter events and retreats. Some others love really connecting with nature and, and pair their youth work with outdoor experiences and even animal wisdom.

Um, I mean, I, I think a lot of our youth mentors have a little bit of this archetype within. For example, I’ve written a book, um, which is full of tools and suggested books and inspiration, and we’ve recently co-created a deck of cards with our teens in the online academy, which has been super fun. I can’t wait to share these with you actually.

It’s, um, yeah, it’s a deck of inspirational cards. They came up with four different suits within the card deck of like advice they would give to teens as well as, um, mini actions that you can take. It’s, it’s so cool. I can’t wait to share it with you. . So if you feel like you resonate with the inspiration of fishs, there’s, there’s lots of ways that you can really tap into that and, um, there’s some really specific tools that we can share with you as well around that.

Okay. The natural educators, So who resonates with. And natural educators, they, they love to teach. You know, they may already be working in the field of teaching where, where you get to train and educate people, you, you’ll be like a natural leader quite often. Um, and even if you don’t quite know that about yourself yet you, you have patience and you can guide people with compassion.

You’re someone who loves to have all the facts and the research along with the really structured outline. Some of the stuff that I’ve talked about so far, this like wishy-washy, just go with the flow, open up a conversation and see what happens. That actually might make you feel really nervous and, um, not, not feel good for you at all.

You, you want to have it all planned out. You want extra content up your sleeve. You want it to be, um, you want it to be all mapped out and, and to, um, and that doesn’t mean that it would be. Um, boring in any way. It would often be the opposite actually, because you would be really mindful and understand the way that group dynamics work, which we talk about in the training, um, and the way to follow the flow of energy.

And, you know, that, that, you know, [00:30:00] at 11:00 AM you’re going to stop and have a movement break, and then you’re going to go into this, like you just, you want it all mapped out,

And, you know, that doesn’t mean that you won’t be a little bit flexible when you need to be, of course. But, um, it, it excites you, you know, to pick a topic. For example, goal setting, researching all the favorite ways to do this, putting it together into a really well-structured workshop outline, complete with worksheets and accountability bodies for the students.

Um, all of that kind of stuff. So if you feel like that resonates for you, I would, um, embrace that. Okay. Don’t, don’t fight your natural instinct to prepare well in advance to put together a presentation that you can teach and educate. Just, um, one thing I would say is to just be mindful that we do all learn in different ways.

Um, yeah. So ensure that your programs, your workshops, even your one-on-one work with young people, that it provides, you know, a variety of auditory, visual, kinesthetic learning activities so that, Yeah, you’re capturing everyone and you’re not just talking to them about something. Um, and that there’s still lots of fun and engagement and discussion kind of going on as well.

Yeah. Um, yeah, the natural educators are, are amazing too, and if you really love some of that structured stuff and um, yeah. Curriculums and things like that, you might actually like to write your own curriculum. That is not about the school education system. It is really about life skills and, um, developing relationships, setting boundaries, understanding your values and strengths.

Um, all of that beautiful stuff that that. Can’t often be included in the school curriculum, but that we can often feel like is, is missing a little bit. You could create those sorts of, um, curriculums to sell into schools or to sell to other mentors and things like that. If, if that’s kind of your thing, you know, you love to write and to research and make sure that you’ve got.

All mapped out and it’s all evidence based and beautiful. So if you are already a teacher or um, in early childhood or in this kind of training space already, or you just know that those things come naturally to you and you feel really comfortable, when you do get a chance to be in those positions, then the natural educator might.

Might be your thing, might be your kind of main archetype. And there’s lots of beautiful ways that you can really tap into that and honor that. And you know, the beautiful thing about tapping into our archetypes is that it can feel a little bit like we’re, we’re focusing on us instead of on the youth, right?

But, um, this is the beauty of it because there are so many different young people in the world. We want to make sure that we’re, that we are there for the people that we can help the most, and those ones will be attracted to you, will resonate with you, We’ll connect with you because of these things that, that you’re tapping into within yourself.[00:33:00] 

Um, I hope that makes sense. Yeah. Just the way that, just the same way that if you, if you’re a coach or you’re, you’re in the service industry already and you might already have a business, you know that when it comes to nicheing and marketing and things like that, it’s all about, um, Finding a way to resonate, to build trust, to connect with the people that most need you.

And it’s exactly the same with the young people. We need to, um, yeah, we need to tap into, to those things within ourselves so that we can help, um, the young people that really need us. And it will also help us with, with that marketing aspect too, and the way that we build trust. Um, with the people that would pay for our programs, which is often, often the parents, but that’s, that’s a whole nother topic altogether.

Okay, So our final, final, final. Archetype. Um, and I hope you’ve been enjoying this kind of trip around the different, the different archetypes and the different ways that you could kind of do this work. Not that we’ve gone into too much detail yet, but, um, yeah, we, we will do in, in this masterclass. Um, the final one is the Wellness Warriors.

The Wellness Warriors, they are all about health and wellness. You might be already a yoga teacher or a personal trainer or a health coach or a counselor, um, you know, encouraging others to live healthy, vibrant, thriving lives is your jam you, and it’s really important to you personally as well. Um, and so you might really wanna get others like outdoors and inspire young people to move.

Um, Yeah, you might wanna do some really kind of high energy things, um, or you might really feel called to doing stuff like wellbeing retreats, how magical , um, you know, cooking classes, all sorts of things like that. Um, but you really wanna nourish their bodies, their minds, their spirits from the inside out and wellness.

That’s what’s really important to you. Um, so there’s lots of things to keep in mind with this. Uh, first. I’m just gonna go a little bit off script here for a moment, but, um, one of the biggest things to keep in mind, I think if this is you, if you really resonate with this, is that you, you make sure to be learning from reading, listening to people with all different perspectives when it comes to wellness and wellbeing, and that you’re presenting different points of view to the young people as well.

Um, and that you’re really mindful of the context of the community that you’re into. I know I’ve mentioned that already before in a, in a. Different archetype. But, um, yeah, and, and to give you, to give you an example of something to be wary of, I suppose, is if you feel really passionate about, um, Exercise looking after your body and you know, you know how great that is for your mental wellbeing.

You know, how mu how much more energy you have when you do that. And you know that this is important for young people too. We can be so pumped up about this kind of stuff that works for us that we can go in and just really share it. Like, this is the thing, it worked for me, it’ll work for you. [00:36:00] Um, but if we do that without considering our own privilege, our own.

Uh, you know, experience in the world. Um, then we can say it in a way. It’s kind of telling young, telling young people or any audience really that, um, you know, if they do this one thing that I’ve done that worked for me, then their life will be great. And, and if it doesn’t work for them, they can feel like a failure.

And, um, it’s really important to, to just keep that kind of thing in mind. Um, and that comes through doing a lot of unlearning and unpacking of, of, like I said, privilege and, um, looking at our place in the world and the lens with which we see the world. Um, because we just wanna make sure that we are not.

Additional harm, Right? Um, and doesn’t mean that we can’t talk about all of these things that are really important to us, but we can add that extra, deeper, more nourishing layer into it of like, this is what’s worked for me, but it might not work for you and that’s okay. Let’s explore what you think might work for you.

Just, just adding that extra layer and making sure that, um, that they feel really included and that they feel really seen in their experience. To, um, another example which. I feel like it’s, it’s not something that you would, um, need to hear about. I feel like it’s, it’s something that you would already be really aware of.

But you know, if you’re going into a, um, a group of young people that are in a low socioeconomic, um, experience and you’re telling them, you know, you have to eat organic, and if you don’t, then you don’t love your body. But they’re in a position where they just can’t, where that’s actually not accessible to them, then that can be really harmful too.

So that’s what I mean by just considering our, our context and, and, um, making sure that. We’re trying to see things from a variety of perspectives too and being really inclusive in, in the work that we are doing. Um, and of course when it comes to health and wellness sort of stuff too, that’s, um, that’s where ableism is, is is a big thing to be mindful of as well.

So just make sure that you are learning about that kind of stuff too. We’ve got a couple of really great guest expert classes around that in our youth mentor training. And there are some great people out there that, that talk about this kind of stuff too. So yeah, there’s lots of support out there to, to do it in a really beautiful, nourishing, nurturing way that’s really inclusive as well.

Okay. So it’s a little bit going, a little bit off track kind of, but um, yeah, if this, if this is you, then, um, Yeah, the wellness, the wellness warriors are, are amazing too. You know, so some of the ways that you could work this into your work as a youth mentor is just getting them outside. Getting them moving.

Um, one of our most recent graduates, she’s really excited about taking people on, um, overnight adventures, like hikes into the wilderness, camping, um, those sorts of experiences, which would just be incredible. Um, and quite a few of our. Are also yoga teachers or Pilates instructors or personal trainers.

And [00:39:00] so they love to blend all of these things together. Um, yeah, they wanna get them back in touch with their beautiful bodies to be nourishing themselves from the inside out. Um, and so if that’s you, you know, then you are, you are. Magic is, is often going to be in putting together really interactive movement based workshops or experiences for young people.

It might be outdoors, it might be incorporating some discussion time, sitting on the grass, some time teaching them how to do something that, that you love and that works well for you. Um, you might be teaching them, you know, strength exercises or breath work or acro yoga. Yeah, it could be anything. And tapping into that fun and joy and movement and energy, um, is so valuable for young people too.

You know, making sure that, um, That you’re keeping in mind that for young people to learn and to feel, uh, engaged and to really connect, they often need to be having fun and feeling light and feeling like they can do anything. And that can come from a lot of this stuff. Um, yeah, so that kind of stuff’s really important too, you know?

Yeah. Get them moving, get them having fun. Um, and the other thing that’s really cool about the wellness warriors too is that you can, you can push people. Um, to stretch themselves a little bit too. And so often confidence comes from trying the thing that was a little bit uncomfortable or a little bit hard to try.

Right? And so, um, trying AcroYoga for the first time or something like that can be a really beautiful way to not just help them to nourish themselves, but to also. Build their strength and resilience and resilience, Um, and self-worth within them. Yeah. Within themselves. Self-worth within themselves. Good one.

Um, yeah, so if you, if you really, yeah. If you really resonate as the, as a wellness warrior, just sharing your passion and enthusiasm for living life to the max and getting amongst nature, you will ignite their wellness fire too. And that’s a beautiful thing. You don’t have to be perfect to do this kind of thing, um, ever that goes without saying for all of them actually.

Um, and that can, that can stop youth mentors from getting started a lot of the time too, feeling like, Why would anyone listen to me? Because my life’s not perfect yet either or, I don’t know everything. What if they ask me something and I don’t know the answer. You don’t. You don’t need to know everything.

Um, you absolutely need to know how to hold a safe and nurturing and beautiful space for young people and. Have those tools behind you definitely. But as a person, you don’t need to be perfect. You don’t need to have all the answers. I absolutely know that for sure. And when you are with young people and you say to them, I don’t know the answer to that, let’s find out together.

That is really powerful too. You know, there are enough adults in, in the lives of young people who, um, are presenting a very specific. version of themselves to the young people, right? Like the school [00:42:00] principal has to be a particular way, The teacher has to be a particular way, the sports coach has to be a particular way, the parent has to be a particular way, right?

Um, and so they’ll be presenting particular versions of themselves, and so will you as a mentor. But, um, you can afford to be a little bit more, uh, vulnerable, open, honest with them. Um, When, when you see an opportunity for that, it’s, it’s often, it’s often. Really special when you can do that. So I would love to know which, which one you resonate with or if you feel like there are aspects of each of those that really, um, call to you.

So we had the Mama Bears, the motivational speakers, the inspiration, Offic autos, the natural educators, and the Wellness Warriors. Um, yeah. Which one are you and can I help you to? Tap into that a little bit more, go a little bit deeper and help you take action from this place of, of really honoring who you are within yourself.

I would love to do that for you. And, um, yeah, if that feels like something fun and exciting to do, please come along to our masterclass. Um, I would love to, I would love to disconnect with you , because it’s my favorite thing ever. Yeah, and I’d love to talk about this stuff a little bit more and, um, talk with you about it.

And you’ve listened to me rabbit on about this for 40 minutes. I would love to actually hear from, hear from you and, and, um, see, yeah, see what’s, what’s bubbling away for you and, and wanting to do this work in the world too. Thank you so much for, for being here and listening to the Youth Mentor Podcast.

It, it truly means so much that you tune in and that you share it around. Um, I know you, you love so many of our different guests and we’ve still got so many more guests to come in this season. So keep keep listening. Um, yeah, and please, please reach out if we can support you with anything to. And please know that I believe in you and the work that you’re already doing with the young people around you, the work, the dream that you might have within you to do this.

We, we need you. There are new articles coming out every day in the media at the moment, um, of young people struggling with all sorts of different things. Um, it’s, it’s time for this.

We, we need this movement to happen. We need more mentors in the world. And, um, that means I need you. So hopefully I’ll see you at the Master class Wednesday, 16th of November. If you’re listening to this after that date still, click on the link register. Get the replay we need. We need you. We need you in all of your glory.

We need you honouring your youth mentor archetype, and we need you out there in the world supporting youth.

Mentioned in this episode:

• To deepen the learning in this episode, join us for a masterclass about the archetypes on Wednesday 16th November 6pm AEST. Register now at shinefromwithin.com.au/youth-mentor-archetypes-masterclass 
• Download the quiz to find out your youth mentor archetype
• Youth Mentor Training
• Youth Mentor Conference – access it all now!

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