Most of us overthink starting something new – especially when it comes to mentoring or creating impactful programs for young people. What if the biggest obstacle isn’t the idea itself, but simply getting started?

In this first episode of season 4, Amanda shares:

• how to stop overthinking and take action why sometimes doing the playful thing can get you out of a rut and help you figure out whether you could do this work too
• 10 things she’s said this week as a youth mentor (try them out yourself too!)
• an invitation to the upcoming live event to help you Create Your Teen Workshop in a Weekend ?

If you’ve ever felt overwhelmed by worries about qualifications, safety, or making everything just right, this episode offers reassurance and actionable tips to move forward with confidence. ?

 

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CHAPTERS:

00:00 How I’ve been overthinking everything! 
02:49 The Importance of Taking Action
06:08 Understanding Youth Mentoring
08:51 Engaging Conversations with Young People
11:34 Creating a Safe Space for Youth
14:27 Workshop Series Announcement
17:21 Clarifying the Role of a Youth Mentor
20:12 Exploring Workshop Ideas
23:32 Future Podcast Topics and Closing Thoughts

Mentioned in this episode:

• Join me on 20-21 June for Create Your Teen Workshop in a Weekend! It’s AUD$37 and is guaranteed to get you into action. Book in here.

• Send me a message on Instagram at https://www.instagram.com/shinefromwithinhq/

• Jump on a 30min call with me to talk about your own dreams of starting or growing your youth business here.
• Curious about starting your own program or business to support youth this year? Check out our free video training: How to Start and Grow your Youth Mentor Business here.

Subscribe on iTunes  |  Find on Spotify | View All

 

full transcript:

Amanda (00:00)
Hello, welcome to the Youth Mentor Podcast. I’m Amanda. I’m the I’m the host of this little podcast and the founder of Shine From Within, where we’ve been supporting young people since 2012, mostly on Gubby Gubby Country on the Sunshine Coast in Queensland, Australia. And gosh, for the past 10 years, ? I’ve also been training wonderful adults, perhaps like you, to be really great youth mentors and start their own youth mentoring businesses.

? and we’ve trained hundreds of people to do that now. And ? we’ve got youth mentors in over thirty different countries around the world, which is which is so nice to see. Yeah. ? it has been it has been a while since ? I’ve recorded a new episode for for this podcast. and you know what, I’ve been overthinking it. I’ve been overthinking it so much. you know, I I I always want to improve, of course. And so I’ve been getting in my head about

making sure that we can record video as well and you know, make it really schmick and polished. And yeah, I think it just got too big in my head. ? and I’ve got these really great interviews that I’ve done that are ready for you. ? I’ve got some really I’ve I’ve got some really topical things that I want to chat with you about too in perhaps some solo episodes. but it was just yeah, I just kept going round and round in my head about it and I thought

this mor this morning I just thought stop overthinking it ? and just just go for it, you know? and perhaps, you know, you feel this way too with with getting a workshop off the ground or doing some kind of mentoring in your community or just trying something new, right? Like I feel like I feel like we often see this really polished version of things online, of course, because that’s ? that’s

where we are now. And that’s and to you know, to the point where where it’s it’s hard to even know what’s real and what’s not. And yeah, I think it’s I think if I can help someone else realize that it doesn’t need to be perfect and you can just get started. which is what which is what I’ve always believed in and what I’ve always shared and what I’ve always encouraged our youth mentors to do. ?

But you know, sometimes you what’s that saying? You you teach what you most need to learn, you know. So just know that ? yeah, everyone goes through these these things, I suppose. yeah. So what what are you overthinking? What have you been wanting to do for a really long time, but just haven’t quite put it out there yet? You’re still trying to make it perfect, or you’re still ? yeah, you’re still kind of tinkering with things. Hmm, I’d love to know.

but I yeah, I got this I got another email this week from someone, actually it was a DM, I think, in our Shine From Within HQ Instagram, where someone said, I’ve been binging the podcast. It’s so good. I love hearing everyone’s different stories. I’ve got so many ideas. ? I’d love to share them with you. It was something like that. And I just thought, come on me, you’ve gotta you’ve gotta keep

putting these episodes out there for whatever reason it’s been yeah it’s been a bit of a block for me. and over the years I’ve had different levels of support with with producing it too. yeah. And it’s not the first it’s not the first message. I I I get emails most weeks really from people saying, I’ve really enjoyed this episode. ? and so yeah, I guess firstly thank you so much for listening and for sharing it around. ? it’s pretty amazing to to know that

Yeah, that they’re landing and that they’re they’re feeling really supportive. Yay. ? and so, yeah, this episode is really there’s a few things that I want to share with you. And one is just sharing honestly in that way that like I’ve been really overthinking just producing this podcast for you. and so this is your permission slip, I suppose, to to know that ? what’s that?

Saying, you know, doing something is better than nothing. progress is better than perfection, all the things, right? and of course, action is is better than rolling around and around in our own minds trying to figure out the details and wondering what if this happens or what if that happens. ? yeah, so I just I just thought I’m just gonna hit record. ? but I’ve also been having so many wonderful conversations with people that are just

They’re just starting to explore becoming a youth mentor, or they already are either working with young people or they’re in service to to other people in the community and they’re thinking about adding in mentoring as kind of an offering that that they do, right? and so they can often be wondering, you know, how do I know if I’ll be any good? What does it actually look like? What do you even do as a youth mentor? ? all of those sorts of things. And ?

I shared it in an email yesterday. ? well, you know, probably last week by the time you listen to this this episode. I shared 10 things that I’ve said this week as a youth mentor. And I thought I might share that with you as well, because you know, it’s it’s can be hard to conceptualize, I think, because you know, we didn’t it you may have had a mentor when you were younger, but it would have been probably quite ? informal, right? And a lot of mentoring

can be informal where it’s just, you know, an auntie that that you get to chat with sometimes, or perhaps some kind of volunteer thing. ? but structured mentoring is is relatively new, I would say, in ? in being recognized as as something really supportive for young people, even though with there’s so much evidence and research that backs it up, even though young people say how supportive it is. ?

Yeah, it’s one of those things I think that it can be, you know, it’s not quite therapy, it’s not counseling, it’s not coaching. ? but it is in more of that preventative non clinical space, right? Well, it it’s absolutely in the non clinical preventative space. And so it’s a little bit more like life coaching for teens. yeah. And that

having that space, that that opportunity just to talk things through. You know, it’s not about healing anything. It’s not about fixing anything. It’s about meeting them where they are in that moment, giving them a space to talk through whatever they want, knowing that it’s not going to go any further. It’s not going to upset anyone. it’s not going to be, you know, it doesn’t have to be ? a representative of their identity or all of those things that young people can really be stressed about, right? Like they don’t want to worry their parents sometimes.

They don’t want to share some of the things that they’re thinking about with their friends. ? and so it’s just this other person that they get to chat with and connect with and build life skills with, which is so, so, so valuable, right? yeah, I mean, you know, this, that’s that’s why you’re listening to this podcast. You probably do this already. But some of the things that I’ve sh I’ve said in the in the past week.

in my mentoring sessions, whether it’s one-on-one or group. So I do both and I encourage most I encourage everyone to do to do a bit of both. I think it’s yeah, it’s so magical to be able to hold that space in a deep way, one on one. and it’s really special to ? kind of take a back seat a little bit in group experiences too, where you set up a really ? nurturing, trauma informed, inclusive space.

you know, that takes a lot of work and energy and intention from the mentor. But then when the actual sessions are happening, you’re kind of in the background a little bit and just seeing what conversations emerge amongst them and you know, gently guiding it, that kind of stuff I think is just so, so special too. Okay, so one of the questions is ? what’s been on your mind this week? This one’s a really fun one in a group setting.

? I’ve only just started implementing this in our co art sessions actually. So we sit around and we do whatever art project we want to be working on. I do this online via Zoom. ? and so sometimes someone’s crocheting, sometimes colouring, sometimes sketching, sometimes gaming even if that’s what they need in that moment. ? but they they want to do it, ? they still want to feel that connection, they still want to have conversations and better to have them with with us.

I think, than whoever you know they might be chatting with online ? in in gaming kind of spaces. sometimes they’re just like collaging or bullet journaling. It’s it’s whatever they want, of course. and so yeah, lately I’ve I’ve asked that question: yeah, what’s been on your mind this week? Like what’s been taking up your headspace? and it’s been really fascinating because such interesting things come up, right? It can be something like,

I just read this article about this, or I noticed like in the news that this is happening, or ? I’m just I’m just like fully locked in on on study right now and all I can think about is this group assignment and navigating these other people in my group. ? but it always leads to really interesting conversations. Another great question I think is

Do you want to talk it through or are you happy to to vent and let it go? That that’s always a good one too. ? because sometimes we can jump in with wanting to fix things with the young people in our in our lives and you know, ninety percent of the time they just wanna get it out and talk it through ? and kind of

Just get it off their chest, really. and we we know too how how valuable that is to just feel really heard from someone and and not have them jump in with the solutions or unsolicited advice. and so sometimes you can just really ask that question, like, do you want me to say anything or you just wanna you just want to talk? another thing that I’ve said many times this week is ? what a great idea.

I feel like I spend most of my time just going, wow, that’s so cool. What a great thought. I never would have thought of that. ? I’m just constantly in awe of the way that they’re navigating life, the things that they’re dealing with, And there’s just so many

new experiences that happen when you’re a young person, right? And it’s really special to be a witness to to those things, whether it’s going for their learner’s permit or asking someone out for the first time, like how cool to get to hear about those things. Another question is what have been some wins this week? So actually on our weekly check-ins in the online academy, ? that’s a standard question that we ask every single week.

What are three wins from the week? and having the number I think helps because otherwise it’s a bit overwhelming. You think like, is this a big enough win or like what kind of win? So if there’s three, it’s like, okay, I have to have to be relatively small things that have that have happened during the week. ? and when you’re doing it regularly, they they tend to ? look for those wins throughout the week, right? Like, what can I share on the check-in this Sunday?

so they’re looking for the wins throughout throughout the week, which is really, really nice, really special, I think. yeah, so would have been some wins. ? the other the next one is that sounds so fun. Again, that’s just so many of so much of what I say is that sounds amazing, what a great idea. Thanks for sharing that with me. little statements like that. Another thing I’ve said this week is, ?

Tell me more about that. What even is that? Remind me, what does that mean? and the the example I’m thinking of from a recent call was ? the word catalyst. Someone in our community is she’s getting back into writing. And I said, if you haven’t been writing for a while, you know, what do you how do you get back into it? and she said, I actually look for writing competitions online because it gives me a word count.

gives me a deadline and it usually gives me a theme. And so that way I’ve just got something to start with, even if I don’t apply for the for the competition or or enter the competition. Smart, right? ? and so the theme that she’s gone with, that sh yeah, that the competition was about was the word catalyst. So ? yeah, it was so I wanted to hear you know how she describes that word. Like what’s the definition of catalyst? ?

And we talked about it from a scientific point of view, like when, you know, in chemistry, it’s when two things mix or whatever. I’m not I’m not a scientist, so I won’t try and explain it to you ? with any kind of authority. But ? we also talked about it from a point of view of, you know, like a turning point in someone’s life, like something happens, ? and it takes you down a different path. And so I asked what what has what’s been a catalyst for you in your own life that brought you to the current version of you? And ?

Yeah, it was such an interesting response. and it she actually mentioned COVID and I thought, yeah, that’s that’s ? one of those things that for for young people in particular, it’s such a glaringly obvious turning point in their lives, right? It was such a big moment and we were all going through it collectively in a lot of ways. ? of course it impacted everyone in in in different

in different ways, we all experienced it differently, but a l you know, there was there was a lot of it where we all were kind of going through something really intense together. And we had you know, we didn’t have a lot of control during that time. And yeah, it was really it was really interesting to hear her insights on that and and ? how it’s impacted her. ? and it made me think too that maybe as adults, because we’ve been through lots of things, ? perhaps ?

COVID can just I I should just talk for myself really. For me, there’s there’s been lots of moments in life that have been challenging or a turning point, I suppose. And so I feel like I haven’t given COVID the I don’t know, the gravitas or something. Like it it really was intense for a lot of people, right? And we perhaps still I don’t know, I still perhaps haven’t processed it all the way through, I guess, and the way that it’s impacted and ?

taken my life down a different path too. So yeah. I mean for you too. What what has been what’s been a catalyst in your own life that brought you to the current version of you? And yeah and then how so? Like how how did it change you? That brought up lots of really juicy conversations. and the final two things is ? it sounds like you’re doing everything you can. I find I say that quite a lot.

and the final one is what’s one thing you can do next week to take care of yourself? Again, we say this every Sunday in our check-ins. What’s what’s one way you can take care of yourself? So we do like a review of the week of what are some wins, what’s something that you want to let go of, what’s your word or colour or vibe or food or something of the week that just you feel like captures the moment or that comes to mind for you as is something that happened in this last week. ? so those sorts of questions, like for reflecting on the week.

And then we do another round of of going around to everyone saying, okay, let’s talk about next next week. You know, what’s your intention for the week? How do you want to feel? What are some things you do need to get done? How can you take care of yourself this week? ? Yeah. Yeah. So I don’t know. I thought I thought it might be nice to to share some of those things with you. ? because sometimes Yeah, sometimes I think we can we can really

overthink what we need to do and and how perfect we need to be in order to do this kind of work. And if you’ve got ideas, I’d really love to help you get them into action. And I know for me it’s it’s getting out of my own head, of course, just like doing this episode. Just don’t overthink it. Don’t write a script. Don’t do anything like that. Just press record and share what you’re going to share. And it will, you know, the the people that

might connect with it, we’ll be the ones that find it and we’ll listen to it and and you know, have that trust, I s I suppose, in in knowing that it’s it’s going to get where it needs to get. It’s gonna go where it needs to go. yeah, so having having that trust, but I I know I also need a bit of like co working or body doubling or accountability too a lot of the time to actually sit down and do the thing. ? and so I’ve come up with this workshop

series that I’m going to do ? on the weekend, the 20th to the 21st of June, where we’ll get together for the whole weekend. I’m going to have three live sessions during that time on Zoom. You don’t need to come to all of them or any of them. I’m doing them live so that if you can come, ? you know, having that moment in time where you just have to come and sit down and do the thing is going to be really helpful.

? but it also makes me sit down and do the thing and then I’ll share the recording straight away in our in our community too. so that you can watch it when it suits you. But yeah, that what I really want is to get you there to create your own teen workshop. And we’re gonna try and do the whole thing in a weekend. It doesn’t mean you have to take the whole weekend off or go away for the weekend or anything like that. We’re just gonna do it messy, we’re gonna do it with the time that we have, ? but we’re gonna take action.

Okay, so we’re going to spend the first session getting really clear on ? bringing all of your ideas, like grounding them and getting clarity on ? what it is that you want to share. And we’ll talk about what young people need right now too, in this moment of history, ? in this, you know, with what’s happening in the world right now, what they’re asking for, what we have seen here at Shine From Within is is engaging and ? you know, supporting young people right now. So we’ll get into that.

And then we’re going take action together to create the workshop to talk about the budget and the marketing so that you have a real plan at the end of the weekend. And after that weekend, we’ll have two weeks of support in a pop-up community. So I’m gonna create, I’ve already created it. It’s a pop-up community on Kajabi, which is what we use for all of our courses. So you’ll get access to that as soon as you join. We’ll have our three live calls together and then two weeks of like, let’s keep this momentum going.

Tell me what you’re working on, how can I help? Let me give you feedback. I’m just gonna be there with you to keep moving things forward. And ? I’m so excited about this because I know that this is the sort of thing that works well for me. If I don’t have the the a reason to sit down and do the thing right now, then it just doesn’t get done, right? So if you are someone that has a bunch of ideas and has kind of started mapping out an offering or a workshop for young people, ?

But it just hasn’t come to life yet, then this is for you. If you’re someone who doesn’t even know if you want to do this work actually, but you you are curious and you are listening to this and you want to see if it’s for you, then this is also for you because it will get you ? it’ll get you so much further than just continuing to think about things and consume things, but not actually do anything, right? So

Come along and have a play with what it might look like to create a workshop for young people and see how that feels for you. You’ll have so much more clarity and ? yeah, you’ll know what you want to do next just from doing that that thing, right? And if you’re listening to this and you’re thinking, well, hang on. People that have no experience of working with young people and have no qualifications, ?

you know, don’t have a working with children check. All of those things should not really be running workshops for young people, right? like what a a weekend isn’t gonna give me the skills to do that properly. ? if you’re thinking that, I I love that personally, because ? it’s it’s such it’s such a great thing to be thinking about, right? Because, you know, we’re working with minors, we’re working with young people. ?

There’s a huge responsibility there to do it safely, first and foremost. ? we also want to do it well, we want to make it fun and engaging and all of those things. But firstly, it has to be safe, it has to be supportive and nurturing. And you can’t learn that in a weekend. ? spending a weekend getting clear on what a workshop might look like is is not the same as having the skills to be a great youth mentor or the training to hold a safe, inclusive nurturing space for young people. So ?

Yeah, I just want to acknowledge that up front too. so if you’re thinking, yeah, if if that’s come into your head, great. That’s a that’s a good thing because I only you know, there are there are plenty of kind of courses around nowadays that are AI generated and you can get this kind of quick certificate, but I’m only interested in working with people who wanna dedicate the time to do this well.

Right, it’s it’s so so so important. ? it’s not the same as doing something for adults. We we have so many more things to consider when we’re holding space for young people. We need to know what to look out for, we need to know our processes for referring on. ? we need to know what we have to report if something does get disclosed to us. You know, there’s so much to cover there. And we’re not going to talk about any of that on the weekend. It’s not training you to be a youth mentor. It’s

It’s having a play with the workshop side of things. Okay. And so you actually might already be someone who has a lot of those qualifications already. Like you might already be a youth worker or a teacher or someone like that that’s very well equipped to hold space for young people and very experienced in that. And you might just be exploring wanting to do this for yourself. You’re like you want to get out of the system that you’re currently in and do your own thing.

This would be perfect for you. But it’s also for people that are just starting to explore it. You know, you might be thinking about upskilling as a youth mentor. You might be thinking about doing a proper certification to become a certified youth mentor so that you can hold a safe and inclusive space for for young people. But playing with the fun part first and seeing what it could look like for you from a from a ?

Playful and theoretical space first could actually be the thing that moves you forward to see if it’s actually what you want to do, right? Because investing in a full certification costs money, it’s costs time. And so ? this is a really good way to to see if if you would even enjoy it and if you would enjoy the the parts of it that ? yeah, that

moments that you’re with young people, but also the important moments that ? make this sustainable for you as a as a youth mentor and as a business, right? Too. I just think, you know, we go around and around in our heads about things so much and and this weekend workshop series is a chance for us to take some kind of forward action. It’s yeah, it’ll either like move you forward with your ideas or give you clarity that it’s not for you. Both, both outcomes are really, really great.

but yeah, I just I don’t know, I just said this I just wanted to be really clear that I’m not suggesting that you’ll be ? equipped from a like qualifications point of view to to actually work with young people after this weekend, but you’ll have a really great you’ll have a really great like workshop and experience that you can offer to young people.

For when you are qualified. ? and I think, yeah, I think that’s a really great thing to start with. And as I said, if you already kind of work with young people or are qualified in some way, then you’ve got parts of that down already. And this is the thing that will actually get it out into the world. That’s a lot of rambling from me.

? then I’m yeah, I’m excited about it. We’ve had lots of people signing up already. It’s gonna be a lot of forward momentum. And I think, ? yeah, stop kind of just thinking about things and jotting down ideas. Come and actually let’s do it together. And I’ll tell you exactly what you need to create the workshops. I’ll tell you exactly what you need to be a qualified youth mentor. I’ll talk through that stuff with you as well. And then we’ve got two weeks of of full support and

Yeah, like ask me anything style space for for you to to keep working on it and and bring it to life. yeah, I’ve just I’ve just had so many lovely conversations with people who ? are busy, right? Like they’re they’re there might be student support officers in their in their day job and but are also wanting to do some really great workshops for people in their community or that you know, their parents and they they can see the need for this and they want to

Do something about that. They want to create something. ? And it’s really hard to do that on your own. It’s hard to carve out the time. And even if you do, it’s hard to know where to start once you sit down. So let’s do it together on this create your team workshop in a weekend experience. ? Now, this will not be just a one-off episode. I I do have a really wonderful new season of the Youth Mentor podcast coming for you.

As I mentioned at the start, I’ve got some really great interviews. I’m so excited to share them with you. We’re talking about things like ? the Nanosphere kind of stuff and what we can do to support boys and and what male mentors need as well, something that doesn’t really get talked about that that I’ve seen anyway. So I’m excited to share that conversation with you. I just had that with one of our male ? youth mentors a few weeks ago.

? we’re gonna be talking about social media ban and you know digital literacy sort of stuff too. I’ve just spent the last couple of months updating our school-based curriculum actually. And ? yeah, it’s been great to see so many schools that have already purchased our curriculum over the last few years opting in to get that update too, because it’s a big ? digital literacy component that we’ve that we’ve updated there. ? yeah, that sort of world.

shifts so quickly and changes so quickly. So it’s been really good to review all of the research and the evidence and and make make some adjustments there. yeah, and if you’re interested in that kind of stuff too, like creating a school curriculum or something like that, reach out and and let me know if you’ve got questions about it. I could I could cover that. I could do a bit of a like a answering your questions episode on the Youth Mentor podcast too. ? but yeah lots of great interviews with with other mentors. I know that’s that’s what

you love. ? that’s what I’ve mostly covered in the in the podcast ? for all these years is is kind of origin stories of youth mentors and different ways that people are are making this work. ? another one we’ve got coming up is is with a a yoga teacher who teaches ? kids yoga teacher training too but she also has ? included mentoring into her into her work and now does these wonderful programs in high schools and stuff too. ?

Yeah. ? so much magic. But just know that if you are here and you’re listening to this, I I wanna say thank you for for listening to the podcast. Thank you for sharing it. Thank you for ? being interested in in doing this work with young people too. I know that you must already be a really wonderful source of support for for the young people that are already in your world. and you know, yeah, let’s

Let’s do something. Let’s do something this week without overthinking it and just find a way to be supportive. And if that’s creating a bit of a workshop that I can help you with, come along to our live event. ? and if it’s just asking one of those questions that I shared earlier to the young people that are already in your world, then do that. You know, ask someone about what their win has been for the week. ? and if you feel like sharing.

How that goes for you, please do reach out. You can always email us info at shinefromwithin.com.au ? or reach out on socials. ? it’s one of my favorite things is just getting to connect with other people who are passionate and curious about this work. I think we need more wonderful mentors in the world, of course. And ? and you’ve yeah, you’re someone who could do that. Okay. You know what I’ve noticed with me too is I’m one of those people that

can’t hang up the phone if we’re on a call, like a friendship call, but also on our youth mentor training calls. I just linger. So I’m sorry about that. I’m gonna say goodbye. Thanks for listening.

Mentioned in this episode:

• Join me on 20-21 June for Create Your Teen Workshop in a Weekend! It’s AUD$37 and is guaranteed to get you into action. Book in here.

• Send me a message on Instagram at https://www.instagram.com/shinefromwithinhq/

• Jump on a 30min call with me to talk about your own dreams of starting or growing your youth business here.
• Curious about starting your own program or business to support youth this year? Check out our free video training: How to Start and Grow your Youth Mentor Business here.

Subscribe on iTunes  |  Find on Spotify | View All