Meet the Mentors

I saw an advertisement of a friend of mine in the paper doing mentoring. As I have always worked with young people in sport I thought, I might just be able to contribute to the Plan-it Youth program.

 My thinking has always been, investing time in young people is like investing in our future because they are the future. I am so pleased that I did, because not only did I enjoy the training sessions, I made a lot of new friends including the students. To me it was so wonderful to see and hear from the students we work with, how much they appreciated the time we took out of our daily lives to spend with them.

 More people should have this very rewarding experience.

 Nina Thomas   Mentor (and proud of it )

I joined PiY to help students achieve their goal and dreams.I stay because the students and mentors are fantastic to deal with. It is great to see the growth in the students' confdence .

Garry Brown mentor for over 3 years

One of my main reasons for being a mentor is that I can be in touch with the younger generation and encourage them to become the very best person they can. My life experiences help me to listen, support and encourage them, making them believe that they are important and worthwhile. Helping them to build a good future for themselves is something we should all aspire to do!

      Valerie Teerman

My enjoyment in the PiY scheme is the opportunity to get to know the young people and to be of service if possible.

Wendy

I’m a 71-year-old man and consider retirement as a chance to ‘explore new directions in life. I’ve been mentoring with Plan-it Youth for the last four years. I feel useful in society, am more in touch with the thinking of young people, and have other adults around to enjoy some socializing.  I’d strongly recommend mentoring to make life much more interesting!

Andy, mentor

I have been pleasantly surprised with the attitude of the students who are gobsmacked that old codgers like me are prepared to give up their time to help. At 63 I was quite happy in my retirement - fishing, kayaking, gardening and social outings filled my days. Then my wife spied an advertisement in the Newcastle Morning Herald appealing for mentors. Reluctantly I agreed to attend the training sessions – then began my career as a volunteer mentor! Over a ten week period a change in a student’s personality and self esteem is gratifying. I would thoroughly recommend mentoring to any person who has two hours per week to spare.

Garry, mentor

When I first came to Lake Macquarie, , I didn’t know anyone. It was great to find out about mentoring because all of a sudden I found all these positive people!  Then as I got to know them, they introduced me to lots of other things in the area and now I love living here.

Sandra, mentor

Five years ago I was a bored 62 year old 'Nan' of five grandchildren. Noone could have been more apprehensive than me about becoming a mentor! Little did I realise that joining Plan-it Youth Hunter would be a life changing adventure! I'm meeting and mixing with a wonderful group of positive people - young and older! I've taken up public speaking, been a team leader and even been on tv! It's enjoyable, stimulating and rewarding and I just love my mentoring!

Coral, mentor

I'm 47 years old and a self-employed environment project manager who enjoys surfing. About five years ago I tried to look for a way to help young people. I didn't have any formal qualifications. There wasn't a lot of opportunity until I read an ad about Plan-it Youth. It was just what I was looking for.  I was anxious about the training but the course was full of very encouraging people and proved very useful.

After mentoring for four years in different schools, I'm now studying Youthwork at TAFE. There's great satisfaction in helping young people. Plan-it Youth includes a wide variety of kind and generous people and there's great support systems - as a mentor you are never alone!

Andrew Edwards ( Nobby), mentor