All it takes is being there to help

Your teenage years can be tough, but having someone there willing to listen can make all the difference.

It’s this simple-sounding idea that the not-for-profit Raise Foundation has put into practice to help change the lives of thousands of teens around Australia.

Working with schools, Raise recruits community volunteers to deliver evidence-based, youth mentoring programs. The volunteer mentors are matched with a student and then they meet weekly, building a relationship and, basically, just being there to listen 

It’s about providing young teens with a trusted independent adult to talk to, someone who shows up, just for them, every week, said local Raise Program Counsellor, Tina Watson.

A new program to Orange in 2022, Raise worked with groups of Year 8 children at Orange and Canobolas High Schools.

The results were extremely positive, Tina said, with schools and teachers reporting improved attendance, confidence, social skills and resilience.

“I think students being able to articulate in working group environments was really positive,” she said.

“Working with adults and communicating with adults is a bit of a life skill that sometimes they don't get exposed to other than in their close circle.”

It is sobering to hear that suicide is the leading cause of death in young people. And a recent Mission Australia survey found that one in four young people feel lonely all or most of the time, and one in six feel negative or very negative about the future.

The object of the Raise program is to help young people realise they are not alone, build resilience and a willingness to talk about their problems and ask for help.

“It's preventive mental health,” Tina said. “Getting them to learn a bit more about themselves, that self-awareness, and also the power in articulating what's going on for them, that it's better to share than just internalise.

“We also look at areas where they may feel like they are the only one experiencing that. So we look at the challenges that young people face and talk about that, help them to feel that, ‘It's not just me’, that they're not alone in their own challenges, or things that they're experiencing.”

Raise is currently looking to recruit 30 volunteer mentors in Orange to help deliver their program in 2023.

All it takes to be a mentor, Tina said, is being able to commit to two hours a week for 23 weeks and having a genuine interest in the well-being of young people.

“Anybody can be a mentor. I hear all the time people say, ‘I don't know if I've got the skills for that’... But it’s just wanting to help support or be there for a young person, that interest in wanting to make a difference and wanting to help a young person by giving them the example of a positive role model.”

Full training is given to volunteer mentors and constant support through the program, Tina added.

“They just have to start with that interest of wanting to help and then we'll give them all the necessary training,” she concluded.

In 2023, the program will run at Canobolas High School on Tuesdays from 11.35 am – 1.35pm, and at Orange High School on Wednesdays 1.40pm – 3.28pm.

To apply to be a volunteer mentor or to find out more head to www.raise.org.au