what is creative mentoring?

Did you know that just £30 helps us to provide one hour of creative mentoring for a young person In Need? Our creative mentoring service is a tried-and-tested model of creative intervention. Our Creative Mentors work in a collaborative one-to-one approach with children and young people who are struggling to engage in education, at risk of exclusion or social isolation. They work in what is called the ‘Third Space’: a person-centred, informal, and reflective ‘space’ where Creative Mentors build trusted relationships using creative practice to refocus efforts away from negative preconceptions of education, to identify what it is the child or young person needs to help them become ‘unstuck’.

our expertise

We have more than 13 years experience working with young people in the creative sector. Our trusted partnerships, and rigorous recruitment and training process for Creative Mentors, means we are best-placed to match Creative Mentors with young people referred to our Creative Mentoring service.

If you’re interested in funding charity organisations, or it’s part of your business mission, find out more about how you can help to support our vital services for children and young people In Need.

what we mean by a young person ‘in need’

There are 28,820 children and young people registered in need in the East Midlands – but there are also additional children and young people living below the poverty line, in areas of deprivation and with high support needs who are not registered with the Local Authority and are therefore not included in the above figures but would still be eligible for our services.

When we identify children and young people ‘in need’ we mean children and young people who are:
• care experienced.
• experiencing abuse or neglect.
• have a disability or life restricting illness.
• experiencing poverty / low income.
• absent parenting.
• living as a young carer.
• family disfunction.
• seeking asylum.
• in refuge.
• in alternative educational provision.
• rurally isolated.
• on Free School Meals.
• receiving Pupil Premium.

In addition to the needs identified above, we also target our work in areas of high deprivation and need due to lack of infrastructure, support and opportunity.