What we do

Mentor Young People

J's Story

J was in a lot of trouble.  He’d fallen out with his parents, given up going to school and got in with a bad crowd.  Life was going downhill fast and when he started taking drugs and drinking heavily it got worse.  He got involved with petty crime and was finally arrested for theft and sent to court.  J was given a community sentence and began to work with the Youth Offending Team where he learnt about the Buddy Plus+ Mentoring Project.

He started regular meetings with his mentor and nine months later ..J is making fantastic progress!

His volunteer mentor said.  “I’ve hardly dared breathe in case there’s a wobble, but the great news is that J has decided he wants to go into the Army.  He’s sorted all the formalities out himself and is well down the road, having had a medical and an aptitude test at the Army Careers office in Chesterfield; he's now just waiting for a date to go down for a day's assessment.  Best of all, he and his family are enjoying being with each other and his parents are proud of what he's achieving at college, where he's getting very good reports.  He's eating proper food, is only going out with his mates at weekends, has stopped smoking cannabis and is training hard for the Army assessment day.  What a turnaround from the unhappy, confused person he was six months ago!
I'm dead proud of him.”

Other Buddy Plus+ Suceess Stories include:-

1. A 14 year old boy being allowed back to school following a lengthy exclusion, which was down to the commitment to change shown by him, achieved with the support and help of his mentor.
2. A 12 year old boy’s behaviour and self confidence improved greatly as a direct result of working with a mentor.
3. An 11 year old boy now settled in to secondary school thanks to the support offered by his mentor who supported him with his homework and helped to build his self confidence, which also helped him to make new friends.
4. A 12 year old boy actively pursuing positive leisure activities due to the support and encouragement from a mentor.
5. A 15 year old boy returned to school following 12 months truanting after working on the importance and benefits of getting back intoeducation with his mentor.

"The service offered has been invaluable in terms of the support provided and the calibre of the volunteers matched with our young people.”

YISP Manager, Derbyshire Youth Offending Service