January marked an exciting milestone for the Building Young Brixton (BYB) partnership as it welcomed a new cohort of peer mentors, ready to inspire and support their peers.
This is a 12-month paid opportunity for young people who want to make a difference in their community, are great listeners and who want to support other young people on their learning journey. At the heart of the peer mentor programme lies the partnership’s belief in the transformative power of positive role models, the importance of peer-to-peer relationships and establishing more relatable mentors for young people.
Peer mentors receive training on the different methods and approaches to mentoring and each mentor is based at and supported by a Building Young Brixton partner organisation.
Speaking to the previous cohort, peer mentors reflected on how fulfilling they found the experience, as a way of becoming more involved with other young people in their communities.
“Growing up in a difficult neighbourhood encouraged me to have a growing passion for helping the young people of my community. The fact that I get to give these girls what I never received when I was their age brings me so much joy and a sense of fulfilment. I’m able to give them a safe space to be able to be themselves and work on the character. As well as give them a space where they are heard and seen as individuals” – past peer mentor at the Baytree Centre.
“I started mentoring to widen my knowledge and experience in youth work, see what young people go through on a day-to-day basis, and see how you can step in to help them change things around.” – past mentor at Spiral Skills.
We can’t wait to see what the new cohort of Building Young Brixton peer mentors get up to in the upcoming year!