Development of a best practice peer mentoring model-More than Mentors Dr Simon Munk, CYP Mental health lead, UCLPartners Associate, Evidence Based Practice Unit, Anna Freud Centre

Why a Peer mentoring intervention? Evidence that 1:1 mentoring can promote resilience competencies in both mentors and mentees and that this can lead to improved mental health, educational and social outcomes Specifically these resilience competencies are increased connectedness in school, the community and the family (Gordon et al., 2013; Randolph & Johnson, 2008) Peer mentoring in particular shown to produce increased opportunities to reach higher-risk children. Many different peer mentoring programs exist. It is apparent that a number of key elements distinguish programs with better outcomes from those with neutral or detrimental outcomes (Rhodes, 2005) (Gordon et al., 2013; Randolph & Johnson, 2008) It was unclear to us that there was a best practice peer mentoring model available and we sought to develop our own.

What is resilience? “Positive adaptation to adversity despite serious threats to adaptation or development’ (Masten) Often best understood as a set of competencies- rather than one thing. These include: Positive school connnectedness Positive connectedness with individuals and activities in community Positive peer connectedness Positive home and family connectedness Autonomy Positive self esteem Empathy Problem solving skills Aspiration

Why does resilience matter? Competencies important in own right. Also evidence that these resilience competencies lead to: Reduction in mental health disorder (Schucksmith et al (2007)) Improved behaviour and attendance at school (Adi, Y., Schrader McMillan, A., Killoran, A. and Stewart-Brown, S. (2007) Reduction in Risky behaviours (Catalano, R., Berglund, M.L., Ryan, G.A.M., Lonczak, H.S. and Hawkins, J.D. (2002))

Development of local best practice model A Newham CCG/UCLP Ludwig Guttmann grant enabled UCLP to bring together academics, CAMHS provider, schools, young people and VCS organisations to develop a local best practice model. A literature review conducted by UCL (Podmore, Munk, Fonagy, 2015) helped us to understand what the key components which made a peer mentoring programme effective were: How to recruit appropriate mentors and mentees, how to train and supervise the peer mentors and how to support and maintain the mentoring relationship. A expert development group of psychologists, youth practitioners and school staff worked with a group of trained peer researchers to understand these key components and crucially to understand how they could be implemented in a relevant way in the local context.

Mentor and mentee recruitment Academic findings Mentors should be screened for engagement with purpose of the program. Individuals with an interest in joining “caring professions” are more likely to remain committed to the program Some evidence that youth who present with more intermediate levels of challenge rather than youth for who such difficulties were either severe or relatively absent are more likely to benefit from mentoring programs Peer research findings Caring and trustworthy, honest, reliable, non-judgmental and active listening are vital criteria Mentor should be friendly but professional and not a friend Practical reasons to be a mentor- good for CV, good for development of life skills Ex-mentees may be inspired to become mentors People with emotional difficulties feel isolated and want a mentor for emotional support

Mentor training Academic findings Peer research findings Mentors should be able to promote the mentee’s ability to develop positive natural mentoring relationships with surrounding peers and adults Mentoring programs need to consider how to develop positive youth development competencies in the mentees Peer research findings How to build trust even if little in common Communication skills are a high priority Understanding of the change in the role of the mentor, from first few sessions building the relationship through activities to then starting to support and challenge the mentee

Mentor support and supervision Academic findings Ongoing mentor training during program is vital to maintain quality but is not common Ongoing training is imperative to ensure good quality relationship. Experiential learning- involving the mentor and mentee can be effective. This can start with small scale exercises and progress to larger exercises. Role playing with mentors can be effective Peer research findings Mentor wants to be able to go to someone for support and advice Mentor wants to feel supported and safe, especially in first few sessions. If then goes out into community, want to be able to report back progress

Structure of mentoring programme Academic findings Some researchers have highlighted that it is important to host structured activities for mentors and youth to support the mentoring relationship It is believed that natural mentoring relationships due to their flexibility are best suited to reach youth at moderate risk or as of yet non-identified risk Peer research findings Need to have a private space to be able to have a conversation in In an open place where you can have a casual conversation Too quiet an environment puts too much pressure on mentee to say something

More than Mentors model Recruits peer mentors and mentees against specified criteria involving young people in recruitment process Training by positive psychology practitioner provides mentors with toolkit to build positive relationship with mentee and support positive behavior change Supervision enables mentors to review mentoring and get ideas, advice and guidance from the supervisors and peers on areas the mentor and mentee are finding challenging Structured weekly mentoring enables mentor–mentee pairings to get comfortable and familiar with each other in an informal setting

Piloting of model The developed model was piloted with 36 students in two local schools (mentors 16-18; mentees 12-14). Evaluation focused on: Was there evidence that the intervention promoted resilience competencies in mentors and mentees Qualitative indicators of the facilitators and barriers to delivery of the development of the intervention

More than Mentors peer- Outcomes Early signs of increase in the resilience of mentees demonstrated using the Student Resilience Survey. The scores of mentees consistently increased indicating that the vast majority of mentees benefited from participating in the activity and increased their resilience. Early signs of positive impact of peer mentoring on the school engagement of vulnerable pupils. School staff fed back that they were seeing a positive change in many mentees’ interactions with learning at school. High attendance and completion rate by mentors and mentees indicating the commitment of participants to this programme and their belief in the positive outcomes it could achieve.

More than Mentors – Learning Mentees need clarity around the role of their mentor and the purpose of mentoring from the outset. The role of young people in promoting the project as well as delivering the mentoring was deemed important in engaging with the target population. Further thought needs to be given to how the mentoring relationship can be made to feel more natural while still being contained in a safe environment. The role of the clinical psychologist and youth practitioners in delivering the training and supervision was viewed positively by the young people taking part.

Next steps Supported Community Links/ELFT/Anna Freud Centre to secure funding from DH- deliver model across Hackney and Barking and Dagenham. This project will subsequently develop and test a train the trainer model across London Will be delivered across Newham schools and community settings as part of HeadStart Newham Potential to be subjected to RCT as part of HeadStart evaluation.