Uplift Mentoring

Created a virtual based mentorship program (“Uplift”) with high school students as the mentors, and middle and elementary school students with conditions as the mentees. To clarify, in this context I use the term “conditions” to describe youth with medical (visible and/or invisible) and/ or mental disabilities/disorders. Youth with conditions typically feel isolated from their peers in certain aspects as there are certain things about transitions they will go through in life that abled peers typically do not understand. Uplift would connect them to a group of children with similar struggles. My goal is to create mentor/mentee friendships that are mutually beneficial. Prior to the start of meetings with their mentor, mentees will be able to design (in their application google form) what they want their typical mentor meetings to look like (whether that be having someone to vent with, ask advice about the high school process (typically for middle school aged mentees), help with homework, play a game, etc) so they can be matched with their ideal mentor. Mentors (who may be abled or disabled) will be trained prior to meeting with their mentees on common issues youth with conditions face, how to interact with younger children, and how to steer conversations more positively and productively to avoid self depreciation, and improve the mentee's sense of self. As a cumulative project for the end of this year's program, mentors will help mentees create a biography about their condition, how it affects them, how they are separate from their condition (ie “my condition does not define me”) and what they hope for in their future. Mentors can space this out however they see fit as long as it is done by the end of the program.