Teen and Parent Mentoring

We spent an hour with Ruth Gookey, an energetic young mom who works part-time at Stopsley directing their Teen and Parent Mentoring program. Ruth recruits mentors from the church, but also from the wider community, screens them and leads them through a six week training course.

Teens are referred to the program often through the local high school. But Stopsley also provides mentoring for young parents and they are often pointed to the program by midwives, social workers and health visits. Ruth connects those referred with a mentor who stays with them for a period of time, supporting and encouraging them.

What really impressed us is the the funding for the program comes from the local Council who have recognized Stopsley's commitment to the community. That's a level of trust that has been built up over a long period of time.

Ruth made an interesting comment. She said that church people get to exercise their gifts in many ways, but those outside the church often have a yearning to do something significant but have no way to let it out. The mentoring program provides that for them, in addition to the benefit to the clients.