Trailblazers
CLIENT CONTEXT
Trailblazers Bespoke Mentoring Workshops
Trailblazers is a charity that supports a community of volunteers who mentor men in prison within the prison environment from 6 months prior to their release continuing into the community, up to 12 months post-release. Mentors work with men in the criminal justice system to inspire, encourage and guide them towards a positive future.
North-52 Ltd, experts in mentoring, coaching and leadership development, approached Trailblazers to offer pro bono support as a charity partner. The work carried out by Trailblazers aligned strongly with North-52’s values to remove barriers to quality personal development taking this out of the boardroom to service the wider community. Also, North-52 had carried out extensive research into best mentoring practice and had direct experience of mentoring within prison environments.
The partnership allowed Trailblazers to outsource the training of their mentors. This enabled consistency of training experience and the online format prompted useful networking across the 6 prison communities.
Trailblazers’ ‘best of breed’ mentors
Within their 5 year plan Trailblazers aim to create a “best of breed” mentor. North-52 were asked by Trailblazers to design bespoke online workshops for their volunteers at two key points in their development:
At induction: to gain a good understanding of mentoring best practice
At 6 months: to explore the potential changes in the mentoring partnership at the point of transition into the community.
In workshop feedback, 100% of attendees stated they were “very satisfied” with the training delivered.
Testimonial
“Trailblazers Mentoring provides mentoring services to men in prison and following release in the community. Our mentors are dedicated volunteers from local communities who are trained to undertake this role and it is vital they are equipped with the skills to be able to manage challenging and complex situations that arise. Our partnership with North-52 has enabled us to offer high quality, ongoing training for our volunteers and they have facilitated workshops on a range of topics. Their wealth of experience and knowledge is especially evident in the area of coaching and our mentors report feeling more confident in being able to deal with situations that may arise in the mentoring relationship and have learnt new techniques about how best to engage and support their mentee. We are delighted to continue our partnership with North-52 and excited to see what further opportunities develop.”
Julia Alexander, CEO
If you would like to learn more about what Trailblazers do, or even become involved, Trailblazers are always looking for creative support for their mentoring quest. Please check out their website to see how you could support