One2One Mentoring Service

 
For: Youngsters from year 6 through to 18 years.

Zacs introduced one-2-one sessions some time ago and have recently improved the facilities for this extremely popular resource. Any young person can book a half-hour session with a youth-worker or volunteer to discuss absolutely any issue in privacy. Originally, people needed to have their one-2-one session sitting at a youth worker's desk. In recent months, the highlight of the activity at Zacs has been the involvement of the youngsters in revamping a room exclusively for one-2-one sessions. They designed the room to include private areas built using sound proofed glass partitions. This enables them to have confidential meetings yet also be seen, which allows us to maintain work within our child protection policy. The design also incorporated a relaxation area and an area for computers. This enables them to access information, complete homework assignments and make use of the facilities beyond the time of their appointment.

A group of the young people made a successful bid to the Bolton's Youth Capital Fund Cash Panel, receiving £5,000 which paid for decorating supplies, flooring and the glass partitions. They made an excellent job of decorating the room themselves and a few smaller grants enabled us to install computers and buy some furniture. Some youngsters went on to win even more money for the room, which they used to buy sofas.

The room is now being well used and we are looking forward to helping more young people with this wonderful resource.