Restelli 1

Bryanna Restelli
Mrs. Oliveira
College Writing
4 October 2016
Outline: Mentoring Programs
I.

Introduction: History of Mentor Programs

A. Everyday children are being neglected and abused mentally and physically by
their biological parents who are unfit to provide the appropriate care a child
desires.
B. The next step for most of these cases is to remove children from their home and
place them into the foster care system
C. However the damage of abuse remains in the child's memory for the rest of
their life. They need assistance in order to help combat the feelings they have for
themselves.
D. Mentoring programs are the most efficient way to help children suffering from
these travesties.
E. Therapeutic mentoring programs have been around since 1992 under the direction
of Wesley Chip Rich with the YMCA of San Francisco (1)
F. Furthermore, the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention provided
funding in 2009 to become a national mentoring program and expand to
additional associations throughout the country helping out more children in need
of care and support (1)
G. Later on, in 2013 the YMCA partnered with Y USA and received funding to
expand to 38 additional states (1)
H. The program was designed to match mentors with youth who have suffered some
form of abuse or mental health needs (1)
I. The program is designed to mentor children between the ages of 6-17 (1)
J. Overall, a mentor's responsibility is to provide encouragement to their mentee and
help them come to the conclusion that they are worthy of care and help them
reach their fullest potential.
Thesis: Mentoring programs benefit a childs well-being and help make HIM?HER? feel
accepted or does being pressured to talk to someone worsen their situation?
Counter-Claim: Mentoring programs around the globe need to evolve with the times and provide
proper training to help children as well as be inspected before volunteering into
the program they wish to help in

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II.

Types of Abuse
1. Psychological/Emotional
a) Language spoken to children destroys them mentally (7)
b) Also includes psychological abuse yelling, shaming, threats,
humiliation, etc
c) Is the worst type of abuse because it creates an impact on a child
that lasts forever
(1) Example: Parents often favoring one child over the other.
They tend to care only for one making the other child
feeling neglected. (7)
2. Sexual
a) Often times known as rape; is the unwanted sexual activity on a
victim (7)
b) Can simply be an unwanted touch or more serious like intercorse
with one another (7)
(1) Example: Taking advantage of a child's vulnerability at a
young age by performing sexual activities in front of them
or with them
(2) If children display signs of anxiety when going around a
relative's or a family-friends home parents should be
aware that a child may be being sexual abused by those
people
(3) The disturbing fact about sexual predators is that many if
not most times the sexual offender is a family member or
family friend in which the victim knows well. (7)
(4) almost three in four rapes were committed by someone the
victim knew well
3. Physical
a) Physical act or threat meant to harm another person (7)
b) Can leave marks on a victim's body but a mark does not to appear
or be scene in order to count as physical abuse
c) Has severe and less severe cases. For instance, if someone was
pinched as to if someone was pushed down the stairs. Both cases
count as physical abuse but one is creating more harm on a victim
than another.
(1) Example: Is punching, hair-pulling, kicking, etc. Anything
that leaves behind a mark is putting physical harm on a
victim (7)

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4. Verbal
a) Is a form of psychological abuse
b) Abuser who uses words and body language with the intent to hurt
another person (7) (4)
c) Can come from parents, children at schools, people in the
community, or even online communicating
(1) Example: put downs, name-calling, and unreasonable
criticisms
5. Which type of child abuse is most prevalent? (5)
a) Physical Abuse . 28.3%
b) Sexual Abuse. 20.7%
c) Emotional Neglect . 14.8%
d) Emotional Abuse .. 10.6%
e) Physical Neglect 9.9%
B. What abuse requires the most attention?
1. What is psychological/emotional abuse on children?
a) Creates a lasting impact on the individual and oftentimes carries
into their adulthood
b) Psychological abuse is more difficult to see with the human eye in
comparison to physical abuse because everything is happening in
the victim's own subconscious
2. Examples of how children suffer emotional abuse
a) May be fueled by parents own self-hatred, jealousy, and narcissism
b) Parents who fail to communicate with their children on a day to
day basis are creating a negative impact on their child's life without
realizing it. (3)
c) Parents can say classic phrases that creates mental damage to that
child making them feel like they are not good enough (3)
d) Children who are emotionally abused and neglected face similar
and sometimes worse mental health problems as children who are
physically or sexually abused, yet psychological abuse is rarely
addressed in prevention programs or in treating victims. (3)
3. Different forms of psychological abuse...
a) Indifference - to the childs needs or temperament, which may be
different from his or her siblings (3)
b) Humiliation - when the child fails at a task or misunderstand
instructions (3)

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c) Denigration - negative description of something the child achieves

or expresses interest in (3)
d) Neglect - failing to provide essential emotional support or
recognition of the childs needs (3)
e) Unrelenting pressure - to serve parental expectations, often
accompanied by negative comparisons of the child to others who
follow the program (3)
C. Mentoring Programs
1. How to become a mentor at the YMCA for children who suffered abuse
a) Background checks are looked at before a person is allowed to
enroll in mentoring training
b) A mentor has a commitment to met with their mentee for a
minimum of 12 months
c) Communication should be done on a professional level unless
instructed otherwise
d) A mentor must abide but all the rules and regulations.
(1) If a mentor wants to take their mentee on a trip of some
sorts they must abide by the driving guidelines, fill out a
form to get the trip approved and ask for parent's
permission
e) Most importantly make sure your mentee is protected and not in
harm during any meeting or trip of any kind. It is the mentor's
responsibility to abide by all the rules the YMCA has made for
their program and help their mentee with their problems.
f) A mentor is a person trained in understanding the signs of abuse a
child will display. As well as develop a relationship with their
mentee to help take any unwanted pressure off by being an
accepting and positive presence (2)
2. Abuse and the damages
a) As stated earlier, physical, sexual, or emotional abuse damages a
childs fundamental identity emotional being the worst
b) Abuse often times creates disturbances that can lead to lifelong
problems including rage and fear
c) Neglect and emotional damage is by the far the worst type of abuse
a child can face, mostly because a child has a hard time expressing
how they are feeling and most people do not comprehend. (2)

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d) Abuse can also damage a childs fundamental identity by changing

the way they view themselve, the world around them, and life as a
whole.
e) Potential effects are.. (2)
(1) Severe anxiety
(2) Self-injury
(3) PTSD
(4) Phobias
(5) Depression
(6) Drug abuse requiring the help of a drug rehab facility
(7) Insomnia
(8) Promiscuity
(9) Difficulty in learning, struggling in school
(10) Suicide
(11) Eating disorders
(12) Extreme anger and hostility
(13) Personality effects like dissociation or
obsessive-compulsive disorder
3. Mentors responsibilities when helping their mentee
a) One common misconception of mentoring programs is that
mentors are not present to be a therapist for their mentee
(1) If your mentee is displaying signs of trauma the mentor will
find an appropriate advocate that will arrange for a
response to your mentees needs
b) When attending mentor programs the mentee benefits enormously
from a mentor's attention and presence because they feel accepted
and loved which is a new feeling for most depending on the abuse
they faced previously
c) Trauma of any kind can oftentimes leave the mentee feeling alone
and isolated
d) A mentor can serve as an anchor and a refuge for your traumatized
mentee
e) A mentor's job is to make HIS/HER mentee believe that
HE?SHE IS are worthy of care by developing a trusting
relationship with their mentee and help them realize their fullest
potential. (2)
f) In a typical mentor program, children are paired with a trained
individual in order to cultivate a relationship that will spark a
change in the mentee

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III.

Counter-Claim
A. Mentoring Training is old and needs to be renewed
1. A mentor is helping children overcome their past experiences through
rebuilding their self-esteem and social skills, instead of building up
academic integrity (6)
2. 700 mentoring programs: 36% of volunteers received less than 2 hours of
training & 22% received none at all (6)
3. Mentoring programs need to revise the way they train individuals to
become mentors to young children stay with the time
4. Not everyone is set out to be a mentor proper background checks and
training is needed before a person can mentor another human (6)
5. Mentoring training needs to be exclusive and in depth as a mentor handles
very tough situations that you have to be prepared for at any given time
6. Age limits are restricted for mentors for a reason. Young children can not
be a mentor for their peers because they do not have the appropriate
training to help another child who had suffered physical, emotional, or
sexual abuse
B. Mentoring Programs are beneficial (Argument)
1. Mentoring programs have many rules and regulations to abide by in order
to ensure that their mentee is provided with the appropriate care needed in
the recovery process
2. Mentors help build mentees social skills (6)
3. Community-based afterschool programs can provide safe havens where
youth can express themselves and receive guidance in engaging in social
and community services (6)
4. Mentoring programs seek to build strong positive relationships between
at-risk youth and mentors
5. Help mentees develop self-esteem, motivation, tenacity, trustworthiness,
perseverance and resiliency, among other noncognitive skills, and to
reduce personal, familial, and social barriers that prevent young people
from valuing school and succeeding academically (6)
6. Help their mentees to build social and cultural skills to help with
furthering their education at different levels
7. Mentoring programs differ based upon the length of the program, the
mentors and their training and previous experience, the intensity of the
program, and the commitment to the program from funding and supporters
(6)

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8. Statistically children who have a mentor by their side tend to do better in

school than children who are left on their own
a) This is because children with parents constantly have someone on
their back about doing well in school which is now the roll of the
mentor to support the individual and encourage them to do well in
school
9. From the Mentoring Effect it is said that.
a) Children who have mentors are 55% more likely to enroll in
college compared to children who do not have a supporter
b) 78% of children with a mentor are more likely to participate/
volunteer within their community to give back
c) 81% enroll in some type of extracurricular activity or sport
d) 90% have an interest in becoming a mentor in order to help
children like themselves
(8)

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IV.

Conclusion
A. Children who are in need of a mentor or a support group tend to improve their
social skills as well as their academic integrity unlike popular belief
B. Children can suffer many different variations of abuse including physical, sexual,
verbal, and emotional/psychological.
C. Emotional abuse is by far the most horrendous type of abuse and many times is
not cared for properly because it is hard to detect with the human eye.
D. Child abuse has and will remain a problem in the United States if no action is put
forth to stop that careless actions of others
E. It is our responsibility as a trained mentor to help these children who suffer abuse
combat their problems and challenges by being a supporter for them.
F. A report of child abuse is made every 10 seconds (6)
1. We as a society and a community need to change this disturbing statistic
by making sure children are in the appropriate care. We also need to make
sure children are taken care of after the fact through mentoring programs
and removing children from their current situation and placing them into a
better facility or home.
G. Overall, mentoring programs are beneficial to a child who has suffered a form of
abuse because it gives them the opportunity to open up in a closed environment
and have the knowledge that a person cares for them and encourages them to
improve throughout the program.

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Works Cited
(1) Chip, Wesley, et al. Reach and Rise Mentoring Manual: A Mentoring Program of the YMCA.
The YMCA, 2013.
(2) Council on Alcoholism and Drug Abuse. "Fighting Back Mentor Program
Resource Center - Trauma and Healing." Fighting Back Mentor Program Resource
Center - Home, Mentor Research Center, mentor-center.org/trauma-and-healing/.

(3) LaBier, Douglas. "Childhood Psychological Abuse Has Long-Lasting Impact | Huffington
Post."The Huffington Post, The Huffington Post - The Blog, 14 Feb. 2015,
www.huffingtonpost.com/douglas-labier/childhood-psychological-a_b_6301538.html.

(4) Mazarin, Jade. "Child Abuse and Neglect: 4 Major Types, Characteristics & Effects - Video
& Lesson Transcript." Study.com, Counseling 101: Fundamentals of Counseling / Social
Science Courses, 2016,study.com/academy/lesson/child-abuse-and-neglect-4-major
-types-characteristics-effects.html.
(5) O'Meara, Sara, and Yvonne Fedderson. "Child Abuse Statistics." Childhelp, Prevention and
Treatment of Child Abuse, www.childhelp.org/child-abuse-statistics/#physical.
(6) Rodriguez-Planas, Nuria. "Do youth mentoring programs change the perspectives and
improve the life opportunities of at-risk youth?" IZA World of Labor - Home, May 2014,
wol.iza.org/articles/do-youth-mentoring-programs-change-the-perspectives-andimprove-the-life-opportunities-of-at-risk-youth.pdf.
(7) Tracy, Natasha. "Types of Abuse: What Are the Different Forms of Abuse?" HealthyPlace,
HealthyPlace America's Mental Health Channel, 18 July 2016,
www.healthyplace.com/abuse/abuse-information/types-of-abuse-what-are-the-different
-forms-of-abuse/.
(8) "Research Studies." Big Brothers Big Sisters of Western North Carolina, BBBS
WNC, 2014, www.bbbswnc.org/research-studies/.