[Obligatory apologies for neglecting this blog.]
I’ve been meaning to write about an idea coming out of the Adoptment program to bring more structure into their mentoring sessions. The group has recently handed over the planning of one session to each mentor/mentee pair. Aside from allowing young people to take more responsibility for driving the agenda, this strategy has the added benefit of easing the administrative burden on the program coordinator.
The first participant-planned session was a hit! It involved a game of Jeopardy where each of the categories was purposely tailored to the knowledge areas of each youth in the program. These categories included obvious topics such as “entertainment” and “sports,” but to play to the strengths of everyone involved, the mentor/mentee pair spent some time combing through Facebook posts to brush up on everyone’s interests.
During “half-time” the entire group got together to discuss one question: “What is one thing related to your experience in foster care or adoption that you haven’t yet shared with the group?” The stories that arose were so profound that group continued their conversation even after the second half of the game.
Congratulations to A. and J. for their creativity and thoughtfulness in planning the session!
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