The Youth Mentor Podcast

In this episode we're joined by Louise O'Reilly who shares her perspective as an Aboriginal woman on how we can best support and mentor young people, drawing from her own lived experiences and past work as a youth worker. We talked about:

• Louise’s experience of growing up Aboriginal in Australia
• How Aboriginal kinship structures bring people closer together and what we can learn from this
• The importance of validating Aboriginal identities, cultures and perspectives
• Unpacking personal biases and privilege to be a better ally and mentor
• Amplifying the voices and involvement of Aboriginal youth

Join us in this inspiring episode of The Youth Mentor Podcast as Amanda recaps the 2024 Youth Mentor Conference and shares with you:

• some of the things that are working well for youth mentors, speakers, coaches, and educators as we head into 2024;

• some of the insights that the young people during the conference shared with us;

• some ideas for how you could get started with supporting young people in your community right now.

This episode includes snippets of conference sessions with Wildlings Forest School co-founder, Nicki Farrell, about providing more space and unstructured time for young people; and the founder of Borderline Camps, Cody Schaeffer OAM, about how their fully-funded camps run for young people and how they create an open, casual, trusting space with their campers. Plus highlights from our teens and mentors! 

At the age of 25, Olha Ruda founded 10:11 - a mentorship program for high school students in Ukraine or who have fled the country. From a one-person show to now having over 150 mentors, they’ve delivered more than 1300 hours of mentoring. 

In this episode you’ll get to hear a snippet of an insightful session lead by Olha at our 2023 Youth Mentor Conference. You’ll hear: 

// How she started by herself and grew to a team of over 150 mentors

// Their process of application, mentor and mentee matching and supporting everyone 

// How they grew their community quickly 

// How they ensure mentees feel valued 

// Her plans for growth going forward

Enjoy! 

Join us in this inspiring episode of The Youth Mentor Podcast as we sit down with Wil Massara, a visionary social entrepreneur who started his journey at just 11 years old. Wil takes us through his incredible story, from revolutionising youth leadership with the Youth Leadership Academy Australia to consulting for governments and organisations, bridging the intergenerational gap.

In this conversation, you'll discover:

• Wil's personalised approach to working in schools
• the invaluable lessons he's learned along the way
• and his top tips for building credibility in the youth space.

We delve into strategies for creating engaging conferences that centre around the young people in the room, even with multiple speakers and large audiences. And he shares how he kept going, even when there were only a few people in the room to begin with.

Whether you're a seasoned professional or just starting, Wil's insights provide a powerful guide for anyone looking to make a lasting impact on youth. Don't miss this episode packed with wisdom, experience, and a vision for the future.

🚀 Tune in and learn how to craft your impact with Wil Massara!

In this episode we chat with social entrepreneur Mikhara Ramsing about mentoring young people in regional Australia, writing programs for young people from culturally diverse backgrounds, running a tea social enterprise which funds suicide prevention and Ethnic LGBT+; a national resource platform for culturally and lignuistically diverse LGBTIQA+ communities. She believes stories save lives and has travelled 70,000 kms around Australia in a self-built tiny home connecting with youth in rural communities.

You’ll love her story!

In this episode I chat with Jaclyn Cunningham about:

• the framework of a transformative Rites of Passage experience for teens and their parents, like a Mother-Daughter Retreat
• how she runs retreats like this
• tips for facilitators
• why parents love them and
• how she makes sure they are inclusive.

Meet 3 youth mentors - a former early childhood teacher, a life coach and a UN development worker.

People become youth mentors for all sorts of reasons, and come to this work from all sorts of backgrounds. We want to introduce you to 3 of them today. Some have been doing this work for many years and some are new to the youth mentor space. In this episode you'll get to hear from: 

One of the things I hear the most from folks who know in their bones that they want to work with young people is that they’re not sure if they’re qualified/good/old/young/perfect enough. So, here are 3 things you need to be a great youth mentor! 

Enjoy this short episode with Amanda on her own, giving you a bit of a pep talk and sharing some of the things you do need to connect, engage and hold a brave and nurturing space for young people. 

Join us for a thought-provoking episode of The Youth Mentor Podcast, where Amanda sits down with body liberationist and Body Trust coach, Nicola Haggett. In this snippet of a conversation recorded at the 2022 Youth Mentor Conference, they delve into the complex topic of going beyond body positivity and dismantling body hierarchies. Listen in as they discuss the challenges of working with young people on body image and learn how to start going deeper than suggesting people just 'love themselves.'  

In this episode, we're excited to share with you insights from Sarah Found, a youth mentor and researcher who has recently completed a dissertation on helping young people build hope and resilience in the face of ambiguous loss and uncertainty. With the ongoing pandemic causing unprecedented challenges for everyone, particularly for young people, Sarah's work couldn't be more relevant.

In this episode of our podcast, Sarah takes us through her framework for understanding ambiguous loss and uncertainty and provides practical tips for increasing tolerance of uncertainty, building strengths, and using language that empowers and motivates. You'll learn about the tools Sarah uses to help young people recognise their strengths and move forward despite challenging situations.

If you're looking for ways to support young people in building resilience and hope, or simply want to learn more about navigating uncertainty, this episode is a must-listen. We hope you enjoy the conversation and welcome your thoughts on this important topic.

About Sarah: 

Sarah Found holds a Master of Science (MSc) Degree in Positive Psychology (MAPP), where her dissertation research focused on the development of a framework and story-based media program to help teens build hope and resilience when facing ambiguous loss. Through her positive psychology and youth mentorship work, Sarah holds group workshops and creates online courses to help youth discover their character strengths and build mental, emotional, physical, social and spiritual resilience.

Sarah also holds a Business degree and has worked in the technology industry as a leader in content marketing and team building for over 15 years. She holds numerous certifications in different modalities ranging from youth mentorship, character strengths and trauma-informed art therapy to youth fitness and mindfulness. A storyteller at heart, Sarah is also a published writer. She educates in a playful, imaginative way that integrates her love of story with her background in positive psychology, technology, marketing and communications. Her classes often leverage movie and book characters, expressive art and other positive media forms to help youth re-imagine the future and find the hero within during adversity. Focused on ‘second wave Positive Psychology’ - navigating the dark side of life, Sarah’s non-traditional approach helps youth learn to embrace all emotions and normalize uncertainty in a complicated world.

Sarah currently lives in the Canadian province of Newfoundland, a picturesque island at the easternmost tip of North America in the Atlantic Ocean. She lives by the water with her husband, son and British Golden Retriever, Mr. Carson.

Find Sarah on Instagram at https://www.instagram.com/sarahjfound/ or email her directly at sarah@thepositivepsychologyplayground.com. 

In this episode, I chat with one of our youth mentors, Reece Anderson, about all sorts of things - it was a big, deep, fun chat! 

We covered: 

• self-leadership and how to bring all of you into your mentoring work
• telling it like it is to parents and Reece's unique approach 
• looking at the entire eco-system and environment at home when supporting young people
• his personal mental health journey 
• honouring who we are as people, without the labels - gender, a diagnosis, etc, and also the power in doing that as a youth mentor. 

In this episode, find out what your youth mentor archetype is and how to use it to be the best youth mentor you can be for the youth in your community. Understanding this early on can cut your learning curve so much, help you focus where you're going to have the biggest impact and ensure you can support more young people.