Developing Bonds: An Exploration of the Development of Bonds between Mentors and Young People

The paper describes a piece of research exploring young people’s experience of a mentoring relationship in the context of a service (PROMISE). The scheme has been developed to offer vulnerable young children a supportive relationship to assist their lives. Previous research has indicated that they found the long-term weekly meetings with a voluntary mentor to be beneficial. In particular they indicated that the mentors provide a supportive relationship which helped them cope and were of benefit to their sense of self-worth and identity. This paper explores in further detail the nature of this relationship, including how it develops in the context of mentoring. The findings are considered within the framework of attachment and social constructionist theories. Implications for similar mentoring programmes are discussed alongside wider implications for assisting this group of young people.