Supporting and Inspiring Native Youth: Chapter 2

Critical Mentoring: Application

  • Mentoring Program Design (Matching Activity)

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  • Application: Critical Mentoring – Community Involvement

    Part of Critical Mentoring is engaging natural supports for youth, such as community elders and family members. How you do this depends on your role.

    • For mentoring program staff members, it’s important to involve tribal community members in the design, structure, and decision-making process that guides the development and implementation of programs serving Native youth. Are the goals of the program chosen by tribal elders? Is the work relevant to the community’s goals? If so, how can the community support the recruitment, retention, and training of mentors?
    • Individual mentors can also directly support young people engaged with their family and community. This may mean mentors develop a partnership with parents and caregivers, bring siblings and cousins on outings, seek guidance from community elders, connect with Native professionals in the area, and remember important assets (such as tribal colleges).

    Remember to use humility, flexibility, inquisitiveness, and respect in your interactions.

  • Application: Critical Mentoring – Examine Your Role as a Mentor

    Young people today are grappling with very real and very difficult issues. Critical Mentoring can help mentors working with Native youth re-examine the role of a mentor. The following are some questions for mentors to consider.

     

    The Historical and Political Landscape

    • How can you better understand the context in which your mentee is living?

     

    Your Identity

    • Do your experiences significantly differ from your mentee’s? Knowing that your mentee is experiencing racism, bias, and structural challenges, what conversations are you prepared to have?

     

    Native Youth Identity

    • How are you building a network of support to help your mentee navigate growth and challenges? Does your mentee identify with that network?
    • When you discuss the future, are you using motivating statements about school and life? Do those statements match your mentee’s culture and values?

     

    Your Resources

    • How can you support your mentee in elevating their voice, power, and choice? Where do you have limits on what you think youth can accomplish, and how can you rethink your perspective?
  • Reflection

    We encourage you to spend some more time thinking about this chapter and how it applies to your role. Download the companion reflection guide to have a printable copy of the following reflection questions for this chapter:

    For all audiences:

    1. What are the limitations of a one-size-fits-all approach to mentoring Native youth?
    2. What’s an example of a statement that reflects an interdependent sense of self?
    3. What are some approaches to mentoring program design that are well-suited to supporting Native youth?

Relevant Documents

Download Companion Reflection Guide

View Additional Resources

Return to the Introduction of Critical Mentoring to view more resources.

Critical Mentoring

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Go onto the next chapter: Your Identity.

Your Identity

Supporting and Inspiring Native Youth

  1. The Landscape
  2. Critical Mentoring
  3. Your Identity
  4. Native Youth Identity
  5. Your Resources
  6. Call to Action

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  • MENTOR National and Affiliates will use the information you provide to better inform future publications and keep you up to date with advancements in the mentoring field. For more information, check out our privacy policy.