Date of Award

Spring 1-15-2024

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

MA - Master of Arts

Department

Mindfulness Studies

First Advisor

Melissa Jean

Second Advisor

Andrew Olendzki

Abstract

Approximately 4.5 million youth in the United States participate in community-based mentoring programs, an accepted form of intervention worldwide. Adult mentors are typically paired with a minoritized, historically underserved youth (Rhodes, 2023). The mentor helps the youth navigate life’s roads and obstacles including academic, personal, and family issues, college transition, jobs, and mental health and wellness. Inherent in these relationships are generational and cultural gaps. Mindfully addressing these gaps can improve the relationship and lead to more successful outcomes.

Given the many challenges in our post-pandemic world, mentoring programs have never been more needed (Van Dam et al., 2022). The mentoring community is currently focusing on how to derive the greatest benefit from these relationships, resulting in a shift away from friendship-based mentoring models and toward evidence-based practices. The research shows that mentor training is an essential piece of any community-based mentoring program and should focus on creating conditions for successful mentoring by closing the generational and cultural gaps inherent in most mentoring dyads. This is accomplished through target approaches in building trust, mindful communication, and creating cultural awareness through self-awareness and bridge-building. Mindful practices can be at the core of this.

Creative Commons License

Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

Language

English

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