Peer Mentor Volunteers: Empowering People for Change
1999
by Donna Redford and Pam Whitaker-Lee
The Problem
Arizona Bridge to Independent Living (ABIL) currently serves a metropolitan
area of over 2 million people. With a total of 26 staff, the only way
to provide independent living skills instruction, peer support, early
intervention, leadership development and advocacy to such a large community
is to have a solid volunteer
base.
The Plan
ABIL began its Peer Mentor Program in 1990. A staff member with a spinal
cord injury wanted to provide the peer support he lacked while undergoing
rehabilitation in Phoenix, Arizona. Another staff member received a mentor
at the Kessler Institute. We researched what other CILs were doing to
provide peer support and found that most were providing peer support through
their staff. The CIL in Montana had the only program similar to what we
had envisioned. However, Montana paid their mentors.
ABIL believed that mentors should be volunteers for several reasons.
We thought it would mean more to the mentee if their mentor were someone
who really wanted to be with them. We also believed that mentors needed
to be available to the mentee evenings and weekends. Finally, we wanted
the relationship to be a natural extension of the community where friends
help friends without expecting to be paid for it.
The Success
At first a staff member whose job was providing independent living skills
instruction was also assigned to coordinate the volunteers. The first
team had six people and the training was 48 hours long. Within three years
it became clear that the mentoring program was effective. However, if
we wanted it to grow, we needed a full-time volunteer coordinator. We
use Part C funding to support the position. In addition to the volunteer
coordinator, ABIL has added three other full-time staff who provide substantial
volunteer coordination as well as systems change work through additional
funding resources to outreach specific populations. Those funders believed
our Peer Mentoring program was beneficial enough to support its expansion.
Today, ABIL has 50 active mentors who volunteered over 4,000 hours during
1998. Mentors promote community advocacy and work with consumers on achieving
independent living goals. Some of the mentors, along with other volunteers,
provided an additional 1,000 hours of technical and clerical support to
ABIL programs.
What is a Peer Mentor?
Peer Mentors are individuals with disabilities who:
- are already living independently
- are integrated into their community
- have a desire to help others do the same
Peer Mentors are not, nor do they try to be, medical professionals.
They offer guidance through the maze of services. They are people who:
- have "been there"
- can be called after business hours
- offer friendship and encouragement
- are eager to listen
- have hard earned wisdom
- are willing to confront bureaucracy (advocate for system change)
ABIL Mentoring Programs
Mentors work with anyone who is adapting to a disability or seeking
to increase their independence. Peer Mentors also volunteer in a variety
of other capacities (e.g., outreach presentations, providing information
and referral, and community advocacy). Mentors:
- help newly injured individuals adapt to their disability
- assist in finding community resources
- teach people how to use the public transit system
- assist those who are new to the area
- provide friendship
- advocate with service providers
Over the years our mentor program has expanded to include several focus
areas,
each with a different funding source:
- Early Intervention (EI) to rehabilitation centers has been supported
through a United Way grant for the past four years. We have outreached
over 1,000 newly disabled individuals and family members. The EI coordinator
was part-time until this year and has now expanded to nursing home outreach.
- This Is MY Life provides system advocacy to promote self-determination
and mentoring for persons with developmental disabilities who are entrenched
in the system. The first two years were supported through a Robert Wood
Johnson grant to our Arizona Developmental Disabilities (DD) Division.
This year the program has been expanded countywide and is supported
by the AZ DD Division.
- The Community Living Options project works with higher functioning
adults with DD who do not qualify for services from the DD Division.
These individuals need more community support to lead productive, satisfying
lives. This is supported half by the United Way and half by Social Services
block grant (TitleXX) funds.
- People First of Arizona start-up project provides self-determination
training, leadership development and informal peer mentoring for persons
with DD.
- Young Adults Having Overcome Obstacles (YAHOO) is the most recent
mentor opportunity being added to ABIL's mentoring programs. Young adults
with disabilities entering high school begin to pull away from their
parents, as do all youth. However, meeting peers is not as easy for
youths with disabilities as it is for their counterparts. This program
matches young adults with disabilities (and family members) with youth
from the community.
Peer Mentor Recruitment
Ongoing outreach for new mentors is a must as most mentors only volunteer
for a year or two, then move on to higher education, employment, or other
forms of volunteerism. About 1/3 of our Peer Mentor Volunteers called
ABIL looking for volunteer opportunities. Another 1/3 are recommended
by ABIL staff and mentors as persons with disabilities whom they believe
would be good role models. As mentors successfully achieve their own independent
living goals, the next step is to share their experience with others.
About 1/3 of our mentors are recruited through publicity in ABIL's monthly
newsletter, The Bridge; local publications; and through community outreach
presentations.
Mentor Training
The Peer Mentor Volunteer recruits are given a 50-page resource book
with handouts on orientation class topics and important information and
referral resources during an initial 12-hour orientation training that
introduces volunteers to:
- ABIL programs
- Independent living philosophy (includes the Ed Roberts video)
- Adaptation to disability and the grieving process
- Disability oppression
- Community resources
- Crisis intervention and the "duty to report" policy
- Goal setting
- ABIL program guidelines and procedures
Mentors are then invited to monthly team meetings and follow-up training
opportunities that include:
- Peer counseling (re-evaluation counseling model) techniques
- Self-advocacy
- Community advocacy (i.e., legislation process)
- Disability awareness panel discussions
- Civil rights (i.e., ADA and Fair Housing)
- Attitudinal barriers: disability oppression/liberation
- Other topics requested by mentors
Supervision
Some volunteers need little supervision. Others are just one step ahead
of their mentees and need more supervision. Some mentors decide they do
not like working one-on-one but really enjoy community advocacy. Mentors
need to be treated individually, just as consumers do.
All staff who work directly with a consumer who is matched with a Peer
Mentor Volunteer serve in some capacity as a volunteer coordinator. Some
of those duties include recruitment of volunteers, assisting with the
training, setting up the initial meeting between the mentor and mentee,
and evaluating the mentee's progress. The volunteer coordinator is responsible
for outreach, recruiting, training, coordination of matches, assignments
to staff (for volunteers who are not mentors and assist with technical
or clerical work), volunteer support, and documentation. Most recently,
we created a Mentor Team Leader position as a method of better supporting
each mentor. This position was created in response to a suggestion from
a Peer Mentor. Currently, five Peer Mentor Volunteers serve as Team Leaders
and liaisons between the volunteer coordinator and the mentors. Team Leaders
can invoke a phone-tree to pass information on to the mentors, encourage
their efforts, and remind mentors to call in their volunteer activities
for program documentation.
ABIL tracks mentor volunteer activities for two purposes: 1) to document
contact with mentors in the consumer service record and 2) to track hours
volunteered by mentors which can be used as in-kind donations to ABIL
for purposes of program funding matches. It has always been difficult
to get the Peer Mentors to report their mentoring activities. We have
created a form to help them track their volunteer time and the kind and
topic of their mentee contacts (i.e., phone or face-to-face, employment
or housing location). Some mentors send this form in monthly. Others call
in on a designated phone line and leave a message about their activities.
In the beginning, when the team was smaller, the volunteer coordinator
would listen to these messages and enter the data into a data base that
could be used for running reports on time volunteered and for running
off documentation for the consumer files. As the team grew, this became
too time consuming for the volunteer coordinator and a support staff person
took over this responsibility.
During training, mentors are encouraged to call the staff person assigned
if they need supervision assistance regarding the consumer and the volunteer
coordinator regarding volunteer issues. All mentees are informed of and
given a copy of ABIL's "duty to report" policy which advises
them what to do if their mentee reports feeling suicidal, homicidal, or
reports any incident of abuse.
Program Coordination
Program Application Form. We designed an application that asks for:
- basic information
- days of availability
- work history (if any)
- counseling experience
- experience with people with disabilities
- affiliations with community service agencies
- what they wish to gain from volunteering
- how they feel they can be effective as a mentor
- what is independence
Character Reference Form. It is important to
check character references even if the person is well known through the
CIL. We also interview the applicant via telephone or in person. We designed
a character reference form which asks information about the applicant,
such as:
- the length of time they have known each other
- if they have abused drugs and/or alcohol
- if they were involved in a felony or crime
- dependability
- patience
- concern for and respect of others
- punctuality
- cleanliness
- maturity
- trustworthiness
- performance ability
Mentor Guidelines. Finally, we use a list of guidelines the mentor must
sign agreeing to:
- maintain confidentiality
- report any consumer suicidal or homicidal thoughts or suspicion of
abuse
- be a facilitator (do not work harder than mentee to achieve goals)
- teach from personal knowledge
- maintain proper mentor/friendship relationship (do not date mentee)
- have regular contact with mentee
- attend meetings and training as appropriate
- report hours of service each month
- be responsible to arrange or provide their own transportation
On-Going Training and Mentor Team Meetings.
Team meetings are held twice a month. One is during normal business hours
for mentors who depend on public transportation. One is after normal business
hours for mentors who work or have transportation and prefer evening meetings.
The meeting serves as an avenue for ongoing training and/or information
and as a forum for the mentors to know one another. Historically, meetings
are not well attended unless the topics are truly useful.
Mentor Resource List. We keep a database, which
includes all previous and current Peer Mentors, their areas of expertise,
and those assigned to them for mentoring. Lists containing the areas of
expertise and phone numbers of each mentor are mailed regularly to all
active mentors. The mentors are encouraged to be part of a team and to
call each other for questions about a specific area of expertise of other
mentors, support, and assistance working on mentee issues. The mentors
are provided home telephone numbers of the staff to call in case of a
crisis situation after business hours.
Program Evaluation
The effectiveness of the program relies on evaluations of both the mentors
and mentees. Mentees and mentors are evaluated separately. The surveys
are conducted at one, three, and six months from the date of the initial
meeting. Staff who referred the mentee are responsible for the mentee
evaluations. The volunteer coordinator or her representative is responsible
for conducting the mentor evaluations. The questions on the survey mirror
each other so each person is asked about his or her perception of the
match and the goals achieved. Previous program evaluations indicated that
early evaluation was the best way to find out if the mentor match is working
and assure match compatibility. Therefore, it is imperative that an evaluation
process be proactively implemented early and periodically after the match
is made.
Mentors and mentees will not necessarily call you when there is a problem;
they will often just simply fade away.
Benefit to Mentors
The mentor experience is as beneficial for the mentors as for the mentees.
Mosth mentors report that the experience is empowering and fulfilling.
Peer Mentors report satisfaction from being able to "give back,"
while simultaneously benefitting by increasing their own advocacy skills,
awareness of community resources, leadership skills, sense of community,
knowledge of civil rights and self-esteem. Examples of former ABIL mentors
who benefitted from the experience are abundant. For example:
- One of our original mentors (eight years ago) completed an internship
with ABIL, graduated with a degree in Social Work, and was recently
hired to head up ABIL's program to reintegrate consumers from nursing
homes into community living.
- One is the current coordinator for our People First start-up project.
- One is now the director of the independent living center on the Navajo
reservation.
- One contracts with state VR to provide IL skills instruction.
- Six members of the Statewide Independent Living Council (SILC) are
current or former ABIL mentors.
- About 20% of those who are mentored become mentors themselves.
- We reimburse mileage or public transportation expenses related to
their
volunteerism (though few take advantage of this reimbursement).
Volunteer Recognition
Funding constraints limit the frequency and types of recognition we can
provide (e.g., luncheon, T-shirts, gifts). However, this doesn't seem
to discourage their participation. In fact, some volunteers are embarrassed
when their achievements are singled out. We have sponsored an annual holiday
party in December to which staff, mentors and mentees are invited. The
past two years we have joined with the local Parent Training and Information
Center, Raising Special Kids, for the holiday event so that parents and
children can meet more adults with disabilities. In some years we have
provided small calendars with the ABIL logo for mentors as holiday gifts.
We have featured on occasion mentor/mentee stories in our monthly newsletter,
and periodically recognize all our volunteers, listing their names. Our
county Volunteer Center mentor task force supports group recognition and
warns against individual recognition.
Difficulties
Roles. It has taken several years for our board
and staff to really understand and support the Peer Mentor Volunteer program
and to recognize the importance of a designated funded volunteer coordinator
position as a human resource specialist. It has taken a few years to get
the staff to understand their role as a volunteer coordinator and to learn
the appropriate referral process, work cooperatively with the mentors,
and actively recruit new mentors.
Funding. It became clear that in order for
our volunteer program to be successful we needed staff dedicated to this
role. Our executive director, having had a peer mentor during her rehabilitation,
has been an advocate for this program since she came to ABIL. We decided
to dedicate Part C funding for the volunteer coordinator position so that
it was stable funding and the position could maintain continuity. This
has been a very beneficial decision.
Volunteer Hour Reporting. It has always been
and continues to be a struggle to get all the Peer Mentor volunteer hours
reported. While some mentors function independently and recognize the
value of the volunteering they do, many other mentors either don't have
the skills, the cognitive ability or the motivation to report their volunteer
activities. To get hours turned in, they often require coaxing. In most
cases we have chosen to do this rather than ask them to stop volunteering,
because they have continued to benefit consumers even though they don't
report volunteer hours. It appears that some of our mentors had not developed
a work ethic, while others feel more like a friend and actually resent
having to report on the relationship. We have explained the value to the
program and ABIL repeatedly and continue to do so. In some cases, mentors
and mentees decide to re-evaluate their relationship and drop out of the
official mentoring program and remain lifelong friends. We want to keep
the relationship as informal and natural as possible, knowing that those
kind of relationships are what mentees often need.
Matches. Sometimes matches don't work and we
encourage mentors and mentees to let us know if this is the case. We will
simply find another mentor. We recognize we are doing our best to match
people based on the mentees' requests for particular qualities, whatever
they consider most important. In matching we consider a variety of qualities:
sex, age, disability, skill, experience, background.
Role of the Mentor/Inappropriate Behavior.
In eight years of the program we have only had one incidence of inappropriate
behavior. In that case, it was reported by the mentee. After staff investigation,
we told the mentor that they would not be able to continue being a mentor
due to a pattern of inappropriate behavior. We have actually had more
difficulty with mentees acting inappropriately with their mentors. Some
mentees have expected mentors to be available 24 hours a day, have become
too dependent upon the mentors, or expected mentors to do or pay for things
that were not part of their mentoring role. In most of these cases, the
volunteer coordinator intervened to explain this was not appropriate,
as well as to coach mentors on how to set boundaries. In some cases, the
mentee was re-matched to a new mentor after the mentor was coached on
this issue and agreed to try the relationship. In other cases, the mentee
was told that this program would not fit their needs and we tried to make
an appropriate referral.
On-Going Need for New Mentors. Because Peer
Mentors move on to other activities, the programs expand, and requests
continue to grow, we need to continually recruit new mentors. Sometimes
we do not have the appropriate mentor for a mentee and we are unable to
provide a match. We have found that mentees and mentors both will drop
out of the program if they do not get matched fairly quickly. Keeping
this balance can be challenging.
Meeting Attendance. Often it is only the new
Peer Mentors that attend the monthly meetings. Evidently they are the
ones needing the support. However, the new mentors benefit from interacting
with the more experienced mentors and need this contact. We have noticed
that as accessible public transportation and community accessibility has
improved, fewer active mentors attend monthly meetings--they are too busy
with their own lives now!
Transportation. Maricopa County has no regional
public transit. Thus, traveling from city to city takes an inordinate
amount of time and dedication. It is difficult for mentors and mentees
to get together if they reside in different communities. Also, some communities
have little or no public transit, and communities that do have public
transit have none on Sundays or in the evenings.
Distractions for the Volunteer Coordinator.
Because our volunteer coordinator is a resourceful and talented person,
she has too often been pulled into other projects that take time away
from volunteer coordination. Thus, recruiting, mentor evaluations, and
eliciting volunteer hours have been compromised.
Conclusion
ABIL's Peer Mentor Volunteer Program has had far reaching benefits for
ABIL as an organization and for our community. It has literally changed
the way ABIL does business. It has redefined the role of staff in some
cases to include volunteer coordination. It has empowered persons with
disabilities to help each other increase their independence, improve their
self-confidence and achieve their independent living goals.
ABIL has always created programs based on community need, and here we
go again! We continue to be asked for mentors for young people with disabilities.
As no one is currently addressing the mentoring needs of youth with disabilities
in our community, we are in the process of creating a mentoring program
to meet this need which will include collaboration with Valley Big Sisters
and Brothers.
Peer Mentoring is at the heart of the independent living movement. Having
paid staff persons in the role of providing "peer support" can
unintentionally dis-empower persons with disabilities. No matter how hard
we try, if we are getting paid to be there, then we are just one more
service provider.
For more information on ABIL's Peer Mentor Volunteer program, contact:
Arizona Bridge to Independent Living
1229 E. Washington
Phoenix, AZ 85034
602.256.2245 (V/TDD)
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