Each year, we collect valuable data from our mentees, mentors and school partners through surveys, interviews and focus groups to understand the impact of our programs. In 2018, 1,016 young people worked with a Raise mentor in one of our 82 programs held across Australia, 724 new mentors were trained to be a Raise Mentor, and 292 experienced Mentors came back to volunteer again with Raise.
The top 5 issues experienced by mentees in our in-school mentoring program (Ismo) are anxiety, (59.9%) depression (42.1%), bullying (40.3%), family illness (38.6%) and suicidal thoughts (29.4%). While 93.6% of mentees say their mentors helped them make better choices, 98% of our mentors improved their listening skills. 100% of schools were pleased their school participated in Raise mentoring and rated it excellent or good. Schools particularly noted overall student improvement in confidence, communication, skills, resilience and relationships with their peers throughout their school.
The main issues experienced by the 57 mentees in our mentoring for young mums program (Bump) are anxiety (78.2%), depression (60.8%) and financial hardship (56.2%). 100% of mentees say they enjoyed the program and 89% state things are different for them because of mentoring. 75% increased their confidence in their ability to parent and 72% can cope better when things go wrong.
Strategic Impact Plan 2019-2024
With the success of our mentoring programs in providing proven outcomes for young Australians at risk of disengaging, and confidence in our position as a leader in the delivery of best-practice mentoring programs, we intent to offer our in-school mentoring programs to every public school in Australia by 2024.
In 2019, we have expanded to run 86 mentoring programs across 6 states including NSW, VIC, QLD, SA, WA and TAS for another 1,000 young people.