Formal and Informal Canadian Mentoring Research on Children and Youth

Canadian children and youth have been described as more socially engaged, educated, and diverse than previous generations, yet they also face unprecedented challenges. Youth are reporting social disconnection and mental health concerns at alarming rates. These challenges were higher for youth during the COVID-19 global pandemic, just as access to supports are limited – disproportionately so for those impacted by socioeconomic status and diversity indicators. Mentoring programs helped meet this need. Available across Canada these programs aim to match children and youth with caring adult mentors in order to improve wellbeing and foster long-term success. Through regular participation in educational, recreational and social activities mentoring relationships provide youth with human connection through support, companionship, and guidance. Yet, little Canadian based research is accessible to key mentoring stakeholders (i.e., other researchers, key decision makers, and mentor organizations). One of the main reasons for this is that mentoring researchers are not connected to one another in any formalized way. Thus, the purpose of the current project is to develop a repository of current Canadian-based mentoring research, connect researchers, and foster the development of interdisciplinary research teams.

Faculty Supervisor:

Christina Rinaldi

Student:

Partner:

Boys and Girls Clubs Big Brothers Big Sisters of Edmonton and Area;Mentor Canada

Discipline:

Sociology

Sector:

Professional, scientific and technical services

University:

University of Alberta

Program: