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Mentoring
Individuals in need contact Hope United and complete an intake that helps our organization best determine the best plan of action to address, and overcome, the obstacles that are keeping these individuals from thriving in life. They are then assigned a trained mentor from one of our local partner churches to walk alongside them in their journey to hope and healing.
Hope United Online Mentor Training
Find out how you and your church can be a part of disciplining the most vulnerable individuals in St. Joseph County and help bring hope and healing to their lives.
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Instructions and Notes
Mentoring a Returning Citizen is a training program with two major elements, a workbook, and videos for each lesson in the workbook. Although the material was designed initially for returning citizens, we have found the material an excellent source of training for mentoring all those struggling to thrive in life.
The goal of the training is to equip laypeople for:
• Evaluating their fitness for mentoring
• Getting started as a mentor
Even for people who ultimately decide to not pursue this type of mentoring, much of the information shared and skills taught can be useful in other settings.
These notes provide valuable information for using the resource and adapting it to various situations and environments. We strongly recommend that potential trainees, whether individuals or groups, as well as potential training group facilitators, consider this information and identify how best to use the training materials, including possibly customizing the training to get the most out of the experience.
Format and Setting
The nine videos vary in length as follows (excluding embedded pause locations to answer questions or perform learning activities that will add additional class time)
Video Lesson Duration
Lesson 0 – Introduction 41:34
Lesson 1 – Learn About the Mentee in a General Way 1:03:30
Lesson 2 – Converse and Listen 1:05:20
Lesson 3 – Build a Relationship with the Mentee 1:41:36
Lesson 4 – Build an Action Plan You Both Agree On 56:38
Lesson 5 – Run Recurring Meetings with the Mentee 55:06
Lesson 5 – Role Play (additional material) 34:24
Lesson 6 – Hold the Mentee and Mentor Relationship Accountable 59:42
Lesson 7 – Assess Your Fit for This Type of Ministry 22:34
Although the videos closely follow the workbook, these elements are complementary. Participants are strongly urged to use both, including a hard copy of the workbook that can be marked up and has room for notes while watching the videos. Specifically, there are wide margins and a blank page at the end of each lesson for notes. Also, notice that all the learning activities for each lesson are repeated at the end of each lesson to facilitate easier review later. Reading the workbook material either before or after viewing the video is largely a matter of participant preference, but each element contains valuable information that is not present in the other element.
Ideally, the training will work best as a group exercise with a facilitator. Some of the activities in the program involve working with a partner, so having multiple participants involved at the same time is beneficial. If technology allows, participants could be in more than one location (on a platform such as Zoom or Microsoft Teams) provided the participants can interact individually with another participant for some activities (e.g., in a Zoom break-out room). WELS Prison Ministry periodically will offer the training in a remote fashion with a facilitator for those who would like to participate in a group setting but have no local option.
Individuals may wish to do the training outside a group setting. While this is feasible and may be more convenient, the training experience may not be as beneficial. Some modifications of learning activities will be necessary and are suggested in the next section.
The video recording was done on two consecutive days, so if participants want an intensive training experience, that is an option. If participants have difficulty blocking out that much time, a weekly 1-2 hour training experience over 7 or 8 weeks is also a possibility.
Activity Suggestions and Modifications
Each lesson contains learning activities that enhance and extend the information presented to give the participants a deeper understanding of various principles of mentoring as well as give them an opportunity to begin to apply them. Though not explicitly stated, the instructions for the activity generally indicate whether portions of the activity can be done in a few minutes during a pause in the class or should be treated as “homework” and done outside of class. For example, some activities require internet research or analysis of an everyday activity that fit the homework description. If the participant is in a course with others that meets multiple times, the facilitator may wish to begin the session with a recap of the homework activities and have participants share what they learned.
Participants that use the material on their own can choose whether to do the activities while pausing the video, where possible (recommended because the material is fresh), or treat all the activities as homework. In cases where an activity requires a partner who has some knowledge of the course material, Hope United can possibly connect you to others that are currently taking the mentor training course. The video segments indicate a suggested length of time to do (or at least start) the noted activities based on their complexity. Feel free to take additional time, if available, to have the participants discuss what they learned by doing the activities. Final thoughts Thank you for considering this vital, joyful, and fruitful ministry. Because Jesus is the one who will bless those who invest the time to explore and, Lord willing, become involved in mentoring, please begin and end each session with prayer asking him to do so.
Use the following link to access the mentor training materials:
(Hold your arrow on the below address and hit “enter” or copy and paste the following address in your search browser.)
Mentoring A Returning Citizen – CongServe (welscongregationalservices.net)
1. Download – Mentoring a Returning Citizen – Participant Workbook
2. Click on – Instructional Videos – watch at your own pace
3. Contact Jill Gunn once you have completed the seven videos and finished your workbook for further instruction.
For more information contact Jill Gunn at 269-858-5583 or jillgunn@hopeunitedsjc.com
We are so grateful to WELS Prison Ministry for allowing Hope United to use their materials. For further information on these materials, please feel free to contact:
Dave Hochmuth
WELS Prison Ministry Administrator
phone: 414-256-3243
N16 W23377 Stone Ridge Drive, Waukesha, WI 53188
Sharing Jesus with people impacted by incarceration