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Youth Initiated Mentoring in Social Work: Sustainable Solution for Youth with Complex Needs?

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Abstract

Youth Initiated Mentoring (YIM) is a new approach in child and family services, in which collaboration with natural mentors from within the social network of the young person is central. Young people themselves choose a mentor from within their environment. This mentor is their confidential advisor and he or she stands up for the interests of the young person. In addition, the YIM is a cooperation partner for parents and social workers. Research into the long-term effects is lacking, therefore, in the current study, a total of 24 (former) YIMs were interviewed (14 women, 10 men). The ages of the YIMs range from 23 to 78 years (M = 50, SD = 13.7). On average, the YIMs know the young people for a periode of 9 years and 6 months (SD = 5.1), family members not included. The YIM program were closed 6 months to 4 years ago (M = 2.3, SD = 1.12). The majority of YIMs keep in touch with the young person (75%) and currently most young persons lives at home or in within their community (79%). The YIM approach is a resilient and promising approach in social work, prerequisite that it is valued by parties involved.

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Funding

Funding for this project was obtained by ZONMW, the Netherlands Organisation for Health Research and Development, Project Number 729310004.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. University of Amsterdam, Forensic Child and Youth Care, Amsterdam, The Netherlands

    Levi van Dam, Lotte Heijmans & Geert J. Stams

  2. University of Amsterdam, Forensic Child and Youth Care, Barchman Wuytierslaan 196C, 3818 LN, Amersfoort, The Netherlands

    Levi van Dam

Authors
  1. Levi van Dam
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  2. Lotte Heijmans
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  3. Geert J. Stams
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Contributions

LD was the leading author, he designed the study, conducted the funding, did the interpretation of the data, and wrote the manuscript. LH supported with the data collection, interpretation of the data and writing the manuscript. GJS supported with the interpretation of the data en reviewed the manuscript.

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Correspondence to Levi van Dam.

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The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

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van Dam, L., Heijmans, L. & Stams, G.J. Youth Initiated Mentoring in Social Work: Sustainable Solution for Youth with Complex Needs?. Child Adolesc Soc Work J 38, 149–155 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10560-020-00730-z

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10560-020-00730-z

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