Women and Mentoring WAM support women, trans and gender diverse people who have justice system involvement. We are looking for women who are committed to 12 months or more and with availability during the day to meet a woman to support her in her community. Must attend an information session and be available for training over two full days. Volunteers must have time free during the week to meet with women they support. Volunteers will be matched with women across the metro region, including Frankston and in both the Mornington Peninsula and Ballarat areas. Many of the women we support are in their 30s or older. Most say that they would like a mentor closer to their age. For this reason, we are particularly interested in attracting volunteers aged 26 and over.

WAM mentors are good listeners who trust that women are the experts of their own experiences. Mentors believe in a community that is safe and welcoming for all women. WAM mentors are carefully selected, screened, and trained before working in the program. Each mentor is required to participate in regular supervision with program staff and other WAM mentors.

Key functions of the mentoring role are:

Building rapport: Mentors focus on listening carefully and attentively to their participant and to focus on hearing the strengths; feeding back about how utilising her strengths she may be able to manage issues and difficulties herself (rather than fixing them for her).

Practical Assistance: Mentors could write court support letters, assist participants to search out and access resources, send appointment reminders, and other tasks as required by the participant. Often this involves working with professional services such as court, police, and the social service sector during the week.

Boundaries: The mentor is a voluntary representative of WAM and always behaves professionally. However, as the role is voluntary, the mentor is also required to consider when activities are beyond the scope of their role and access assistance and referrals with informed consent from the participant.

Social connectedness: Mentors work with participants on connecting with the community around them. Mentors are knowledgeable about opportunities for positive connections in volunteering, employment, social, and activity groups.