WHY
Adolescent boys in Norfolk face digital pressures, isolation, and harmful online influences that affect their wellbeing and behaviour. Many encounter content promoting misogyny and unhealthy masculinity, whilst screen use and cyberbullying are linked to anxiety and disengagement. One in five young people has a probable mental health condition, and suicide remains the leading cause of death among boys and young men. In Norfolk, rural isolation, limited support, and post-pandemic impacts leave many boys feeling unsupported, with schools struggling to meet increasingly complex needs.
All of our mentors are Norfolk Based - we live here, grew up here and have traversed the path of adolescence with a lot of bumps and bruises. We’re passionate about creating social change through enabling young people to find congruence within themselves - to become who they have the potential of becoming.
We’re not measuring the completion of a programme or for a young man to never get into trouble again. We want to measure their sense of congruence; how connected they feel towards themselves, others and towards their future hope. We want to grow their capacity to live life with courage. We’re also measuring wider-community cultural change, and we’re tracking the impact that mentoring is having on a community of older men, who are beginning to take responsibility for the young people within their networks.
We regularly gather feedback from school staff in the following areas :
School attendance, engagement and likelihood to complete education (vision)
Behaviour change, communication and relational posture change (emotional intelligence + congruence)
Joy and satisfaction (sense of hope)
Care for others (empathy and love)
WHAT
HOW
Every young person is different some need just a few sessions, while others benefit from ongoing support. We don’t follow a rigid program, instead we have a range of engaging tools and approaches to meet each child’s needs. Our approach is informed by the work of leading coaches, educators, philosophers and counsellors. We help young people create a framework for life, exploring finding fulfilment in Faith, Self, Relationships, and meaningful Work.
SAFEGUARDING
Eden Mentoring is a registered CIC. We have a Board of Directors and Advisory Council for due diligence. Together, we ensure all our mentors are safely recruited, and trained to work with young people. As a Network of mentors we will meet to train , connect and keep one another in good company every 6 weeks, following the half term rhythm. We will meet with our Advisors every 3 months.
We take the safety and wellbeing of every young person seriously. Eden Mentoring is delivered as a relationship-led, school-embedded support initiative, and all mentoring activity takes place within the school’s existing safeguarding framework. Eden Mentors work alongside the school to compliment existing support pathways and to ensure young people are safe, supported and protected at all time.
Daniel St John
Head of Safeguarding
Eden Mentors are funded through the work they undertake in partnership with schools and social services. The training and development of our network is primarily funded through grants.
Our future aims are to diversify our skills and our mentors to be able to offer guidance, wisdom and service to young people in Social Care.
We’re also partnering with leading women who can begin to offer mentoring services to young girls within our local communities.
We believe Eden Mentoring could be the primary vehicle in Norfolk for tackling misogyny and toxic masculinity in High Schools. We believe that we could pioneer a movement of men from amongst our communities who take responsibility for guiding the next generation. We believe that change could come to the education structures in our nation as a result of what we are learning and seeing.
Tim Mills
Chairman of The Board