Making contact - About-Us - Upstream

Making contact

First contact: The mentor service will receive someone’s name as a possible participant (see Identification and Referral). Depending on the structure of the organisation, either the Assessor or one of the mentors (acting as an assessor) will contact the person by phone or letter to ask if they would like a visit. The Assessor or mentor will make the visit to understand the person’s needs. If an Assessor makes the first visit, the information will be passed to a mentor for subsequent visits.

The purpose of the first contact: 

• to learn what the person’s circumstances and interests might be,
  
• to explain more about what’s available in the community or about special activity groups (see Looking at Options and Activities),
• to discover – and overcome - any practical barriers to participation,
• to complete a ‘Registration Form’.

The person might wish to have a friend, family member or carer with them when the assessor/mentor comes but it is important that they can talk freely. The person will decide what they are interested in, and the assessor/mentor will tell them honestly how they might be able to help. It is important to build up trust between participant and assessor/mentor from the start, although it may take more than one visit to establish the best way forward. In some cases the assessor/mentor may feel that particular circumstances require professional attention or another service. If so, they will either advise the person who to contact or seek permission to share information.

The mentor or assessor has a professional job but is not: 

• a health or social care professional making any clinical or ‘case’ judgements
  
• trained to help with more extreme physical or mental conditions,
• a counsellor, befriender or carer.

Explaining the service:

The mentor will discuss, not necessarily at the first meeting but early on, other principles that underlie the mentoring service, such as:

• the aim is to help people pursue activities independently as soon as possible
  
• contact will be maintained with people, if they want, on an occasional basis in case they need help or advice again in the future
• people can become involved voluntarily with evaluation and research
• ways in which people might seek greater independence
• signposting to other, practical services (benefits, safety, etc.)
• self-determination and personal effectiveness
• what participants can expect from the service.