Wycombe Wanderers

Wycombe Wanderers Football Club is the first club in the country to have a Level 3* qualified youth mentor employed by its charitable arm after WWSET’s Education Manager Mark Heath recently undertook and passed the ‘Practitioner Mentor for Youth’ qualification which was delivered by CSMentoring.

Head of Sports and Education Trust Paul Foley said, “We work with young people within the community on a daily basis. Our aim is to help those people improve the quality of their lives, and via the various programmes and activities we deliver, to facilitate a positive impact on each and every individual we engage. The course delivered by CSMentoring that Mark undertook will help us to satisfy these aims and give us added confidence that our team of staff are suitably qualified and trained to operate at the very highest standards, and more importantly, have the necessary skills to really help develop and progress the people we exist to serve.”

At the end of the course Mark passed an online assessment to become certified. This includes ongoing support and accreditation on the Public Register of Mentors for one year.

It’s hoped that the qualification undertaken by Mark will be particularly useful over the course of the next 12 months as WWSET begin delivering a major project targeting disengaged local youths which has been kindly funded by Wycombe District Council as part of their ‘Young People Mentoring Grant’ fund.

Colin Seaton, mentor and founder of CSMentoring, said: “The ‘Practitioner Mentor for Youth’ qualification is designed for everyone, from professional social workers, foster carers, volunteers and community mentors. It teaches ways in which interactions with young people can be tailored to achieve maximum positive effect and truly make a difference to the young person’s life moving forward.

"Wycombe Wanderers have really invested in the young people they work with.  We all recognise the importance and benefits that are achieved through investment and support to young people but it is not always clear how we can do this effectively. Our courses professionalise mentoring and provide support and guidance to mentors. We cover, trauma, adverse childhood experience, emotional and behavioural psychology and much more.”

For more information on the Practitioner Mentor for Youth qualification, please visit www.csmentoring.co.uk or email colin@csmentoring.co.uk.

*Level 3 Certificate (A Level equivalent) in mentoring young people in the community. A nationally recognised qualification registered with Open Awards.