Therapeutic Mentoring
Therapeutic Mentoring consists of individualized, one-to-one mentoring sessions between a Therapeutic Mentor and a child or teen. These sessions are designed to support a specific goal on the child’s behavioral treatment plan such as developing social skills, interpersonal skills, problem solving strategies, or daily living skills. Mentoring sessions can take place in the child or teen’s home or other community setting.
Therapeutic Mentoring is designed to give children and teens the opportunity for skill building through experiences that would naturally occur in their everyday life, at their home, foster home, childcare center, or other setting. To help the child develop a specified skill, their Therapeutic Mentor works to model, educate, motivate, and coach them on how to use and practice overcoming obstacles related to these skills.
Examples of skills that may need to be developed are:
- Perceived competency
- Building interpersonal skills
- Finding and engaging positive peers
- Positive family relationships
- A sense of belonging
- Finding and identifying natural mentors
- Getting and using help
- Positive expectations for the future
What is a Therapeutic Mentor?
Therapeutic Mentors have an array of skills to help children and teenagers build on their strengths; they work closely with a licensed clinician and in collaboration with the child’s family and their clinical team to achieve a specific skill-building goal. They create a positive relationship with the youth they are working with to achieve goals through creative learning experiences and also work with the child to provide feedback to the family on their progress and the skills they are practicing. Therapeutic Mentors can also collaborate with the family when they need to implement these strategies at home.
Who is Eligible for Therapeutic Mentoring?
Youth under the age of 21 who are members of MassHealth can access this service. Referral to Therapeutic Mentoring can only be made if the child is already engaged in one of the following services: Outpatient Therapy, In-Home Therapy, or Intensive Care Coordination.