Young people referred to us are hand-paired with passionate & experienced youth mentors, all with valid DBS checks.

Our mentors engage with young people in sessions tailored to the needs of each individual within a school environment or out in the community.

Sessions vary considerably, but could include cooking, sport, games, gardening, trips to an attraction, talking, exercise – whatever is deemed most suitable to the individual at the time.

They help young people build self-esteem, confidence and resilience so they can deal with issues that impact on their everyday lives and look forward to a positive future.

Please visit our mentoring page to learn more about JHF mentoring packages.  You can also meet some of our mentors on our Meet the Team page.

All mentors and tutors go through a thorough vetting and recruitment process, followed by training in safeguarding, Prevent, GDPR and internal JHF policies.  Training refreshers are held at least three times per year, which include safeguarding updates.  See our Mentor Job Description here.

Our mentors and tutors come to us from various backgrounds, bringing a myriad of experience and skills uniquely matched to each child.  Our team are teachers, lego therapists, outdoor educators, sportspeople, carpenters, life coaches, trauma specialists, gardeners, hypnotherapists, engineers, psychologists, nurses and musicians, to name a few.

Mentoring can take place during school hours or in the evening.  Mentors travel to wherever is most convenient for the young person, and will often collect the child for an outing.  These sessions are the same time each week during term time, and can take place once or a few times a week.  The frequency and length of the bespoke session depends on the referral request and/or the funding available.

As with mentoring, young people referred to us with education needs are hand-paired with passionate & experienced tutors, all with broad experience and valid DBS checks.  Tutors teach Maths and English, but also PSHE, RE, Geography, Media.  

Tutoring takes place in a quiet, safe environment, which can be at the young person’s home or a family member’s home, in our head office, or in local libraries or youth centres.  

These sessions are the same time each week during term time.  As with mentoring, the frequency and length of the bespoke session depends on the referral request and/or the funding available.

Please visit our tutoring page to learn more about JHF tutoring.

The first port of call for a concerned parent should be the child’s school.  Personnel in the school office will be able to signpost you to the relevant staff member who will be able to help.  Secondly if there are any mental health or physical health concerns, your GP has lots of services available.  Unfortunately we cannot help a parent until those conversations have taken place.  

Once those conversations have taken place, you may be able to request a referral to us, or email hello@thejhf.org. 

For further advice, please see our list of suggested organisations below.

A percentage of our mentoring and tutoring support is paid for by schools and councils, and a percentage is fully funded through our charitable fundraising applications.