<p>Hi Steve,</p>

<p>Just read your blog and think it is a great and simple introduction to mentorship within skateboarding. I especially liked this bit:</p>

<blockquote>
<p>"The challenge is - when I accept that I have a level of influence and that my actions can impact another - am I willing to accept the responsibility that goes with it?</p>

<p><strong><em>Most skateboarders do not want to add responsibility to skateboarding. </em></strong>That’s okay. This work is not for everyone, but for us to move toward a better world, <strong><em>someone’s gotta take ownership."</em></strong></p>
</blockquote>

<p>Some ideas to add to this topic (maybe in a follow up blog post?) is digging a little deeper into that responsibility, to talk about things like setting appropriate boundaries and child safeguarding, ie. being a mentor is not the same as being a friend. Friends are peers and don't have that same responsibility dynamic. A mentor (even if this is just informal, such as hanging out at a skate spot together) should be conscious of age differences and that certain things are not cool to do together with a kid, ie. drinking and drugs.</p>

<p>I think for those of us who are formal mentors, such as people who work with skate programs as coaches/leaders, it's really important as well to not show favouritism and to avoid things like personally giving gifts to certain kids. It's better to try to always be fair, and if giving away things like skate gear, to do it through the organization with some kind of merit or needs-based system, rather than personal gift-giving. A couple reasons for this are: 1. it makes the other kids feel bad and 2. Gift-giving can be a form of "grooming" for sexual abusers so best to have a policy against it.<br />
<br />
Another thing your blog made me think about is something that Joel Pippus from Push to Heal said about how, for example, when working with kids affected by trauma, the actual quality of the relationship itself is more central to any lasting change&nbsp;than the actual intervention strategy or model. This is kind of jargony, but basically it's not skateboarding as an activity itself that can have the biggest positive effect in our work with young people, but the quality of the relationships between mentors and participants. This is why mentors making a long-term commitment to those they are supporting (formally or informally) can be so important, and why short term volunteering can be less effective, and I have personally seen to be&nbsp;disruptive for young people who might be attending skate programs with a high rotation of volunteers/mentors.&nbsp;</p>
