Mentor Bootcamp

Back row (L-R): Roxanne Higgins, Stephen Carberry, Kylie Matusewicz, Brianna Smith, Danielle Swinnerton, Jane Tinkler, Lisa Brumley, Brooke Serpell, Lauren Falconer

Front row (L-R): Heather O’Hagan, Fran Price, Catherine Mullens, Karlie Barker, Danica Smith

Last week our Noah’s Ark Mentors attended a two-day bootcamp to introduce them to their roles.

The bootcamp focused on:

• Exploring structures to support delivery of mentoring
• Evidence-based practice and inquiry-based learning
• Adult learning and coaching practices

We all enjoyed the opportunity to come together as a new team to set the scene for this exciting new resource.

We also explored the difference between mentoring and practice coaching and identified that:

• Mentoring is focused on the ‘what’ of the role (the technical expertise); and
• Practice coaching is focused on the ‘how’ of the role (how we implement the Noah’s Ark Practice Principles)
• Mentors and Practice Coaches work collaboratively to ensure we are deliverying a high-quality service to children and families.

Over the next few weeks mentors will be focusing on:

• Understanding discipline support needs across the organisation
• Bringing all staff into Communities of Practice; and
• Commencing small group mentoring with new graduate key workers