Working to Make it Work: The Role of Parents in the Youth Mentoring Process - Closed Due to Capacity

Session 2: 2:30-3:25 (55 minute workshop)

Research on youth mentoring relationships has been largely focused on the mentor-youth pair, with little attention given to the larger context within which such relationships form and develop, and for the most part, with no attention given to the perspectives of parents.  Renee Spencer and colleagues conducted interviews with parents of youth who were participating in a community-based mentoring program and identified four major themes: parents’ (a) hopes and expectations for the mentoring relationship, (b) trust in the mentor and satisfaction with the relationship, (c) roles in the mentoring relationship, and (d) reflections on and experiences with cultural differences between their child and the mentor.  Attend this workshop to learn more about these themes and their impact on the quality and efficacy of youth mentoring relationships.

Intended Workshop Audience: All Audiences

Presented by Dr. Renee Spencer,  Ed.D., LICSW, Associate Professor at the Boston University School of Social Work

Dr. Renée Spencer is Associate Professor at Boston University School of Social Work. Her research focuses on youth mentoring, specifically relational processes in more and less successful relationships. She is currently conducting a mixed-methods longitudinal study of the development of youth mentoring relationships in community-based programs. She has published widely on youth mentoring and serves as a member of several boards and committees, including MENTOR/National Mentoring Partnership Research and Policy Council, The Center for the Advancement of Mentoring (TCAM) National Cadre of Mentoring Researchers, and the Big Brothers Big Sisters of America Research Advisory Council.