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Show a secure site for the posting of monthly mentor feedback/hour sheet, as well as for private concerns and issues that the mentors may have. Posting monthly family mentor feedback on the website would hopefully ensure that mentors will visit the site at least once a month. Family Mentor Program staff could email a reminder at the end of each month to have the mentors fill out the survey/hour sheet. This reminder could be an email with the link to the actual website (Goal 2- Objective 3; Goal 3 - Objective 1). Recommendation 6: 6.1.6 Host regularly scheduled family mentor seminars/workshops to continue training and engender a community of practice - At a frequency to be determined (eight weeks, quarterly, etc.) IRC could schedule seminars/workshops that feature different family mentor success stories, sharing solutions to common issues, introducing helpful, new resources, discussing activity ideas for different family types, sharing English as a second language (ESL) lesson plans and tips, etc. All of this information could be posted on the website as well, to be available for long term use by the community of IRC family mentors. These on-going training opportunities may not be utilized regularly but they should be offered on a consistent basis along with consistent encouragement by IRC to family mentors (Goal 2- Objective 3). High Effort - Low Impact Recommendation 1: 6.2.1 Send an interpreter with the family mentor on one of the first family visits, when needed - Overall, family mentors seem to be dealing with the language barrier and the fact that it is the hardest obstacle to overcome as a family mentor. It is important to take into consideration that the majority of mentors I have worked with have been with their families beyond six months. The average amount of time that it takes for mentors to achieve a communicative relationship with their families is unknown. However, many of the family mentors with whom I spoke said that they began working with their families on learning English within the first few visits. Nevertheless, all mentors who did not speak the language of the refugee families said that some interpretation assistance from IRC would have been very helpful, at least for the first couple of weeks (FGs, 11, 1 of 12 survey). Case managers said that they are willing to help with interpretation but their ability to do so is limited due to time. If funding permits, I would suggest IRC's orchestration of at least one visit where each mentor is attended by an interpreter to the refugee family's home. This would allow clarification for both the refugee families as well as for the family mentors regarding any initial questions that they may have about the other. This could be an important component to establishing a foundation of trust between mentor and refugee family in the beginning of their relationship (Goal 1 Objective 2). 29 of29 |
