Trailblazers’ model of mentoring centres on volunteers who have been recruited and trained from the local community. At present, we have an amazing team of almost 100 committed, motivated volunteers in the organisation. Prior to lockdown, we had volunteers at various stages of the recruitment process as well as a large number of experienced mentors visiting their mentees in the prison and the community.

As a result of Covid-19, the way we deliver our mentoring services had to be adapted as both volunteers and staff were unable to access prisons. Mentoring moved to remote contact, mainly carried out via telephone in the community and via ‘email a prisoner’ for mentees in prison. However, we also had a significant number of newly recruited volunteers who were not matched with mentees but were keen to stay connected with Trailblazers during lockdown.

The Trailblazers staff team were very keen to keep our volunteers engaged and connected to the organisation during this time, so throughout May and June we offered twice-weekly tutorials to volunteers using an online platform. During this time, 17 tutorials were delivered mainly by the Project Managers while some were also co-facilitated by volunteers.

The topics included introductions to the prisons we work in, gangs and working with gang members, a Q&A with experienced mentors and an overview of the benefit system. Meanwhile John Shepherd, CEO also gave updates about how the organisation was responding and adapting in light of Covid-19.

55% of our volunteers engaged with the online tutorials and 88% of the tutorials had 10 or more volunteers in attendance. We subsequently did a short online survey seeking feedback about the tutorials, with ideas for future topics including mental health and the work of the probation service. Other suggestions included inviting external speakers, a focus on skills-based tutorials and opportunities for experienced mentors to lead tutorials. We will also aim to ensure we record subsequent tutorials wherever possible, as mentors commented they are not always available to attend at the times they are being delivered ‘live’.

The online tutorials have also enabled mentors from the four different Projects to interact and get to know each other, which isn’t typically something that happens due to the geographical locations of the Projects. Furthermore, one volunteer commented: “ An enormous THANK YOU for putting these tutorials on during lockdown! The disappointment I felt when lockdown happened just after I’d done my vetting was huge, but the tutorials have made me feel that I am still valued and involved with Trailblazers, even if I haven’t been able to start mentoring yet”.

We are currently starting to plan a new series of tutorials and we were delighted to have author and motivational speaker, Peter Woolf deliver an online session on 14^th July. During the tutorial he gave a very interesting account of the period of his life which resulted in him spending many years in prison, before moving on to share with us what he attributed to helping him turn his life around.

Finally, we wish to thank all our volunteers for engaging so enthusiastically with the tutorials and for their feedback.  Some of our volunteers have also come forward to offer their time and expertise in other areas. We have volunteers assisting us with our website content, research (e.g. identifying banks where it is possible for mentees to open accounts), designing and collating our volunteer survey and helping us to raise our profile on social media. We always welcome any ideas or offers of help, so please speak to one of the staff team with any suggestions.