We spoke to Kat about her experience going from a Right There volunteer mentor to joining our Glasgow Intensive Family Support Team as a Support Worker.

I first joined Right There as a volunteer mentor in 2021, after hearing about the charity when I was studying at university in Glasgow.

I had worked for a charity before that was more focused on helping children with school education, so I was really interested in what Right There was doing to support young people to grow and develop. That’s why I jumped at the opportunity to become a mentor and I’m still matched with the same young person 2 and a half years later!

Saying that, our mentoring journey is slowly starting to come to an end because my mentee Ava is getting to that point where she doesn’t need the mentoring anymore, she’s grown so much and has got to that age where she wants to spend more time with her friends.

Being able to watch Ava change as a person and getting to build a friendship and trusting relationship with her has been a great experience for me. Mentoring her from pre-teens to a full-blown teenager has meant that I’ve really seen a difference in her since the start of our mentoring journey.

I loved mentoring because witnessing mentees like Ava, emerge from their comfort zones, embrace new challenges and overcome fears is incredibly rewarding. It’s just nice to see the positive impact that mentoring can have on their personal growing. For example, Ava really wanted to learn to swim so we started going together as a stepping stone for her to get comfortable in the water. Then she eventually took up private swimming lessons, so its been amazing to see the progress she’s made.

Then recently when the opportunity came up to work within the Glasgow Intensive Family Support Team, I knew it was the perfect fit. My previous job was in social care, but I’ve always wanted to work specifically with children and families, and getting an insight into what the team do when I was a mentor, made me feel like it was something I wanted to be a part of.

I’m really looking forward to getting started in my new role and to meet the families, supporting them on their journey and helping to make a difference in their lives.