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IN TOUCH – Look UK’s Mentoring Project

TX:Ìý 05.12.2023Ìý 2040-2100

PRESENTER:Ìý ÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌý PETER WHITE

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PRODUCER:ÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌý BETH HEMMINGS

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White

Good evening.Ìý One of the central ideas running through In Touch has always been that you can’t beat help and advice from someone who’s been there and done it.Ìý There are good professionals around, it’s true, the problem is many, including some of the professionals themselves, would say that there aren’t enough of them and they’re not always around when you need them.Ìý But this is the central idea behind a mentoring scheme run by Look UK – a charity which offers support to young visually impaired people and their families.Ìý It’s aimed particularly at people between the ages of 11 and 29, answering questions like – What’s my future going to be like, how do I choose a college or a university, how hard will it be to make friends when I get there.Ìý Endless questions there are.Ìý Look has been running a mentoring programme since 2016, made up of visually impaired volunteers who share their experiences and solutions with younger VI people.

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Well, in this programme, we’re going to be talking both to mentors and mentees and indeed some of them have done both.Ìý First, though, let’s find out a bit more about the scheme’s background.

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Ellen Williams is Look’s Mentor Development Coordinator.Ìý So, Ellen, how did it start, how did the scheme start?

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Williams

So, it was really borne from an idea from Charlotte, our director, based on her lived experience of being someone with a visual impairment herself but also someone who’s really benefitted from mentoring in her own life, in her kind of professional career and otherwise.Ìý So, it was Charlotte that really wanted to harness this value of mentoring and share it with VI young people and use it as a tool to kind of bring the VI community together to support one another.

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White

And there are two strands, aren’t there?Ìý There’s a general strand, what you might call that, and there’s one aimed very much at university, higher education.

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Williams

Yeah.Ìý So, the programme was really started as being quite open, so we find it really important that we be mentee led, so whatever the young person wants to discuss that’s kind of what gets put on the table.Ìý And just this year, we’ve launched our uni mentoring scheme, which is much more focused on supporting young people on that pathway into higher education.

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White

And what’s the size of this project?Ìý I mean how many young people are being supported through the programme?

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Williams

Up to today, we’ve supported 188 mentees this year.Ìý At the moment, we have 175 trained volunteer mentors on our books.Ìý A mentor can have one or two, very rarely, three mentees at the same time.Ìý All the mentors are spread out over the country and have a range of personal experiences and education and career experiences that they can share.Ìý We have a waiting list of mentees wanting to be mentored, so we always need more mentors.Ìý We currently have 70 young people on the waiting list to be matched with a mentor.

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White

And I know that you are actually aiming to get more mentors, so we’ll talk about that a bit later.Ìý What about you, personally, I mean what’s your experience been with the project and how has it helped you?

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Williams

So, I’m visually impaired myself, I’m registered blind and have been all my life.Ìý I lost a lot of my sight when I was a teenager and the kind of standard thing I say to families and parents that I speak to is being a teenager is hard enough and then kind of throw a curve ball like losing sight in there and it all gets a bit complicated and difficult.Ìý And I became involved, originally, as a mentor myself because I could really see the benefit that a mentor would have made to me as a young person.Ìý It’s a cathartic experience for you, as the mentor, as well, because it gives you a sense of, you know, your experience has been put to use and being able to take that time to reflect on the challenges and the achievements that you’ve gone through and then being able to utilise those to help somebody else as well.

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White

Right, now, as we’ve said, you’re looking for new volunteers to become mentors.Ìý We’re going to be hearing more about that before the end of the programme.Ìý But, first, let’s perhaps get a bit more information for the benefit of any new potential recruits who might be listening.Ìý I’m going to be bring in Fay Dawson.Ìý Fay is a current mentee on the university strand and before that you received support from the general service.Ìý We’re going to be speaking to both of your mentors in a moment but when you first started with the project, what kind of help were you looking for?

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Dawson

I actually only got diagnosed with my condition about three years ago, very unexpectedly, I didn’t even know I had a visual impairment at all.Ìý So, it was quite a bit of a shock for me really and it was also sort of during the height of covid and as I was preparing for my GCSEs as well.Ìý So, I kind of got offered the opportunity to have a mentor and I took it up, just as a way of having someone to support me through quite a big transition in my life, I guess.

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White

So, Fay, your mentor at this point was Eve Scahill, who’s also with us.Ìý Eve, what do you feel you were able to bring to the relationship with Fay when you became her mentor?

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Scahill

Honestly, it was all in Fay’s hands because, as Ellen mentioned, from the start the mentees really do need this project.Ìý I had this… virtually came out of studying my A Levels at the time, so I was in a very similar position to Fay, we were only, I think, like two years apart.Ìý So, any support I could offer her I was very happy to.

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White

And what drew you into becoming a mentor?

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Scahill

Well, I’ve had a qualified teacher for the visually impaired since I was very young, I think since maybe 11 and we developed quite a good relationship because, of course, we knew each other for a number of years.Ìý And she knew I always really want to help people and especially those who might feel a bit like lonely or isolated because I am visually impaired person, I know that your vision and like going through sight loss can really affect how you feel about yourself.Ìý So, she really thought that the Look scheme would be a perfect opportunity for me to help people.

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White

So, I mean, Fay, can you give me an idea of the kind of things you discussed?

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Dawson

Well, with Eve, it was definitely a lot of support with GCSEs and revision and things like that because I hadn’t been visually impaired, sort of, before a few years ago.Ìý The way that I was working was very much reading textbooks, doing flashcards, writing on paper and obviously, that wasn’t very sustainable for me moving forwards, because I’ve got Stargardt’s disease, which is a progressive form of sight loss, so, my condition doesn’t really have a prognosis, I didn’t know how much sight I was going to lose, between, sort of, just starting year 11 and doing my GCSEs.Ìý So, I asked quite a lot of questions about different ways of revising which may be didn’t require your sight.Ìý So, for me, a massive help, over GCSEs, was using You Tube, especially after covid actually, a lot of teachers were posting videos from the courses that I was taking, where they would go through lessons and things.Ìý And it meant that when I’d got home from a long day of school and I was suffering from quite a lot of visual fatigue, I didn’t have to then sit down and look at textbook or try and write out an essay plan or something, I could just, sort of, sit back and rest my eyes and listen to something in the background.Ìý And podcasts were a massive help for me as well.Ìý I know there’s a lot of things on Spotify like I’m currently using one for my A Level psychology, where somebody has, very helpfully, read through the entirety of my psychology textbooks.Ìý But it is a podcast.Ìý I know a lot of people suffer with visual fatigue, not just visually impaired people, I mean I know school is very, very tiring for lots of people, so I’ve even given, sort of, my help to other students that I know lower down in the school who, you know, are just struggling with having long days at school, as well.Ìý You know, it can benefit everybody really, not just visually impaired people.

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White

Now, you’re now in the process of applying to university, what’s that like and what kind of help are you getting with that?

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Dawson

Yeah, so, I kind of always knew I wanted to go to university.Ìý I definitely had a bit of a wobble when I got diagnosed and Eve was a massive help there because growing up sighted, you don’t have a lot of examples of visually impaired or blind people who are kind of just getting on with their lives and being really successful.Ìý So, having that, I guess, like a role model to kind of look up to because she was in her first year of university when I got matched with her as a mentor, just being able to see her get on with things at university and being successful in her A Levels was, I guess, quite a bit of an inspiration to me at the time.Ìý And, yeah, I currently have Chloe as my mentor, to support me through my application.Ìý And I’ve just sent in my UCAS application, I was going to send Chloe a message about it after this, actually.Ìý She was a massive help as well because I guess being visually impaired there’s a lot more things to think about when applying for university, like, I’ve definitely had some worries around making friends, being able to socialise when you haven’t got as much sight as everybody else.Ìý So, she’s definitely been able to give me some of her experiences and give me a bit of reassurance with it, I guess.

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White

Well, that’s a cue to bring Chloe in.Ìý Just tell us, first, a bit about your own background and your association with Look.

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Chloe

I’ve started with them this year as a university mentor.Ìý I’ve just come to the end of my masters degree, so I’ve kind of been through the whole process really whilst being visually impaired. ÌýAnd I suppose the thing that triggered my interest in getting involved with Look is I experienced more sight loss this year whilst trying to finish my dissertation and finish up university.Ìý Even though I’ve been through this experience, I didn’t want anybody else to be in that position, I thought if I could help somebody else going through that then it would feel quite healing for me, I think.Ìý Like Ellen, said, like quite cathartic.

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White

Because, correct me if I’m wrong, but I think you weren’t very upfront about the fact that you were losing your sight, that you didn’t kind of say to the university – hang on, I’ve got a bit of a problem here.

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Chloe

Yeah, it took me a little while because it was very out of the blue and I’ve always been visually impaired, I was born visually impaired, so, I guess, I never knew any different. ÌýSo, I wasn’t in a position where I’d gone from being sighted to being visually impaired. So, I just kind of got on with education throughout my life, then to lose more this year, it was the first time I’d ever felt like I couldn’t do something or I needed help.Ìý But, I think, because it was so out of the blue, I was almost waiting for it to go back to how it was but that didn’t happen.Ìý So, eventually, I’d got to a point where I needed to say something, I needed to ask for extensions and things.

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White

Right.Ìý So, Fay, the idea of a specific mentor for university, I’m interested in that because you might have thought that it would make sense to stay with your initial mentor, who, you know, has got to know you, the kind of person you are, the kind of things that help you and you obviously got on well with Eve, as well.Ìý So, I just wondered about the idea of swapping mentors in midstream, as it were.

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Dawson

Honestly, I think it’s quite refreshing having a bit of a change because, again, everybody has a different experience.Ìý I mean I think the sort of unique thing about visual impairment is that even if somebody has the same condition as you, you can be affected in completely different ways and you know, everybody has their own separate experience.Ìý So, I transferred from Eve to Chloe.Ìý So, I think, we only have about six months with our mentor in the programme and then you can request extra time with your mentor if you need it, I think, Ellen?Ìý But, yeah, you have about six months.

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White

Yeah, Ellen, come in on that.

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Williams

Yeah, so, typically, people are partnered up for between six months and a year and Eve and Fay had actually come to the end of their partnership last year, I think, so, we think it’s important to have like a timeline to that structure.Ìý There’s a celebration at the end, as well, and it’s something to celebrate – the achievement of the commitment that you’ve given to this partnership for this set amount of time.Ìý There’s no kind of limit to how much you can come back to mentoring, we just can’t guarantee that you have the same mentor again.Ìý So, for Fay, for example, you know, she’d done the mentoring with Eve, that had been really successful and she’d kind of completed her goals in that mentoring at that time.Ìý And then she returned, you know, now, at this point, when she’s looking at university, it’s a different time in her life, different goals, she was looking at different things.Ìý So, that’s why we match her with someone like Chloe who’s had a little bit more kind of extra training from us about mentoring someone through that process of getting into higher education because it’s a massive transition.Ìý So, in the kind of training for uni mentors we do a little bit more nitty gritty around helping people through BSA and the kind of specifics around the logistics of going to university as well, as well as the emotional and social side of it.

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White

Things that intrigue me from my own experience, which, admittedly, was a long time ago, but I mean, first of all, I know now that I could have benefitted from a scheme like this.Ìý I actually struggled at university but I didn’t know that then or at least I wasn’t admitting it.Ìý Chloe, do you think there are people who probably need this but don’t know it or won’t admit it?

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Chloe

Yeah, I think, they’re definitely is.Ìý There’s a lot of denial that comes with being visually impaired, especially if you’ve acquired a visual impairment later in life.Ìý And I think services like Look are so valuable for that.Ìý And it’s kind of, I think, that first step in accepting it, that, you know, seeing other people, I think, is incredibly important because I didn’t have anyone around me who was also visually impaired, you know, my family are all sighted and I kind of got an unofficial mentor in my best friend, who I met a few years ago, who is also visually impaired.Ìý And I think that process spurred me on to be more accepting of my visual impairment and more accepting of help and using mobility aids and things like that.Ìý Even seeing that relationship meant that I wanted to be that for somebody else.

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White

I mean on this issue of asking for help, I can’t help noticing that you’re all women, that wasn’t something we asked for.Ìý Is there a gender element to this?Ìý I’m just wondering if women are more inclined to ask for help than cocky blocks who think they know it all?

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Williams

Yeah, I mean, I’ll be honest that the young men are often referred to us for mentoring but are often the hardest to reach and the hardest to engage.Ìý So, our male mentors are fantastic and really valuable and there’s the real kind of asset in being able to bring a teenage boy who is really struggling with his visual impairment and just kind of not really wanting to deal with it and not wanting to address it with someone who is just a few years older than him, who he can see himself in but also, isn’t a teenager, isn’t a parent, isn’t a teacher, isn’t that kind of role, is just a pal, a pen-pal essentially, a mate, who he could chat and he could see himself in.Ìý I think that’s the real key.

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White

So, in your campaign to get more mentors are you looking for these kinds of slightly older males as well, who perhaps can help drag the younger ones in?

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Williams

Yeah, I mean, absolutely.Ìý So, we’re looking for people over the age of 18, between 18 and sort of 30, so mid-30s.Ìý Male mentors would be very, very welcome.Ìý Like I said before, our waiting is long, there’s 70 young people, at the moment, waiting for mentoring and that’s a mix of boys and girls and all sorts of ages, all sorts of needs.Ìý Anyone who would like to become a mentor, who’s interested in kind of sharing their own experiences to benefit anyone else, please do get in touch.Ìý You can get on our website, which is .Ìý We’re holding a training for mentors in January.Ìý The deadline to apply to attend the January training is Friday 8th December but we do tend to do a couple of trainings a year, so if anyone is interested and wanting to kind of put their name down to get the information about the next training, when it becomes available, you can get in touch with us through the website or the email address is: infor@look-uk.org.

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White

The other thing I do remember is that as someone who’s totally blind or at least, you know, I’ve only got light perception, universities are very tricky places to navigate – you know, the buildings all set at different angles to each other, it’s all very open plan.Ìý My first week I feel in the fountain.Ìý How much do you match people with similar sight problems?

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Williams

Going back to kind of being really mentee led, we do quite a lot of in-depth conversation and getting to know the mentee in that process of matching them with a mentor and we really match them based on whatever’s most important to them.Ìý So, some people do really want to be matched with someone with the same eye condition or the same level of vision.Ìý Other people, you know, it’s more important that they want to be matched with someone with a similar interest or a similar aspiration or goal.Ìý Whatever the mentee is needing, what’s important to them, is always our kind of starting point for matching.

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White

Well, thank you all very much for your insights on this.Ìý Ellen, Fay, Eve and Chloe, thank you.

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All

Thank you.

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Dawson

And can I just add, as well, I have just applied to be a mentor as well, so, yes, I’m going to be at the training in January, hopefully supporting someone very soon.

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White

Well, Fay, thank you and hopefully you’ll have lots of company.

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One piece of sad news to report before we go tonight.Ìý We’ve heard about the death of Dr Mike Townsend, a regular contributor to In Touch over many years, both because of his sterling work in the field of technology for visually impaired people and his work with the Torch Trust.Ìý It’s been quite poignant for me too, actually, because he and I started at a special residential school in the same term back in the 1950s and we’ve known each other ever since.Ìý Our condolences to his wife, Edith.

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And that’s all from us for today.Ìý Remember, if you want to tell us things, ask us things there are plenty of ways to do it.Ìý You can email intouch@bbc.co.uk, leave a voice message on 0161 8361338 or to get more information and to download tonight’s or previous editions of the programme, you can visit our website bbc.co.uk/intouch.

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From me, Peter White, producer Beth Hemmings and studio managers Steve Thompson and Liam Juniper, goodbye.

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