The founder of National Mentoring Day today explains how "one moment of mentoring can change someone's life."
The fourth National Mentoring Day falls on October 27 and aims to make mentoring accessible to everyone.
Chelsey Baker, CEO and founder of National Mentoring Day says she hopes the day will inspire more people to become a mentor and highlight the benefits and rewards for running mentoring programmes.
The award winning mentor told the Standard: "My whole reason for setting up National Mentoring Day is that mentoring should be available to any group, business or individual that needs it.
"National Mentoring Day is a chance for people to thank their mentors, to create a new mentoring initiative and to get people to say 'hey I need a mentor' or for people to say 'I want to give my time and energy and resources into mentoring somebody'.
Ms Baker has won awards for business mentoring and has seen first-hand the difference it can make.
“I’ve got many many people that I’ve mentored from people with health problems to people with who have no parents, people who are disadvantaged youth and then corporate businesses that I work with and there’s not one that I’ve known that hasn’t benefited from the mentoring that I’ve given and it’s been a complete life change for them.”
The hope of National Mentoring Day is to encourage people to be a mentor and for more people to become mentees.
Ms Baker said: “One moment with a mentor can be a catalyst of change for a mentee. It can change their life and that’s why it’s so powerful and we need to create more mentors across society to keep up with the demand.
“Mentoring shouldn’t be a hobby, it should be something that you continue to do for the rest of your life.”
National Mentoring Day is encouraging people to take part by sharing mentoring success stories and tips and by getting people to thank their mentors.
Those wishing to take part can use the hashtag #NationalMentoringDay
