DR Andrew Dellis, OPERATIONS DIRECTOR
SAYes Mentoring designs, delivers and supports world-class mentorships, connecting mentor and mentee populations globally. Since SAYes Mentoring began in 2008, we have:
Annual Reports
We keep track of programme delivery and impact at many different levels.
Previous Annual Reports:
We are interested in good explanations and the best methods to test and refine them.
Programme Model
SAYes has developed a comprehensive and integrated model of mentoring and transition planning, known to improve the quality of relational support, and therefore the impact of programme content delivered in person-to-person settings.
This approach, called transition mentoring, is characterised by a formal relationship of guidance, advocacy and support; and a structured (staged and time-bound) approach to transition planning (development and change).
Transition mentoring allows for close person-centred empowerment leading to measurable changes in decision-making (informed choices) and behaviour (healthy/good practices). When high value social connections are structured and supported they profoundly accelerate the acquisition of skills, values and knowledge in every area of life.
Within a SAYes programme, targeted content is delivered through the mentorship. This improves efficacy due to the motivational impact of high value relationships and is especially effective under conditions of high social inequality. The SAYes model is effective across many different settings and populations; vastly improving the impact of interventions for behaviour and perspective change.
Logic Model
Absolute and relative material disadvantage is compounded by the challenge of access to empowering relationships (i.e., positive role models/mentors). The resultant poverty of perspective, social capital, and secure social bonds adversely affects decision making and behaviour. This is especially problematic during times of rapid developmental transition such as adolescence. SAYes delivers evidence-based interventions targeting improvements in independence (informed choices) and well-being (healthy practices).
All interventions are delivered through trained and supported mentors, leveraging the power of social motivation to improve impact.
The status opportunities afforded through high quality mentorships provide a socially motivating context that greatly increases receptivity to guidance (shifting perspective), advocacy (increasing social capital) and support (improving secure social bonds). This is especially valuable in the process of transition planning. In addition, mentee motivation is increased for any intervention programming delivered through the mentorship (including information, opportunities and resources). By leveraging social motivation, mentoring serves as an intervention in itself, and a vehicle for improving the impact of intervention programming. In both cases mentoring leads to improved decision making and behaviour over time.
The SAYes Individual Transition Plan (ITP) is available as an online tool for the planning and implementation of change/transition across 5 Independence and 5 Well-being domains:
Within each domain matches work through a process of:
SAYes works in partnership with academic institutions to evaluate and analyse the impact of mentorship.
In addition we have made available several white papers outlining research questions directly relevant to our work. If you are interested in funding, collaborating and/or tasking/supervising graduate students on any of these protocols please make enquiries to Dr. Andrew Dellis. andrew.dellis@sayesmentoring.org
SAYes monitors programme rollout extensively, gathering weekly data on the number of mentoring sessions, contact hours and challenges. We report quantitatively on this data at 3-month intervals (or on request), and provide additional qualitative analysis of meeting challenges and Individual Transition Plan content (aggregated) by domain. We monitor workgroup, masterclass and support session attendance and request subjective ratings and reviews for these sessions (as well as for interview, training and matching sessions). For all programmes we measure and report on the perceived quality of the social change experience with SAYes (SAYes Engagement/Service Satisfaction). Where applicable we also request programme ratings and reviews from participating youth organisations (i.e., referring partners and/or associated third parties).
SAYes internally evaluates programme impact both qualitatively and quantitively, providing a consolidated impact report at project completion. For all programmes we examine quantifiable changes in mentee decision-making and behaviour and the impact thereof on independence and well-being. For mentors we measure perceived changes in their approach to social change and their perception of programme impact (i.e., efficacy). We also consider how they may have changed in their engagement with diversity, equality and inclusivity, their knowledge and skills of mentorship and transition planning, and any perceived changes in inclusive leadership (including personal and professional growth). Additional impact evaluations (for both mentors and mentees) are available for programmes that introduce novel programme content and/or entail additional partner objectives (e.g., Employee Engagement, Communications Impact, see below).
Standard programme evaluations for mentees include self-report ratings of impact on independence and well-being (in general and by domain), and on decision-making and healthy practices (in general and by process component). Selected community level indicators are also measured by domain across all programmes (e.g., employment status, housing). For programmes with additional intervention content and objectives, separate (pre and post) evaluations (including self-report ratings, community indictors, third-party ratings, achievement and abilities scores for both mentors and mentees) may be introduced to track intervention specific outcomes.
Mentee Outcomes Framework
Behavioural Process Outcomes
IMPROVED DECISION MAKING
As measured by qualitative and quantitative indicators of decision making (e.g., raised consciousness, options explored, quality and consistency of focus, resilience)
IMPROVED HEALTHY PRACTICES
As measured by qualitative and quantitative indicators of healthy practices (e.g., raised consciousness, options explored, quality and consistency of focus, resilience)
Community-level Outcomes
ImproveD Independence
As measured by indicators of independence in;
ImproveD well-being
As measured by indicators of well-being in;
Psychometric Outcomes
Selected Behavioural Interventions
As measured by assessment following targeted behavioral interventions.
Mentor Outcomes Framework
Global and Custom Partner Programmes
Personal and professional growth
As measured by qualitative and quantitative indicators:
IMPROVED LEADERSHIP
As measured by 10 qualitative and quantitative indicators of leadership skills and qualities.
“The SAYes mentorship programme will make you a better mentor, coach, manager, and frankly speaking, person.”
DAAN LAMMER, NIKE EMEA MARKETING DIRECTOR, NETHERLANDS
We assess 10 components of inclusive leadership skills and personal qualities.
Consistently high scoring components across partner programmes include:
Custom Partner Programmes ROI
IMPROVED EMPLOYEE ENGAGEMENT
As measured by qualitative and quantitative indicators of employee engagement:
IMPROVED SOCIAL and COMMUNITY IMPACT
As measured by qualitative and quantitative indicators of social and community impact
The SAYes approach to formal mentoring
SAYes mentors are trained to work respectfully and confidentially, supporting a mentee with their life plan.
• Active Listening
• Perspective Sharing
• Socratic Questioning
• Motivational Interviewing
• Scaffolding
• Championing
• Boundaries & Attachment
• Authoritative Balance
• Accessible, responsible,
& emotionally
engaged
Consciousness raising
Raise awareness and acceptance
Enriching opportunities
Explore and discover new interests
Improving focus
Plan and pursue goals
Accountability & resIlience
Evaluate and adjust
SAYes programmes target improvements in independence (via the quality of decision making) and well-being (via the consistency of healthy practices) across ten domains:
How can you grow knowledge, creativity and understanding?
How can you become skilled in ways which are useful to others, and in managing your money?
How can you look after a household and manage all this involves?
How can you add more pleasure, fun/flow and meaning to your life?
How can you connect, lead and strengthen communities?
How can you create, maintain and repair relationships?
How can you understand and manage your feelings in action?
How can you look after your body?
How can you look after your mind?
How can you build your own story?
Prospective Mentors and Mentees are taught to understand and contextually apply expertise from interdisciplinary behavourial and social science (including cognitive neuroscience), and have access to actionable and personalised tools, tactics and strategies for positive behavioural and perspective change.
SAYes content is delivered in monthly group settings (workgroups, support sessions and masterclasses) as well as in individual appointments with SAYes Transition Specialists.
All content is designed to be used relationally, that is, with a mentor – and to target multiple levers for behaviour change.
LEVERS FOR BEHAVIOUR AND PERSPECTIVE CHANGE
We offer programmes for regions and groups where inequity, injustice and complex intersectionalities exert adverse and neglected individual and community level effects. For example, we work with care-experienced youth, those who are Not in Employment, Education or Training (NEET), young refugees and asylum seekers, those living in poverty and/or navigating overlapping challenges such as insecure housing, disability, being members of marginalised communities (e.g. Gypsies and Travellers, LGBTQ+) or poor mental health. We also offer custom partner programmes for tertiary students, sports coaches and youth volunteers, interns, and staff at grassroots community organisations and NPOs. Post programme support is available through SAYes alumni groups and the SAYes transition team.
Both internal and external evaluations of programme impact are carried out, engaging all relevant stakeholders, and drawing on disciplinary teams with varied data collection and analytic approaches.
SAYes monitors programme rollout extensively, gathering weekly data on number of mentoring sessions, contact hours and challenges. We report quantitatively on this data at 3-month intervals, and provide additional qualitative analysis of meeting challenges and Individual Transition Plan content aggregated by domain. We also request programme ratings and reviews from participating youth partners.
monitoring (EXAMPLE METRICS)
SAYes evaluates programme impact both qualitatively and quantitively, providing a consolidated impact report at project completion. For all programmes we examine quantifiable changes in mentee decision-making and behaviour and the impact thereof on independence and well-being.
Additional impact evaluations are available for programmes that introduce novel programme content.
“It’s the first NPO that was actually interested in the progress of the people it targeted, unlike others who do it just for show. It provided people the opportunity to make lifetime friends from completely different across oceans and wouldn’t have even been in their dreams had it not.”
michel mukeba, mentee
MENTOR (EXAMPLE evaluation METRICS)
of mentors saw their mentoring as impactful
of mentors reported professional growth
MENTEE (EXAMPLE evaluation METRICS)
of mentees reported improved choices related to independence
of mentees reported improved practices related to well-being
of mentees reported having a mentor positively affected their life
TOP IMPACTED INDEPENDENCE AND WELL-BEING DOMAINS
THE NEED
The UK has one of the highest income inequalities of any developed nation. This is a problem because inequality is known to impact a range of societal outcomes, quite separately from direct material disadvantage. Examples include, trust, homicide, incarceration, teenage pregnancy, drug use, school bullying, life expectancy, obesity, mental illness as well as overall quality of life (see Wilkinson & Picket, 2010 & 2019). Status anxiety underlying differences in social access and position may ultimately explain the widespread effects indexed by measures of income inequality. Therefore, in addition to material interventions, ensuring that access to empowering adult relationships is equitable may be fundamental to the creation of stable societies. Inequalities in the quality relational support (social poverty) are especially problematic during adolescence, where rapid developmental changes set behavioural and cognitive pathways long into the future. The resultant instability in decision-making, behavioural practices and subjective experience across key life areas can be devastating.
The SAYes model is designed to target these challenges directly, by putting high quality and professionally-supported relationships at the heart of social change. Our UK Pilot offered mentorship to care-experienced people up to the age of 32, in addition to post programme alumni support. No ‘care cliffs’ at SAYes!
monitoring (EXAMPLE METRICS)
We carried out a pilot programme in the UK detailing the need, model, and impact of our work. We engaged government and local authorities, youth focused non-profit and voluntary organisations, as well as schools, colleges and universities, and socially-minded business to deliver a successful mentorship offer for a small group of care experienced young people in the UK.
We met with Mark Riddell MBE, National Implementation Advisor for Care Leavers, to talk about the Care Review.
We met with Sharon Espinoza from Southwark Council, and partnered with this local authority.
MENTEE (EXAMPLE evaluation METRICS)
of mentees said that having a mentor positively affected their life.
of mentees thought that having a mentor positively improved their choices related to independence.
of mentees thought that having a mentor positively improved their practices related to well-being.
TOP IMPACTED INDEPENDENCE AND WELL-BEING DOMAINS
MENTEE IMPACT RATINGS (QUALITATIVE)
“It’s positively impacted all of the areas for me. Better at work, finances and saving. I’ve grown the most in having an open mindset. Making new friends, contemplating a new relationship and meeting new people and through the mentorship this has changed and I’m thankful for where I am right now.”
“It was great to have my mentor give me constructive criticism, something I’ve never had before and it definitely improved my way of living.”
“I changed jobs after realising I was very unhappy in my job. I moved house when I realised where I was living was impacting my mental health.”
“It was more just having someone to talk to. Quite a big impact from mentoring but also changes in life like not being with my boyfriend because he didn’t help with my mental health. So I am surrounding myself with better people who care and this is a lot to do with the mentoring as well because I could talk to my mentor about this and it made me realise what wasn’t good for me.”
“I have grown in confidence and as a person, I felt supported by the mentor when I felt like I had nobody in my life to support me, I changed my life goals such as moving home, changing job, social activities and making new friends. It has been such a huge support to my life.”
“I’m a lot more self-aware of my emotions now. Even with food and stuff. Every week I eat salad. I love the veg and trying new things. My mindset is the biggest and this is my outlook on things. I have learnt so much in a short space of time and that’s changed my outlook on things. Letting negative thoughts flow through as they will not be forever. Worst thing is to stay in a negative place.”
“There has been such a big turning point since speaking to my mentor as I have realised how much more open I can be with my friends. The mentoring has helped me but it’s also helped my relationships.”
“I opened my beauty business and I decorated the room the way I wanted and I have started advertising.”
