Chris lost his eyesight to Retinitis Pigmentosa (RP) during his teenage years.
Chris on being a Mentor
As Mentor of the Month, we asked Chris to record a short message, sharing about his experience of sight loss, why he wanted to be a LOOK Mentor, and his top tips for being a great Mentor (in a nutshell: “Be yourself, be amazing, and keep mentoring!).
Listen here
Mentor Lacey on Chris
Lacey, our LOOK Project Support Assistant and a fellow Mentor, has this to say about our Mentor of the Month, Chris:
“Chris has been involved in LOOK since 2018 in the early days of the LOOK Mentor Project when he was a Psychology student at the University of Worcester. Thank you to the wonderful Wendy Sainsbury from Guide Dogs Family Support for sending Chris our way! Since then his involvement in LOOK has grown and it has been an absolute pleasure getting to know and working with Chris.
He has dealt with his experiences of losing his eyesight to Retinitis Pigmentosa (RP) during his teenage years with a proactive, curious and practical approach. He is open about the tougher times and is not afraid to discuss the challenges he has faced.
Chris has been involved in many aspects of volunteering with LOOK: one-to-one peer support through the Mentor Project to a number of mentees, supporting in-person projects including LOOK family weekends and youth groups, and also speaking with funders about his experiences and importance of our projects.
Before going on to do a PGCE and begin his teaching career, Chris worked with LOOK, coinciding with the lockdowns. Thanks to him we were able to deliver accessible fitness videos, youth groups on Zoom, and support for the mentoring partnerships. Thank you Chris for your dedication.
Chris is involved in an exciting variety of sports, representing England in Blind Rugby. He enjoys travel, and finds humour in the day-to-day and shares this sense of fun in TikTok videos about cane use (or misuse!).
Our Mentor of the Month, Chris, embodies LOOK values; making safe, supportive environments to support young people living with VI needs to beat isolation, explore their identity, and to thrive!
Thank you again Chris for your continued communication in peer mentoring, your advice and knowledge of self advocacy, building friendships and seizing opportunities. It is so motivating for ALL of us. Bring on the next chapters of LOOK Mentoring and Chris Styles’ style and humour!
We are very happy to celebrate Chris as our Mentor of the Month because we are blown away by the feedback from his mentees and want to share his fantastic work with our community.”
