Imagine More
Peer Mentoring can make a huge difference to people with a visual impairment. We are building a culture of structured & safe community support, and empowering peer mentors to draw on their own experience to help guide others.
If you’re aged 11-29 and at school, university / college or looking for work, we have a mentor ready to help you achieve your potential. Sign up to be matched to a mentor, and start chatting about anything relating to your visual impairment.
Our peer-mentoring service connects VI young people with a trained VI mentor to offer advice, support and guidance on subjects such as school, Further & Higher Education, careers, opportunities and independent living, based on the mentor’s own experiences.
We can also link to other charities and organisations who can help you access the support you need.
“For me the mentoring service is about helping Visually Impaired young people make informed decisions. If I’d had someone to tell me that they’ve been through college and it worked out for them, it would have been more of a motivation.”
Pupil Power
Everyone says the school years are the best of your life. But it can be tough to be visually impaired if you are not getting the right support.
Our mentoring scheme will empower you to ask for help and say what you need. Our mentors have all been through the journey of sight loss at school. We will listen while you share what’s going on for you – from accessible materials, to friendship groups, and next steps after school.
““I go to mainstream school. I pretend I’m ok but I’m not. I never met another VI person until I started going to LOOK’s youth forum and then became a mentee. They’ve helped my dad too.”
Eye on Work
Ready to start earning? Our careers mentoring scheme can match you with a mentor who is in work and who can chat to you about landing that all-important job.
Mentors can help with:
- Writing CVs
- Interview technique
- Disclosing visual impairment
- Self-advocacy skills
- Discussing access barriers at work
- Applying for Access to Work
“My mentor has really helped me. We have worked on a clear plan for what I need to do to reach my goal of working with visually impaired children when I leave college. She understands the challenges I face because of my VI because she’s been there herself.”
Student Mentor Scheme
If you are 11 – 29 and in higher or further education, we can match you with a visually impaired graduate, who can chat to you about making the most of college or uni life.
Your mentor can help with:
- Applying for Disability Students Allowance and Student Finance
- Accessing learning materials
- Independent living
- Social life
“Often professionals and school teachers get involved and make decisions for Visually Impaired people, so the fact that mentors and mentees are helping to create the mentoring service is very empowering and makes you feel valued.”
Find a Mentor
Sign up to be matched to a mentor, and start chatting about anything relating to your visual impairment.
Find a Mentor
Be a Mentor
Guide for the Journey: Be a Mentor
A mentor is a person who guides a less experienced person by building trust and modelling positive behaviours. A mentor can relate to the concerns of their blind and partially sighted mentees in a way neither parent, teacher, doctor or health worker can.
Are you visually impaired, 18-35 and have a passion to help others? Have you learned hacks along the way that can help other young people with a visual impairment?
Full training will be given, and all our mentoring is hosted on a safe online platform.
“Being in the position to help another young person by being a mentor has been great because it’s not just helping another person, it has also built my own confidence to know that I can be of use to someone else.”
“Being a mentor has been great for my CV. I always talk about it in job interviews. Mentoring is all about problem solving, finding solutions, communication skills. It shows that you are happy to take on responsibility too. Employers always want to hear more about it. I’m sure the way I could talk about my involvement in the mentoring project really helped me into my first proper paid role.”
“The mentoring service is important because everyone needs somebody to guide them at one time or another. It feels great to be able to offer that to someone: I know there have been plenty of times in my life when I would have found it really helpful.”
Become a Mentor
If you have some wisdom to share from your journey with visual impairment, then we’d love to hear from you.
Become a Mentor
Meet Our Mentors
Mentor Brigitta
I wanted to offer guidance and build confidence in young people with sight loss. It’s not always easy to ask for help and having the confidence to do so doesn’t come naturally to everyone.
Mentor Ben
The mentor programme harnesses the potential of technologies like the internet but does so in a controlled environment that makes sure that both mentee and mentor get as much out of their relationship as possible whilst staying safe.
Mentor Chris
Becoming a mentor will allow you to meet some inspirational people, and you will grow and develop alongside your mentees.
Trainee Mentor Megan
Blindness need not be an obstacle to well-being and success. The right support was crucial in helping me fulfil my potential, and now I want to help others by becoming a Look mentor.
“I love being a part of Look because you really do what you say you are going to do. You involve the young people and always ask what we all think. It feels genuine.”
