Become a Mentor

Want to make a difference to the lives of visually impaired young people? Become a Mentor today

What does being a Look mentor involve?

At Look we are passionate about supporting visually impaired young people to thrive. We strongly believe the people best placed to help us do this are those with personal experience of living with a visual impairment. As a mentor you will help to inspire confidence in young people and take an active role in creating a friendly, welcoming, inclusive community. As a Look Mentor there are lots of ways to get involved:
  • Talk online to a young person with a visual impairment through our mentoring platform
  • Participate in our events
  • Take part in our discussion groups
  • Contribute your ideas and opinions to help us shape the direction of our project and what we offer
  • Facilitate workshops in schools and other settings
  • Get the word out about Look and what we do
  • Take part in fundraising challenges
  • Participate in overseas trips and exchanges
  • Take advantage of training and development opportunities
  • Get your own mentor (a number of our mentors are also being mentored themselves)
Look Mentor

How does it work?

Our online mentoring programme puts you in touch with a younger mentee. You will be matched according to life experience, eye condition or experience of visual impairment, interests and ambitions. You are asked to contact your mentee once a week on our dedicated, monitored mentoring platform. The agenda is set by the young person, but we provide resources and a thorough week by week guide to the mentoring conversation to prompt and structure your time together. The programme is usually one year long. Mentors provide young people with support through school, transition to college or uni and social confidence. All conversations are monitored for safeguarding purposes.

Who can become a Look mentor?

Mentoring is currently open to visually impaired young people aged between 18 and 35. The current age limit is linked to the funding we receive for the project, though we do hope to extend this in the future. As the majority of the mentoring takes place on our dedicated online platform, prefficient IT skills are essential for a Look mentor. No previous mentoring experience is required, and we welcome mentors from all walks of life. What’s most important is that you’re able to use your experience to provide constructive support to a younger person. In order to be a Look mentor, you should:
  • Have effective time management skills
  • Be a positive ambassador
  • Have sufficient IT skills to navigate the online mentoring platform
  • Be a confident communicator (verbal and written)
  • Be able to commit to messaging your mentee once a week
  • Be open to share your personal experiences
  • Be willing to learn and take advantage of training and development opportunities
  • Be friendly, approachable and enthusiastic

How do I become a Look Mentor?

We are currently not recruiting mentors. Watch this space, applications will be opening again in the near future.