Scottish Mentoring Network
Mentoring in Scotland.
What attracted you to the mentoring scheme?
Well when I heard about it, you know I'm involved with alot of things
with visually impaired and disabled people, I thought that was a good thing
because there's nobody that understands sight laws and disabilities
like someone who knows, someone who has gone through it.
It was my home support worker Gil who told me about it,
She felt I needed to talk to somebody that had went through similar experiences
to myself when my sight started to go.
What are the benefits of mentoring?
To see how other people work, you're out on a limb
on your own so when you see how other people react
to different situations you can incorporate them into your ideas
so that you can help wherever you can. Dealing with challenging
people, I needed some experience in that, I found that
people were not always easy to talk to so it was just about
getting that right really. The initial stages, just having someone
to talk to who actually knows what you are going through because
I didn't have any idea at all, I was just.. my partial sight was very sudden,
and you know I didn't know anyone at all that you know I didn't know what to do.
so you know just having someone to talk to who knows what you're going through
and is in the same position.
How do you work with your mentor?
We talk about books and different authors and that kind of thing,
which I belong to a reading group so it's sort of ongoing
from that, what you can talk about.
Getting out and about and just small practical things
that make that tiny bit of difference
to helping you cope with being partially sighted.
My mentee, one of them was an old lady who had just been diagnosed with
macular degeneration and was not in a good place,
but came on through time, through chatting, lots of chatting, lots of phone calls
to make her day a bit brighter, when I went on at first she was very low
and by the end of it we were talking about things that were happening
in Coronation Street and she seemed to enjoy that
and we would both make comments and this is the type of thing
I spoke to her about was taking the seat, a small seat
up to the Television so that you can see it,
what little sight you have got, make use of it.
So she said this is what I do, and I said oh yes!
my husband complains and she was laughing so that was my first time
I'd heard her laugh and that to me was her first day of moving forward.
I speak on the phone to.. every fortnight, every week of every fortnight
to a gentleman in Cumbernauld, he's now ninety three and we have a long chat about
football and different things like that.
Weekly or fortnightly calls, you know just go through general questions if
they have anything they want to talk about, anything they're wanting information on,
things like that, anything that I can help and research and give them information on is
what I do. How would you describe mentoring to others?
It gives you a chance to talk about different aspects of your own disability,
and how other people are affected and how you.. what you've found with
treatment you have got and the attitude of other people.
Extremely worthwhile, very rewarding, enjoyable.
When you can bring some, a small bit of comfort into someone's life
I think it's good.
Visibility Mentoring Service Glasgow.
The Scottish Government, Scottish Mentoring Network and Lottery Funded.
Visibility Sight Loss Charity Glasgow - Scottish Mentoring Network - Sight Loss Awareness Video