The senior co-ordinator for the schools-side of the BREAKTHROUGH Dundee mentoring project, based in Morgan Academy, has described her involvement as an “absolute privilege”.
Born, bred and educated in Dundee, Rosie Ivins has been working to provide support to the city’s most deserving children and young people for the last 20 years.
Following on from various roles within the education and social work sectors, she studied for a degree in Community Learning and Development, where she discovered her real passion – youth work.
In an interview with The Courier to mark the launch of the £1 million initiative, she said: “My last post within Dundee City Council’s East Youth Work Team saw me deliver both one-to-one support and targeted group work to young people in need.
“Being afforded the opportunity to build relationships with these young people, and to watch them develop and grow, has been an absolute privilege, and I am hugely excited by the prospect of making more positive connections in my role of senior co-coordinator for BREAKTHROUGH Dundee.”
BREAKTHROUGH Dundee is being developed to boost the life chances of secondary-aged young people who are vulnerable or have experienced care.
The project will provide a 1:1 programme, designed to improve pupils’ academic performance and to support them in achieving a positive destination after they leave school.
Mentors are being sought to make this happen.
Rosie said it was important to work with young people in the project and not just for them.
She added: “We started with a focus group. These young people have very much helped with the design of the project, how they feel it should all be moving forward.
“My job is to oversee the relationship with the mentor and the mentee to make sure things are moving forward smoothly, productively.
“I also deliver group work to the first and second years to prepare them for the mentoring.
“We are out now trying to recruit as many as we can who will take on Dundee’s young people who deserve a chance.
“School is not always a straightforward route for them all. The young people have often had a lot they’ve come up against. We want to give them second, third, fourth, fifth chances – as many as they need – and widen their opportunities and aspirations.
“The idea is we take a hand-picked mentor who is right for this young person and they have a minimum of a year, even two, that is firmly embedded and move forward with trust as well.”
For more information go to www.breakthroughdundee.co.uk
