Mentoring

I had a great meeting in London today, about a mentoring program for students and graduates with learning differences. It seems as though the project has a real chance of coming together soon, and helping a lot of people.

I can't say too much about the project, as it is still evolving, and taking shape, but the main hope is to help people with learning differences progress within creative industries.

I want this to be fun, and as much about having a sense of community as about career progression. I also want to make sure we are providing something that students with learning differences really want and will benefit from, or there is obviously no point.

To this end, I'd love to know people's thoughts and feeling about this.

Is this something that would interest you as a student, graduate, or creative freelancer? What sort of support would you like from a mentoring scheme? (We have discussed talks from people with learning differences who have successful careers in creative industries, business advice, networking opportunities, and help with self awareness). But what would you want from something like this?

Eighteen year old me, taken just before I started university. I'm climbing somewhere I probably shouldn't, and at the time I was worried I was doing the same by going after a degree so focused on reading and writing.  In both cases, I just went for it, and everything turned out alright, though I didn't realize this was going to happen until I was half way up. 

For me, I know I would have been interested. I felt scared when I started my degree, and wasn't sure if I could handle it. I know talking to someone who had already completed a degree like mine (English, American Studies, and Creative Writing) would have really helped, and I'd have really enjoyed hanging out with people who understood what it was like to be a bit different, and to have to work a bit harder. Yet, not all mentoring schemes have a huge uptake. My old university trialed a scheme for dyslexic students in one department, and when I heard about it, they were having trouble finding people who wanted to be mentored (though this might have changed as it progressed).

I have theories about why this might be, but the only way to find out if this project can work, and to make it work, is to make sure it's giving people with learning differences things they see to be of real value.

I'm not just collecting views on this blog, but the more feedback I can get, the better this project will be, so your comments really are appreciated.