Mentoring and me...

[Tom]

Hey everyone.

So, I need some feedback on this...

I've been doing a little mentoring with people between the ages of 18 and 24, who have been long-term unemployed for various reasons. Now that I've got a little more loose time on my hands, I decided to use it productively, and I thought volunteering as a mentor would be useful.

Of course, I'm getting a lot from it, and I had a couple of large group sessions the other week where I just explained the difficulties I've faced in pursuing my career, and the history of it all. Everyone shared their experiences with me, and we discussed possibilities of how they could straighten things out. It was a great experience, and I learnt a lot about what stops people chasing dreams etc. etc.

The thing is, the peeps behind the mentoring want me to put a DVD together of 'my story'... Hmmm. It's a bit cheesy, and I don't want to be a marketing tool or some muppet on a screen being used to talk down to people about my well-trodden rags-to-riches tale, yaddah yaddah. But I can also see that it's beneficial for a lot of these people to hear that no, it's not impossible to pursue what's important, and share my experiences of getting fired, made homeless, nearly sued blah blah all the way to now. When I was in the sessions, the interaction was fantastic, and I learnt a lot, and I think these guys got a lot from it also.

There are two things about making a DVD that concern me: 1) How do you make something like that without it being mildly patronising and blatantly ridiculous? I can't help worry that it would miss the whole point of why I became a mentor in the first place, although I can't do it forever because I have a lot of projects that are taking up my time.

And 2), if I agree to do it, what's the best format for explaining how I overcame everything (personal and professional) to get what mattered to me? Talking heads stuff or what? I don't know.

I've got mixed feelings on this. On the one hand, I can see it's benefits, but on the other, I can so see it making me seem like a self-assured wanker and having the opposite effect.

Well? What do you think?

[sammo]

The mentoring is very cool, the DVD is....interesting!

I think you could do it in a way which is inspiring as opposed to patronizing, I think you'd have to make it quite light and engaging for people to take note from it (and keep it short).

I say go for it, just take your time over it.

[PatrickCoyle]

I think you should do it, mate. Even if 99 per cent of the youths watching think you're a wanker, it's worth it for the one per cent that takes something from it. It's sort of a self-help/inspirational thing rather than a bio-doc, right? So to an extent it has to be a "look, I did it" sort of deal - but keep the emphasis on using your experiences as an example for how they can overcome adversity and obstacles.

Rather than self-aggrandising, present it as much as possible as "you can achieve stuff if you put the effort in." Don't make it look like anything came easy to you. Make sure that they know where you came from, what you've been through, the setbacks you've faced (both self-created and ones inflicted from outside). Make sure they know the lows, and that you had to get your own arse in gear for the highs.

I'd throw in some self-deprecating humour to offset potential wankerism, but that runs the risk of making light of situations that people watching might still be in. Maybe they can laugh about it, maybe they can't.

In terms of how to format it, I think a video diary type thing would work best. Honest, humble, straight to camera. Include clips of all your films. Night Bird shows your early efforts, and Icharus shows the development (as well as the autobiographical stuff). Kate and Colin will make people laugh.

An idea that's just occurred to me - if you still have all your old MySpace blogs, perhaps you could read some excerpts from them from a reflective/with-hindsight POV.

I'm not sure how much of what I've said makes sense or helps, I feel like I've mostly just been long-windedly repeating stuff back to you that you've already said.

[wiggy]

do you know any animators which could animate something to go with what you are saying

[salvador]

patrickcoyle said:

I think you should do it, mate. Even if 99 per cent of the youths watching think you're a wanker, it's worth it for the one per cent that takes something from it.

Exactly... thats the only reason to do it.

Mate, I think a dram film would be the best. Obviously thats a bit bigger than a help DVD but what better way to show it than as a drama?

From what I've heard it be one hell of a film.

[Tom]

Ha ha. Cheers guys. Hmmm, some interesting things to think about there. I suppose I'm very self-conscious of it all going against the point of why I started doing this. I don't know any animators, but I think that, mixed with the good words from Mr Coyle does make some sense.

I think doing it as a film will take way more time than I have, and besides, who's gonna play me? Ha ha.

I'm gonna mull this all over and come up with a plan.

Cheers guys. Most appreciated.