CyberMentors Training

I was trained as a cybermentor on the 24th of August.

The Training

On the 24th of August I took part in a training session run by beat bullying to become a cybermentor. CyberMentors are just young people who are taking a stand against bullying (there are videos on the BeatBullying's YouTube Channel for this) . CyberMentors are online peer mentors for people who are aged 11-17 years old, who are being bullied or have problems at home. We keep a chat room busy and we are also there if anyone needs to talk to a CM. We are the person who people talk to if they are being bullied. CyberMentors can refer these people to online counselors if they start talking about serious issues - like abuse, drugs or alcohol. If non of these topics come up we will chat to the person privately using PM or PC, and help them come up with solutions to any problems they may be having.

The training was at Leeds Met University Library. I met the trainers from beatbullying when I got there, It was Matt and Claire, there were also other young people who wanted to be cybermentors there as well (as it was a mass training). The training allowed us to take a tour of the NEW website so we knew where everything was. We also talked about causes, effects and reasons of bullying and what kind of things we might come across on the site. We got told about the difficult situations we should look out for, and what we should do if one comes up (pass it on). It was really good fun with Matt and Claire and the whole of the group became quite close. Every set of mentors have their own @ 'tag' on the website, this comes after their username so people know where you were trained, who trained you and who else was trained with you. Our @ 'tag' was chosen to be @ 'Bear' so for example my username is  'devan@bear'.

We finished the training with a proper CM graduation, We all also received a CM badge, certificate and a pile of business cards.

Also during the training Matt and Claire said that referrals were very rare -meaning that they wont happen allot. I have proved this theory wrong, as me and many of the other bears have made quite a few referrals. The training however was a really good fun and a good experience. If you ever get to become a mentor you will find the experience a very rewarding one, I know I do.