Canada’s largest mentoring organization is turning 100 and is celebrating with a year-long public education campaign to give Canadians fresh insights into the societal value of youth mentoring.
To mark the launch of this national effort, Big Brothers Big Sisters (BBBSC) and the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH) are releasing the first results of one of the largest mentoring studies ever conducted.
The five-year study, which tracks the experiences of almost 1,000 children and teenagers registered with Big Brother Big Sisters agencies across Canada, found that those with a mentor are significantly more confident in their academic abilities and considerably less likely to display behavioural problems.
One notable finding is that girls in the study with a Big Sister were four times less likely to bully, fight, lie or express anger than girls without a mentor.
“This ground-breaking research confirms that mentoring changes the trajectory of young lives,” said Bruce MacDonald, president and CEO of BBBSC. “The findings will have a profoundly beneficial impact on our mentoring programs.”
The study’s findings are expected to bring about significant advances in how the agencies of BBBSC deliver mentoring services.
Expected outcomes are more specialized pre-match training for the child, parents and mentor; more effective match support for all three participants to better manage expectations and earlier detection of special needs among children and teenagers.
BBBSC believes that this landmark study’s legacy will be longer and more successful matches and mentoring that is more closely tailored to individual needs.
The study was conducted by a team of academics led by Dr. David DeWit, a senior research scientist CAMH in London, Ontario, and Dr. Ellen Lipman, a psychiatrist and Professor at McMaster University in Hamilton. The research was made possible by a $1.7 million grant from the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR).
“We showed that the positive findings held regardless of the children’s age, personal history, family circumstances or cultural identity,” explained DeWit. “Over time, Big Brother Big Sisters agencies will be able to counsel mentors on how best to engage with their ‘Little’ and will make it easier to identify the children most likely to benefit from having a mentor.”
Key findings include:
– girls with a Big Sister are two and a half times more likely than girls without a mentor to be confident in their ability to be successful at school;
– boys with a Big Brother are three times less likely than boys without a mentor to suffer peer pressure related anxiety, such as worrying about what other children think or say about them;
– mentored boys are two times more likely to believe that school is fun and that doing well academically is important; and
– mentored boys are also two times less likely than non-mentored boys to develop negative conducts like bullying, fighting, lying, cheating, losing their temper or expressing anger.
The breadth aof this study is such that these current findings are just a small sample of what will be released in the months and years to come.
Over time, BBBSC agencies will actually be able to counsel mentors on how best to engage with their “Little” based on their, age, personal history, family circumstances and cultural identity. During the pre-match screening process, the study’s conclusions are also expected to make it easier to identify the children most likely to benefit from having a mentor.
“When the findings of this research are fully understood, we expect that virtually every aspect of how we approach, design and maintain our mentoring relationships will be impacted,” said MacDonald. “The work of the project’s outstanding team, so ably led by Dr. DeWit and Dr. Lipman, will benefit children and teenagers in every region of Canada for generations.”
“We recognize that the work of Big Brothers Big Sisters of Canada has played a crucial role in the lives of many young Canadians,” said Dr. Anthony Phillips, scientific director of the CIHR Institute of Neurosciences, Mental Health and Addiction.
Beyond public awareness campaigns focused on youth mentoring, BBBSC and its agencies will also be hosting special events across Canada. These celebrations will pay tribute to the contributions of past and present Big Brother and Big Sister volunteers to the well-being of children and communities over the past 100 years.
Canadians can participate in BBBSC’s 100th birthday celebrations through social media by giving a “big shout out” to the special people who made a difference in their lives – be they parents, extended family members, coaches, teachers, employers or a volunteer Big Brother or Big Sister. People can tell their mentoring story to the BBBSC community by visiting www.thebigshout.ca.
About Big Brothers Big Sisters of Canada
For 100 years, Big Brothers Big Sisters has been making a positive difference in the lives of Canada’s youth by developing and implementing a wide range of mentoring programs.
BBBSC volunteer mentors teach by example the importance of giving back, of staying in school, and of respecting family, peers and community.
BBBSC provides quality mentoring services for more than 33,000 children and teenagers. The community-based youth mentoring organization currently has over 25,000 volunteer mentors working at 123 agencies that serve children in over 1,000 communities across the country.
Locally, the Mount Forest branch of BBBSC is hosting its annual Bowl for Kids Sake at the Mount Forest Bowling Lanes on Feb. 10. The theme of the day is “Sports over a hundred years.”
BBBSC of Centre Wellington is hosting Bowl for Kids Sake on Nintendo Wii on Feb. 21 at St. Joseph’s Church, in Fergus from 12pm to 9pm, or Feb. 22 at Victoria Park Senior Centre from 9:30am to 1 :30pm. The classic Bowl for Kids Sake takes place on Feb. 24 at Woodlawn Bowl, Woodlawn Rd., Guelph, from 9:30 to 6pm.
To learn more about BBBSC, visit www.bigbrothersbigsisters.ca.
