Wellness Mentoring Circles

Emerging from the evaluative processes supporting the A New Way Forward initiative was the discovery that not just mentees have a deep yearning for connection and intimacy, but mentors do as well. Many men and women said they were stressed and at times overwhelmed by competing pressures, which, they admitted, compromised their time and willingness to serve our vulnerable young. The A New Way Forward Wellness Mentoring Circles offer participants the supports needed to live healthy, balanced lives. They are designed to fulfill the most critical need in the mentoring world, which is to recruit Black male—and also female—mentors and keep them engaged. They are gender specific and intergenerational. Some Wellness Mentoring Circles serve as group-mentoring efforts in places where there are large groups of young people who need support but few adults available. Other Wellness Mentoring Circles are for adults only—an honored place where men and women committed to healing themselves and the community gather in neighborhood faith institutions and community centers to offer mutual support and illuminate issues we ordinarily shroud in silence. Based on the information offered in the A New Way Forward  manual, participants look deep within themselves to see what they can and need to do to strengthen themselves so that they, in turn, can strengthen our children and communities. Wellness Mentoring Circles connect men-tors to one another and keep them engaged. Led by trained facilitators, they create a safe place where people can unmask, unburden and heal together in body, mind and soul, which is in keeping with Black culture and tradition.