Community Mentoring is a service being developed by Devon County Council as part of a re-designed local service system.

This new service is for people who are, or are at risk of social isolation and loss of independence, or who are experiencing a downturn in their lives.

Mentoring tackles isolation and loss of independence by:

• encouraging and enabling ‘healthy living’ and social re-engagement;
• assessing individual psychology, needs, interests and capacities; and
• fostering improved self-esteem to prevent further ill health and hospital admissions.

Mentoring also supports isolated older people to improve their quality of life by helping their communities to include them.

Community mentoring, in its initial stage, was originated by Upstream, in Mid Devon, with support from the Big Lottery Fund and first evaluated by the Peninsula Medical School. It has been further trialled by Age Concern Exeter. The Devon Association of Councils for Voluntary Services, Age Concern Devon and Westbank League of Friends have subsequently contributed to a consensus description of community mentoring.

This Manual, first developed by Upstream, has seven main sections but you can move easily between the sections by following the links.

The service at present is a large-scale trial designed to establish whether mentoring offers a better approach for some people than traditional services which may not focus on isolation and loneliness.

If you want to contact the Mentor service in your area, the simplest way is to phone ‘My Devon’ on 0845 1551 007 where a trained advisor will help you.