Mentoring

Marlons's story is a good example of how Reconstruct visitors and mentors could help you, or assist and support children & young people you work with. You may also find our FAQ's page a useful link to visit.

Marlon's Story

My name is Marlon I'm 21 years old and I live in Bristol. I'm working as a Sports and Leisure Technician in a low security rehabilitation unit for the mentally ill in a hospital in Bristol.

I'm a care leaver. I used to be in foster care. At the age of 18 I had to leave foster care and tried to live back at my parents. Troubles arose again, my parents split up (on my birthday - “happy birthday Marlon”) and I had to leave.

For the next two and a half years I stayed at different places. Through a lack of stability, constant heavy drinking and problems with money, I suffered from depression. I felt betrayed by friends and let down, feeling lonely, with no-one to turn to. These feelings grew stronger when I had to move into bed and breakfast accommodation and life became really difficult.

Luckily I had a really nice social worker. I've now had a mentor from Reconstruct for over 2 years. I felt unsure about what it was going to be like at the start and thought it was just someone else coming into my life. Why did I need someone else to help me?

By having a mentor I've had someone to listen to me who's helped me to sort myself out. I've now got the confidence to sort things out for myself. It's all about confidence. I know where to go to and who to speak with to sort things out. My mentor has helped me do this for me. With social services when you are 18 or 21 that's it. If my mentor had done everything for me I'd have just had another social worker and I'd be over 21 and still not be able to do things for myself.

Even though I've got my family back, I live with my girlfriend in a council flat, it is still nice to have someone to chat to and offload problems and know that this person will listen to my problems and not do anything about it. The best thing she has taught me is to respect myself and make me feel I am worth something.

Independent Visiting