Become a volunteerYour Hub Entry – Esther Pilgrim
Developing Others
‘Being a Queen’s Guide Award mentor’
Earlier this year I found myself in the position of being unable to attend unit meetings as regularly, so I had more evenings at home. Due to this, I decided to look into other roles and ways I could volunteer in Guiding. I took on a few roles with more flexible timings, among which was becoming a Queen’s Guide mentor.
As it has been about 10 years since I completed my own Queen’s Guide Award, the first thing I did in this role was make myself familiar with the new syllabus and rules around completing the Queen’s Guide award and being a mentor for it. The main roles of the mentor are; ensuring your mentee has an achievable plan for completing their award, helping them decide on activities if they are unsure, ensuring they have appropriate assessors for each element and keeping in contact with your mentee throughout their award to support them.
The thing I love most about this role is it is completely flexible. As long as it works for you and your mentee, you can meet whenever and however you want. So far, me and my mentee have had a zoom call and then chatted on facebook messenger to keep up to date. It’s also amazing to hear about all the things they are doing for their award and the great ideas they have and constantly reminds me of things I have done in the past. The only downside of this role is how much I now wish I could do my Queen’s Guide award again!
Here is a quick run-down of the pros and cons of being a Queens Guide mentor:
Things I love about being a Queen’s Guide mentor:
- Very flexible on timing
- Very flexible on how it is carried out
- You get to know more people in local Guiding
- No additional training required (only safe space 1-3)
- Opportunities to meet other mentors
- You get to hear about all the exciting things your mentee is doing!
Cons of being a Queen’s Guide mentor:
- It will make you jealous that you’re not doing your Queen’s Guide award!
With the Queen’s Guide Award age limit recently being raised to 30 you may find that more people in your area are looking for mentors. If it is a role you are interested in, more information can be found here:
https://www.girlguiding.org.uk/what-we-do/our-badges-and-activities/badge-finder/queens-guide-award/
