The COVID-19 pandemic has become a longer-term crisis which has specific impacts on children and families. Phase 2 of the Viva Child and Family Phone Mentoring Programme – ‘Connecting In’ is designed to pick up on these issues and connect families to longer-term and more in-depth support. This is done by linking them with a project or activity run by your church, organisation or network, or by referring the family for external support.
Three new call themes
This new phase of the Phone Mentoring programme consists of 3 new mentoring calls which have been developed as stand-alone sessions. The themes are:
- Finding Hope in Hard Times – Supporting families to identify strategies that help them to cope and be resilient in the face of ongoing crisis
- Coping with Loss – Helping to manage feelings of grief from bereavement or from other losses during the pandemic
- Staying Safe under Pressure – Raising awareness and preventing the risks of child labour, early marriage and trafficking
Before you start mentoring families:
- You need to know how to ensure your own wellbeing and build resilience
- You need to be equipped to help children and families through difficult issues
- You need to know how to deal with and refer on child protection issues which are emerging as a result of the pandemic
- You need to know how to connect families into long term support beyond the phone mentoring sessions
Resources to support your implementation of Phase 2
Three new phone mentoring call guides:
A new handbook for mentors
Training for mentors (including facilitators guide, presentations and videos):
Training for Mentors: Training Videos
Training for mentors: PowerPoint Presentations:
To deliver the new phase of Phone Mentoring, you should have already completed the 6 theme mentoring programme – guidelines and resources for this programme are available here, and the guidelines for Phase 1 continue to apply in Phase 2.
children in emergencies toolkit 