6: Building Rapport and Trust Available to Purchase

One of the biggest challenges when working with young people is to establish and build a meaningful relationship with them. As coaching and mentoring often pare back the intervention to one which is dependent on dialogue and conversation, this can at times be pressurising for both parties. Some coaching and mentoring programmes allow a small budget for activities, often providing memories and a less pressurised environment in which conversations can flow more easily. The coach or mentor needs to find ways to connect with the young person to build trust in order to encourage the young person to build confidence, open up and share some of the concerns or challenges they have been facing. This chapter will explore ways in which to build such a rapport with young people, particularly in a one-to-one context. It will identify those times where this may break down, particularly when the coach or mentor feels they need to pass information on when a young person doesn’t want them to do so. This sits within the wider aspect of child protection and safeguarding which will also be considered here, so that coaches and mentors feel confident about what to do when a disclosure has been made by the young person. We will also look at managing expectations of the relationship, so that young people don’t misunderstand you when you are trying to maintain boundaries. We will look at how the relationship can change over time and how this might affect rapport and trust.