Want to join our network of like minded people with disabilities, or people who have a passion for disability advocacy? Do you want help more students with disabilities succeed in higher education? Join our network and become mentor for students with disabilities who want to succeed in higher education and become disability advocates!

On the left is a graphic of a variety of people with disabilities outside of a set of buildings. On the right is a graphic of laptop with a person sitting in a chair on the screen, as if they are in a video.

Become a Mentor

Fill out a Mentor profile and make sure you submitted a Calendly link with your available times to mentor as well as joined our GroupMe. *Please note: if you didn’t submit a background check in your profile, please look out for an email from Sterling Volunteers and complete one from them ASAP.

Virtual Training

After you’ve filled out a profile, complete the virtual training by watching the video and completing the linked Google form. Once you meet with a mentee make sure they’ve signed the Mentee Contract.

Need Help?

Click on any of these resources below to visit for tips on being a good mentor and how to prepare your mentee for college.

Mentor Michigan

This site is very helpful for preparing your mentee for college. It gives multiple handouts and activities you can do with your mentee. Scroll to High School, there is a whole list of resources.

Peer Mentoring Handbook

This is a resource from the National Mentoring Resource Center, which focuses mostly on the kind of mentoring you will be doing, peer mentorship. This is a great resource if you need some clarification on your role as a mentor, the trajectory of mentoring, setting boundaries, communicating with your mentee, and activities to do with your mentee.

Experience Corps Mentor Toolkit

This is a resource from the National Mentoring Resource Center that mostly focuses on mentoring for tutoring. Tools 3-8 will be helpful for helping your menteeā€™s social and emotional growth and making sure you help them achieve the goals they set for themselves.

High School Teen Mentoring Handbook

This is a great resource from the National Mentoring Resource Center. It focuses on the important skills needed to mentor high schoolers specifically. Read this handbook if you are curious about the value of mentoring, your role as a mentor, and what to expect while mentoring. Pay extra attention to Sections 2-5.

Fact Sheets on Mentoring and Youth Development

This is a great resource from the National Mentoring Resource Center. This fact sheet will give you tips on how to help your mentee grow developmentally. 

Disability related resources

A Comprehensive Approach to Transition

This resource from the Association of University Centers on Disabilities lays out how to help youth with disabilities transition after graduating from high school. They point out a lot of good things your mentee should be thinking about as they continue to transition into higher education.

Making the Move to Managing your Own Personal Assistance Services (PAS)

This resource from the National Collaborative on Workforce and Disability talks in great detail about how to manage Personal Assistance Services and transitioning into adulthood as a person with a disability. This may be a  valuable resource if you mentee may need Personal Assistance Services.

Navigating College: A Project of The Autistic Self Advocacy Network

This resource from the Autistic Self Advocacy Network (ASAN) is a collection of writings from adults with autism about their experiences in higher education.

Social Security: Benefits for People with Disabilities

If your mentee is curious about the social security benefits for people with disabilities in the U.S., you can check out this Federal government resource page.

COVID-19 Specific Resources

4 Facts About. Remote Worker Engagement

This resource is from Mentor Resources. It is a very interesting article about the benefits and necessity of mentoring at this time of  social distancing.

How to Connect while Working From Home using Mentoring

This article was found on Mentor Resources. This article talks about the importance and benefits of mentoring at this time of social distancing and working from home.