Start Up Mentoring
Tzvi was one of Israel’s up and coming hi-tech stars. He spent his days developing successful apps, and being courted by startups. In his spare time,Tzvi worked with Kav L’Noar as a mentor for 15 year old Dan.
Tzvi met Dan at a time when Dan had dropped out of school and was spending all his time smoking and hanging around with older boys on the streets. Dan lived with his parents and younger sisters but was becoming increasingly reckless and aggressive. Dan’s parents were frightened that if they came down too hard on his bad behavior, he might up and leave home altogether. After all, he had already left school and didn’t seem to care about where he was heading.
Dan’s parents started receiving therapy at Kav L’Noar to help them navigate this sensitive situation and to gain the confidence to set the boundaries that Dan clearly needed. In parallel, Dan started meeting with Tzvi.
Building Trust
After a few months spent gradually building trust, Dan started to really appreciate having Tzvi around. He said that he was feeling ‘heard’ for the first time- something that he never felt at school or even at home. Tzvi was very tactful, and always seemed to know when to offer advice, when to offer a relevant story from when he’d been the same age as Dan, and when simply to listen. Dan really admired what Tzvi was doing with his life and looked up to him.
Eventually, Dan agreed to enroll in a new school. The school was sensitive to Dan’s particular needs, and its staff did their best to make him feel valued and included. Tzvi also encouraged Dan to make the effort needed to succeed in his new school and to take advantage of the new opportunities on offer.
Tzvi told us how enriched he felt by the experience of working with Dan. He said that he had no idea when he started how much he would come to appreciate Dan for all the amazing qualities that were buried inside him, and feels that it was a real privilege to get to know him in this way. Dan in turn could feel that Tzvi’s interest in him was genuine, and felt empowered to make something of himself. Dan wanted to be the person that Tzvi saw.