Who’s Alone?

Yaakov’s mentee, Daniel, a 15-year-old boy from a broken family, was giving him a hard time. Daniel’s most important goal in life was to move away from the world and live in a desert, completely removed from the world. Ya’akov had a very hard time dealing with his mentee and was very frustrated with their interactions. He worked hard trying to convince Daniel that his plans were unrealistic and that he needed to get in touch with reality, nothing seemed to be working.

Yaakov brought his frustrations to his clinical supervisor. After some time, he opened up and expressed that he felt that he was carrying around a tremendous weight. He is married with kids. Working a few different jobs just to make ends meet. Ya’akov was stressed, he was overwhelmed. The mentor was struggling so much himself that he wasn’t able to be with his mentee. Finally, the mentor realized – I am the same as the mentee; he has struggles and I have struggles, he is a person and I am a person, He is overwhelmed and I am overwhelmed. From that point on, the mentor and mentee were able to connect and not only is mentee growing, but so is the mentor and they are growing together.

#struggles #youthmentoring