BIAF Individual Mentoring Program

Survivor

I. M. BY YOUR SIDE: INDIVIDUAL MENTORING

Through the participation of membership and staff, BIAF is able to offer a free supportive service called Individual Mentoring (IM). The IM program provides peer-to-peer support over the telephone.

Mentors offer support, education and information about the experience of brain injury from the perspective of someone who is living it every day. Often times, being able to connect through a past similar experience strengthens and enlightens both individuals.

Mentors can be people with brain injury, parents of a child with brain injury, spouses, siblings and children of someone with brain injury. All mentors who participate in the IM program are trained and supervised by an Association staff member. The training provides boundaries and structure to the program and affords resources to the mentor that can be shared peer-to-peer.

In developing the peer-to-peer relationship, BIAF staff works to closely match a new partner with a mentor who shares some common experience or relationship. Mentors can help with support, education and referral through telephone contact.

Mentoring programs throughout the United States have been successful in helping reduce isolation and depression while improving quality of life by increasing knowledge of brain injury and community resources.
The BIAF IM program is open to all Florida residents directly affected by a brain injury. The program is free and requires an interview with one of the Association’s IM coordinators.

If you or someone you know would like to be a Mentor or would benefit from the support a Mentor could provide, or if you would like more information about the program, please contact Dale Santella, Mentor Coordinator at 941-953-5899 ext 307, or email dsantella@biaf.org or call our statewide toll free Helpline at 800-992-3442. Download the Referral Form for Mentors or Partners.

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