Mentoring
The GIVEN Institute has developed a signature mentoring program available to women who have participated in a Leadership Forum.
The GIVEN Institute invites and trains a network of mentors who want to accompany young Catholic women in activating their gifts for the Gospel.
If you are interested in this volunteer opportunity of becoming a GIVEN mentor or wish to learn more about the commitment and requirements for our program, please contact us. We’d love to answer your questions or set up a phone call.
Read one GIVEN mentor story here:
About Mentoring with GIVEN
At GIVEN, we seek to help each woman hear the unique and unrepeatable call of the Holy Spirit in her life–what we would call her authentic personal vocation.
The GIVEN Institute’s signature “Art of Accompaniment Mentoring Program,” provides young, emerging Catholic female leaders (aged 21-35) with guidance, support, and accompaniment as they navigate the questions, opportunities, and challenges facing contemporary Catholic women.
This year-long mentoring program is the segue to participation in the GIVEN Leadership Forum. It fosters relationships between young women and established Catholic female leaders, lay, consecrated and religious. GIVEN mentors accompany the young women, helping them discover and activate their gifts for the Church and the world. Our mentors emphasize the particularly feminine strength of integration of faith, interpersonal relationships, professional aspirations, and vocational responsibilities.
GIVEN provides tools, resources, and community for women as they discover their gifts and live out their vocations. Our hope is that through receiving the love and gifts of other sisters in the Lord, each woman will be strengthened and equipped to respond with the unique gift that only she can give!
Mentoring through the Forum
Mentors, both lay and consecrated women, support the young women who attend the Leadership Forum. The mentors are available throughout the Forum assisting in a variety of roles such as: small group leaders, spiritual directors, mental health professionals, etc. After the Forum, each mentor works with young women one-on-one for one year to support them as they implement their Action Plans. The Action Plan is each young woman’s initiative to activate her gifts in her own community for the Church and the world. All mentors are faithful Catholics and experienced leaders. They are eager to help the next generation of Catholic female leaders develop their gifts and succeed in their vocations.
Mentoring through the GIVEN Network
The GIVEN Network is a vibrant, growing community of female leaders. As such, GIVEN recognizes that there are many Catholic women who desire to be part of this mission but who cannot come to the Forum. Potential mentors and faith leaders are encouraged to contact us about regional events, virtual engagement, and potential one-time mentoring connections.
Mentor FAQs
You must be over the age of 36 and have 8+ years of experience in your profession or vocation. Mentors must have a willingness to journey with other women in their particular state in life, leading from her own experience and personal relationship with Jesus Christ and the Church.
Absolutely! We have been blessed with the presence of many religious sisters who have spent a year accompanying young women in our Art of Accompaniment program. To be a considered as a Mentor, a religious sister must be fully professed or in temporary vows.
Mentors are required to participate in virtual preparatory training sessions leading up to the Forum and commit to an initial relationship of one year with up to two mentees in order to accompany them as the young women continue to integrate Forum themes and ideas into their lives and implement their Action Plans.
GIVEN Mentors, both lay and consecrated serve as volunteers. While at the Forum, they receive complimentary food and lodging at the host site.
While one of the requirements to being a GIVEN Mentor is attendance at at least one Leadership Forum, we sometimes offer a one-time mentoring conversation with women in our network who are seeking support for a specific skill. A follow-up conversation is scheduled upon review of application if skills and experience match the needs required.