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Mentors Needed to Support Post-Secondary Students with Disabilities - CommunAbility

The National Educational Association of Disabled Students (NEADS), in partnership with researchers from a number of post-secondary education institutions in Ontario, recently kicked off CommunAbility https://www.communability.ca/ , a website for post-secondary students with disabilities. This initiative is funded through the Social Science and Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRC) with a focus on providing post-secondary students with disabilities information, resources, and experiences that will support them to persist and successfully complete their educational programs.

As part of this project we are launching an e-mentoring program in the new year! The CommunAbility e-Mentorship Program is an evidence-informed, curriculum-based program in which post-secondary students with disabilities will develop supportive relationships with post-secondary graduates with disabilities.

We are currently recruiting college and university graduates with disabilities, age 21 years or older, to become mentors for current post-secondary students with disabilities. Volunteering as a CommunAbility e-mentor requires a commitment to communicate with a mentee a minimum of 8  sessions (each about 30 minutes in length) over a 16-week period through text messaging. Mentors will focus on supporting their mentees to develop goals, build their capacity, and problem- solve situations they may encounter while navigating post-secondary education.

Applying to the program is easy. Interested individuals simply register on the CommunAbility website and complete a brief online application.  We screen applications (e.g., reference checks and a Police Vulnerable Sector Check (PVSC) and once approved, new mentors complete approximately 2 hours of online training. Mentors will receive a $100 honorarium for their participation and CommunAbility will reimburse the cost of the police check.

More  information about the program, mentor eligibility criteria, and the screening process can be found on the Become a Mentor page https://www.communability.ca/become_a_mentor  on the CommunAbility website or through contacting the project lead, Dr. Charles Anyinam at charlesa@nipissingu.ca

If you are a post-secondary graduate with a disability and interested in becoming a CommunAbility e-mentor you can start your application by registering on the communability.ca website. If you are not eligible for the program or interested in volunteering at this time, please help spread the word by sharing this information with anyone you think may meet the program eligibility criteria and would be interested in volunteering.

Thank you.

Sincerely,

The CommunAbility Team