Who We Are

Every service user is different, with different needs, personalities, attitudes, backgrounds.

Individualization is the acknowledgement and understanding of each service user’s unique qualities and needs.It is also very important to respect these differences even though they might be different to the mentor’s.

Acceptance is a quality by which the mentor perceives and deals with the service users as they really are, including their strengths and weaknesses, qualities, positive and negative feelings, constructive and destructive attitudes and behaviour, maintaining all the while a sense of the service users’ innate dignity and personal worth. Acceptance does not mean approval of deviant attitudes or behaviour but it is an acknowledgement of the realities of the situation being presented. Acceptance aids the mentor in understanding the service users’ problems or distress realistically and therefore renders support more effective. It also helps service users to present their needs without having to resort to defence or justification of their actions or behaviour.

The attitudes involved in non-judgemental listening are acceptance, genuineness and empathy. 

Acceptance is all about respecting the service user’s feelings, experiences and values, even though they may be different from the professional. 

Genuineness is about making the service user feel accepted regardless of their values. 

Empathy is the ability to demonstrate to the person that you truly listen to what they are saying and feeling.

The principle of service user self-determination is the practical recognition of the right and need of service users to be free in making their own choices and decisions whilst keeping in mind that when the service users are still minors, it is the parents or their legal guardians who are still responsible for them. The mentor has a corresponding duty to respect that right and stimulate the potential for self-determination by providing details of available resources in the community and by focusing on traits of character manifested by service users which could be harnessed to this end. 

When using the service, users have the right to remain anonymous; i.e. do not reveal their identity. Users need to choose a nickname and an emotion upon logging in to safeguard anonymity. Anonymity might help service users to open up more easily, do not feel judged and decrease the feeling of shame when talking about their life situations. 

However, in high-risk or crisis situations like domestic violence, child abuse, suicide ideations, and homelessness, mentors are to encourage service users to provide their personal information for them to contact emergency services or other services as deemed necessary.

Service users have the right to confidentiality, although this right is not absolute. Confidentiality is the non-disclosure of information revealed by the service users disclosed in the services. This also applies if the service user is providing information with regard to another person.  Confidentiality is a basic right of the service user.  It is an ethical obligation of the mentor and is necessary for effective service. This means that certain information that may endanger the service user’s own life or the life of another may have to be revealed to the right professionals for the safety or security of the person involved. Furthermore, information may be disclosed if it is legally bound to be disclosed or if disclosure is necessary in order to co-operate with the police. 

Controlled emotional involvement is the mentor’s sensitivity to the service users’ feelings and understanding of their meaning leading to a purposeful and appropriate response. It is also important for the mentor to know their boundaries of involvement in the role of the helping profession so as not to over involve him/herself in the emotional and personal life of the service user.