thoughts!?!

[pinkdollymix]

I am not qualified but have plenty of life experience. I am thinking of starting up a mentoring service for troubled teens and their parents. Helping the two to communicate and acting as a bridge between the two, spending some time listening and advising the young person and some time listening advising mum or dad.would this b a service people would b interested in? If so would mylack of qualifications be an issue? Thoughts welcomed!

I think you would at least need professional experience to appear credible. What's your background?

I think at the very least you would need some sort of counselling qualification, training in conflict resolution and a wider knowledge of support networks for specific problems.......

If you're unqualified, I wouldn't touch you with a 20 foot pole. You could very easily make things worse, rather than better.

There is a reason why people have qualifications.

to be working with and advising vulnerable young people, presumably on a one-to-one basis, I would expect you to have DBS check, safeguarding and child protection training, counselling skills, a mentor for you to feedback to/to support you when you feel overwhelmed by what you hear. I would want you to be working in close liaison with and with the support of the relevant school, college or other educational establishment.

You know, pinkdollymix, I've struggled to find help ( that's useful and relevant ) I'd be open to trying a service of someone who has experience and a track record of helping teens and parents - qualified or not.

You should only do it once you have gained the correct qualifications in counselling or child and family psychology. To think you have the skills just from life experience is very ignorant. It is very easy to say something or deal with something in a well meaning way but can have huge detrimental effect. Sorry to sound harsh but how do you know your opinion is correct.

You could do an awful lot of damage OR you could do a lot of good. Thing is, without qualifications, training or the oversight of a regulatory body or organisation you could simply be accused of doing damage and be royally fucked through no fault of your own.

Imagine: I bring my troubled teen to you. You attempt to mentor and support our family and provide advice to said troubled teen. TT then goes and does something criminal or harmful. We blame (and sue) you for giving harmful advice and causing harm to poor TT.

Bad idea.

Where would you get insurance from if you aren't qualified/regulated?

For all the reasons here, I think you'd be struggling to set this up as a business.

Volunteering for a charity? Barnardo's?