Bristol MATES is a scheme that provides mentors for young people in and around Bristol who have either committed a criminal offence or are considered 'at risk' of offending. The scheme liaises with a number of youth projects in the Bristol area and provides them with trained mentors for young people who they feel would benefit from mentoring.

We believe one of the most effective ways of reducing youth crime is to prevent young people from developing behaviour which leads to them committing crime. Sometimes this behaviour is caused by a lack of education, poor family relationships or misuse of certain substances. The scheme is committed to reducing this behaviour by providing mentors who are genuinely interested in understanding a young person’s situation and are committed to helping them develop positive behaviour by helping them pursue their interests.

The scheme works with individuals from age 8-18. We liaise with number of projects around Bristol and provide mentors wherever they are requested. We mainly work with projects whose aim is early intervention or crime prevention.

All of our mentors have undertaken an enhanced disclosure CRB check, and have been trained using the latest guidelines from the Mentoring and Befriending Foundation.

The scheme is kindly supported by Osborne Clarke, an international Law Firm, the University of Bristol Alumni Foundation and the Quartet Community Foundation Catalyst Fund.