Fight for Peace Youth Mentor and Evening Lead Parisse plays a key role in supporting our young members by providing intensive one-to-one mentoring, leading group activities and helping to develop wider support services at our Academy in North Woolwich.
Following the recent appointment of our Youth Work Manager, Steven, we sat down with Parisse to explore how mentoring at Fight for Peace continues to evolve, and why building trust, listening to young people and meeting them where they are is central to this work.
While sport often brings young people through the door, our team of youth workers and mentors supports them beyond the gym. Through individual mentoring and personal development initiatives, we help young people navigate life’s challenges, explore new perspectives and find a safe space to talk openly without fear of judgement.
Parisse has been part of the Fight for Peace team for two years, and her extensive youth work experience has shaped her approach to supporting young people. As she explains, building trust has become increasingly important in her practice.
“I’ve become more intentional about building trust amongst the young people, because I feel like there’s a lot of things that they are reluctant to open up about,” Parisse shared.
Working with young people facing complex challenges requires patience and the ability to adapt to their individual circumstances. For Parisse, this means recognising that a young person’s needs can change from one session to the next.
“Sometimes I have to adapt it to fit more pressing needs. That could be the fact that they’ve had a relationship breakdown, for example. I might have had a session planned on goal setting, but they’ve had a breakup, and I need to make that the priority.”
Parisse has also been supporting students on our Post-16 Education programme, providing mentoring outside the classroom and training sessions to help them navigate the challenges of full-time education.
“A young person’s ability to engage with learning can be influenced by how much is going on outside of the classroom. There can be a lot of uncertainty about the future, and a lot of them are trying to make sense of things.”
“A lot of the young people on the course have been very open in a short space of time, even though I haven’t known them for very long. It just shows that once a young person feels like someone is invested in them doing well, they open like a book.”
Parisse has also developed greater patience in her practice, recognising that every young person progresses at their own pace.
“Everyone’s speed is different in which they take on the information that they’re getting from the sessions. Some won’t apply it to their lives until six months later. Progress isn’t always immediate or linear, and giving young people agency to work through challenges at their own pace is just as important as the goals they set.”
Alongside mentoring, Parisse is working to launch Junior Lutodoras, a junior version of Fight for Peace’s all-women personal development group, creating opportunities that respond to younger members’ interests and needs.
“I want to create a space for the younger age ranges that come here, so 7–14 year olds. Sometimes the topics in the Lutodoras sessions can be quite sensitive and aren’t always suitable for the younger girls, so I’m excited to launch it.”
The new group will give younger girls a dedicated space to get creative, connect with one another and access a wider range of activities at Fight for Peace. For Parisse, the inspiration came from seeing younger members making their own fun, turning a huge delivery box into a fort which they played in for hours.
Giving young people a voice in shaping the activities and support available to them is an important part of how we work. By listening to young people’s ideas and using their feedback to inform new initiatives, Parisse helps ensure that support at the Academy continues to evolve alongside their needs.
Beyond these focus points, Parisse’s work expands beyond what we see on the frontline. Her new role as Evening Lead will allow her to strengthen the links between different areas at Fight for Peace, from mentoring and education to personal development and sport.
Through championing greater collaboration and communication across the workforce, she hopes to ensure that staff understand how their roles connect and can work together to provide more consistent, joined-up support for young people.
“I hope that it’s something that will continue beyond my time at Fight for Peace. Once you have concrete structure that works for everyone, I feel like that can’t really be broken.”
Mentoring is a key part of our work to support young people to become champions in the ring and champions in life, forming part of our Five Pillar approach, which combines Boxing and Martial Arts with Support Services, Education, Employability and Youth Leadership.
Fight for Peace is currently recruiting a Male Youth Worker to further support our frontline work and cater to young men who feel more comfortable confiding in a male mentor, and to respond to the need for more positive role models for young men and boys.
