New mentors are given tips for getting started. Share your personal interests, hobbies, academic interests, career path. Introducing proteges to mentors with similar disabilities is a strength of the DO-IT program. But when I met him, I was so surprised how he had such a normal life, and he had a family, and he worked with people who had normal hearing. So he made me feel a lot better about my future.
Participants learn strategies for success in academics and employment.
Mentors provide direction and motivation, instill values, promote professionalism, and help proteges develop leadership skills. As participants move from high school to college and careers they too become mentors, sharing their experiences with younger participants. There are probably as many mentoring styles as there are personality types and no one can be everything to one person. Each DO-IT participant benefits from contact with several mentors. Most mentoring in DO-IT takes place via the Internet.