A Rapid Review of Wellbeing, Offending & Successful Matching in mentoring for ‘at-risk’ young people

Joshua Brookes, Ben Lohmeyer, Kate Seymour, A Rapid Review of Wellbeing, Offending & Successful Matching in mentoring for ‘at-risk’ young people, Children and Youth Services Review,
Volume 169, 2025, 108132, ISSN 0190-7409 

Introduction
Mentoring programs for ‘at-risk’ youth have been recognized as an effective strategy to improve social, behavioral, and academic outcomes. Brookes and colleagues (2025) analyze these claims, assessing the effectiveness of mentoring in three primary domains: successful matching, offending outcomes, and wellbeing. 

Methodology
The authors used rapid review methodology to synthesize contemporary peer-reviewed literature on youth mentoring, focusing on studies published within the last decade. The search was conducted in February 2023 across multiple academic databases using keywords related to mentoring and youth at risk. 

The final sample included 26 studies that were thematically analyzed to explore mentoring’s impact on successful matching, offending reduction, and wellbeing enhancement.

Results

Successful Matching
Sustainability emerged as a key concern, with evidence suggesting that longer and well-funded mentoring relationships yield better outcomes. Social context, including family and community involvement, was also found to foster more durable relationships. Moreover, youth agency—the degree to which young people have control over selecting their mentors and shaping their goals—was shown to enhance relationship quality and program efficacy.

Offending Outcomes
Mentoring was associated with reductions in delinquent behaviors, particularly when mentors provided emotional support and stability during critical life transitions. The review also raises concerns about the limitations of mentoring as a standalone intervention, cautioning against an over-reliance on individualized support in addressing broader social determinants of youth offending.

Wellbeing Outcomes
The reviewed literature indicates that mentoring contributes to improvements in physical, mental, social, and spiritual wellbeing. Mentoring relationships foster resilience, self-efficacy, and emotional regulation, particularly for youth with histories of trauma. However, the study notes a gap in research on the long-term sustainability of these benefits, with some evidence suggesting that mentoring effects diminish once programs end. 

Implications for Mentoring Programs
One of the most striking aspects of the study is its critique of the ‘at-risk’ label, which it argues oversimplifies the complex realities faced by young people. Mentoring programs should shift toward contextualized and strengths-based approaches to mentoring, which move beyond individual resilience-building to address systemic inequities. Furthermore, programs should consider identifying sources and structure for sustained funding, ensuring community involvement in mentoring relationships, and using youth-centered program design to maximize the effectiveness of mentoring initiatives.

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