Building friendships and maintaining relationships represent some of the core needs that allow keeping one’s life healthy and satisfying. However, in the present-day environment, keeping long-term relationships with friends has become increasingly challenging. With the emergence of COVID-19 and the associated restrictions on people’s social lives, as well as the consistent rise in the levels of workload, social life has acquired the status of luxury that not everyone can afford. The process of socializing and keeping social connections has become especially difficult for people with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD), who may find it difficult to navigate the realm of digital communication with its lack of physical interactions. In turn, the “Best Buddies” organization offers an opportunity to address the specified issue. Due to its innovation-driven transformational leadership framework and the focus on continuous growth, “Best Buddies” demonstrate that social mentoring has an evidently positive outcome for the volunteer and the participant with an IDD.
“Best Buddies” seeks to encourage the development of relationships and friendships between people with IDD. I have previously participated in the event called “Fun Day,” which involves spending the day with adults with IDD. The environment of mutual support and cooperation that I observed at the specified event was the main impetus for me to join the organization. “Bets Buddies” has an asset-based mindset since the organization encourages collaboration and equality among its members and participants (Embregts et al. 579). The collaboration in question involves mutual learning between al participants.
Furthermore, the organization is planning to do similar events in the future. Specifically, each participant will be matched with a “buddy” based on their interests and the relevant background information. It is expected that “buddies” will participate in future events, which will lead to the development of friendships. In the course of the specified program, the participants will be able to recognize the support with which they will be provided, therefore, feeling more comfortable and accepted in society. Moreover, the friendships that the participants will form will also blossom independently, with “buddies” becoming actively engaged in each other’s lives.
The specified endeavor will also lead to further contemplations on the issue of social mentoring as a phenomenon, as well as its impact on the lives of mentors and mentees. Namely, the outlined experience will help determine the changes in the participants’ quality of life, including changes in their social participation and the extent of their overall satisfaction with their life. Thus, the problem of fulfilment and self-actualization of the participants, including both mentors and mentees, will eb examined. It is assumed that the program in question will allow all participants to feel accomplished and satisfied, which will lead to an increase in the extent of their self-actualization. Moreover., the specified experience will be crucial to the volunteering participants, who will acquire essential skills for supporting patients with IDD.
Therefore, the outreach program created by “Bets Buddies” contributes significantly to the promotion of inclusion within the community. Specifically, the program serves as the platform for educating all stakeholders involved, including not only program participants and volunteers, but also the community, in general. Specifically, the events organized and held by “Best Buddies” will serve as the example of inclusivity and collaboration. Therefore, all stakeholders involved will receive an opportunity to educate themselves about the issue of IDD and its specifics (Theis et al. 2). Namely, patients with IDD will be provided with an opportunity to create strong social connections and friendships in a non-judgmental setting, where they will not be affected by the stigma that is typically associated with people with IDD.
In turn, the stigma in question represents a tremendous obstacle on the way to integrating patients with IDD into tehri communities. Studies show that the stigma in question and the associated prejudices lead to the increased threat of patients with IDD being ostracized from their community (Pelleboer-Gunnink et al. 180). The described outcome is detrimental to the emotional and mental well-being of people with IDD, which is why the problem of stigma must be addressed on a community level. In turn, the “Best Buddies” organization will help engage community members into the process of assisting people with IDD and supporting them in the way that will alleviate social pressure that they experience and, eventually, remove the stigma that they face when interacting with other community members. Therefore, “Best Buddies” will prove the importance of social mentoring in the promotion of acceptance and tolerance within the community.
Incorporating an innovation-driven approach that pursues active change toward communication and collaboration, with an appropriate transformational leadership framework set, “Best Buddies” proves the importance of social mentoring both for the volunteer and the participant with an IDD. Specifically, the obtained experience illustrates the importance of promoting the active development of friendships between people with IDD and other community members. Namely, the specified change will allow people with IDD to integrate into the community faster and become accepted, which will improve their quality of life and mental hath. Simultaneously, the described change will have an immediately positive effect on the volunteer since the latter will obtain crucial experience in supporting people with IDD.
Works Cited
Embregts, Petri JCM, et al. “A Thematic Analysis into the Experiences of People with a Mild Intellectual Disability during the COVID-19 Lockdown Period.” International Journal of Developmental Disabilities, vol. 68, no. 4, 2022, pp. 578-582.
Pelleboer-Gunnink, Hannah A., et al. “Stigma Research in the Field of Intellectual Disabilities: A Scoping Review on the Perspective of Care Providers.” International journal of developmental disabilities, vol. 67, no. 3, 2021, pp. 168-187.
Theis, Nicola, et al. “The Effects of COVID-19 Restrictions on Physical Activity and Mental Health of Children and Young Adults with Physical and/or Intellectual Disabilities.” Disability and Health Journal, vol. 14, no. 3, 2021, pp. 1-8.