Restoring Cultural connections

CareLink Cultural Mentorship Program

For many youth, especially those impacted by displacement, systemic care, or family disruption, connection to culture is interrupted or lost altogether. Language fades. Traditions are missed. Stories are untold. Over time, this disconnection can lead to confusion about identity, diminished self-worth, and a deep sense of not belonging anywhere.

The CareLink Cultural Mentorship Program was created to restore what has been disrupted. This service provides youth with consistent, personalized cultural mentorship that supports exploration, reconnection, and growth in a way that is respectful, youth-led, and deeply individualized.

This is not a one-time cultural workshop or generalized curriculum. It is a living mentorship relationship centered on the youth’s identity and their desire to understand who they are and where they come from.

What the Cultural Mentorship Program Provides

The CareLink Cultural Mentorship Program is a dedicated service focused solely on cultural education, identity development, and connection to heritage. Youth are paired with a consistent CareLink cultural mentor who becomes a trusted guide throughout their cultural learning journey.

Together, the youth and mentor develop a personalized cultural mentorship plan from the ground up. This plan is shaped by the youth’s background, lived experience, interests, and goals, ensuring that cultural learning feels empowering rather than overwhelming.

This service supports youth in exploring culture at their own pace and in ways that feel meaningful to them.

Individualized Cultural Mentorship Plans

Every youth carries a different relationship with their culture. Some are returning to it after years of separation. Others are exploring it for the first time, unsure where to begin. Some seek knowledge, others seek belonging, and many are searching for both.

The CareLink Cultural Mentorship Program begins by centering the youth’s voice.

Rather than assigning a preset curriculum, we work directly with each youth to co-create a cultural mentorship plan that reflects their interests, lived experience, and personal goals. Youth are active participants in shaping their learning journey. Their questions, curiosities, and aspirations guide the direction, pace, and depth of mentorship.

Together, the youth and their cultural mentor identify meaningful outcomes and design a plan that supports those goals in practical, accessible ways. Plans are not focused on what youth should learn, but on what they want to explore and how they want culture to show up in their lives.

Cultural mentorship plans may include:

• Exploration of cultural history, ancestry, and lineage

• Storytelling, teachings, and knowledge passed through generations

• Language exposure or structured learning aligned to the youth’s interest level

• Understanding traditional values, worldviews, and ways of knowing

• Conversations around identity, belonging, and cultural pride

• Guided connections to cultural practices or teachings when appropriate and desired

• Reflection on how cultural knowledge can support the youth’s present and future life

Cultural plans are living documents. They are revisited regularly, allowing goals to evolve as the youth’s understanding deepens and confidence grows. New interests are incorporated, areas of curiosity are expanded, and learning adapts as the youth’s relationship with their culture becomes stronger and more defined.

By placing youth at the center of the planning process, the CareLink Cultural Mentorship Program ensures that cultural reconnection is not imposed, but chosen. The result is a meaningful, empowering experience that supports identity development, confidence, and a lasting sense of belonging.

Flexible, Self-paced, and Always Available

All cultural mentorship takes place through the CareLink virtual platform, giving youth consistent access to support no matter where they are located. For youth whose living situations, placements, or daily schedules may change, this continuity is essential. Cultural connection does not pause when circumstances shift, and neither does support.

Through CareLink, youth are provided with a personalized, secure portal that can be accessed around the clock from their phone, tablet, laptop, or desktop computer. This flexibility allows youth to engage with mentorship, learning, and reflection on their own schedule, whether that is during quiet moments in the evening, between school commitments, or during times when they need grounding and connection most.

Through the CareLink platform, youth can:

• Meet regularly with their assigned cultural mentor through live video sessions

• Engage in guided cultural learning and meaningful discussion

• Access curated cultural teachings, stories, and educational materials

• Communicate securely through messaging to ask questions or share reflections

• Track personal goals, learning milestones, and areas of growth

This consistent, on-demand access ensures cultural mentorship remains uninterrupted, relationship-based, and deeply personal. Rather than being limited to scheduled sessions alone, youth are supported in integrating cultural learning into their daily lives, wherever they are and whenever they choose to engage.

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A Living, Evolving Journey

Cultural identity evolves over time, and so does this program. Mentorship plans grow, deepen, and shift as youth move through different stages of understanding and self-discovery.

There is no end point. There is only continued growth, connection, and belonging.

Begin the Journey

The CareLink Cultural Mentorship Program offers a safe, consistent, and personalized pathway for youth to explore who they are, where they come from, and how their culture lives within them today.

If you are supporting a youth who wants to reconnect with their culture, history, or heritage, we are here to walk that path with them.

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