SMN National Event & Recognition Awards 2018

7 November 2018

SMN National Event & Recognition Awards 2018

The SMN National Event and Recognition Awards ceremony took place at St Paul's & St George's Church in Edinburgh on Tuesday 6th November 2018 and was very well attended. 

The day opened with a welcome from Iain Forbes, SMN Strategic Development Manager, and SMN Chair, Allison Calder followed by the opening address from Maree Todd MSP, Scottish Goverment Minister for Children and Young People. There were presentations from two of our member projects on pursuing Quality Mentoring Practices.  Juan Garcia from Queen Maragret University Employer Mentoring delivered a presentation on his experience of working towards and gaining the SMN Quality Award . This was followed by a presentation from Jean Inglis from the Volunteer Centre Glasgow Intandem project who spoke about the benefits of gaining accreditation evidencing their projects demonstration of good practice in mentoring project coordination.

Delegates participated in facilitated Network and Learning discussions on quality practice indicators, followed by SMN's Annual General Meeting. This year's AGM saw long standing Board member Jacqueline Thomas from Glasgow Mentoring Network stand down from the SMN Board of Directors. Jacqueline had been a Board member of SMN since it's inception and the SMN Board acknowledged their gratitude for the many years of dedication she has shown to the development of mentoring practice in Scotland.

At the AGM the SMN membership formally appointed 5 new members to the Board of Directors. We warmly welcome to the SMN team,:

  • Marie Duncan, Head of Learning and Development, Kibble Education and Care Centre
  • Corrin Henderson, Chief Executive, Day 1 Mentoring + Managing Director Inverness Kart Raceway
  • Elaine MacGlone, Equality and Diversity Manager, The Law Society of Scotland
  • Fiona Reith, Programme Manager, Perth and Kinross, Developing Young Workforce Regional Employer Board

as member directors and

  • Charles Martin, Partnership Manager, The Wise Group as a co-opted director.

After a networking lunch five diverse breakout sessions were on offer, on the subjects detailed below:

  • Quality Practice in Safeguarding within Youth Mentoring
  • Resilience and Trauma
  • Strategy Cards Communication Tool
  • Good Practice - Projects Working with Non Vulnerable Mentees
  • Sustainability - Making a Lasting Difference 

We were delighted to present this years' SMN Project of the Year Award to MCR Pathways Mentoring

The Category Award Winners of the SMN Recognition Awards 2018 are shown below:

Special Award for Distinguished Services to Mentoring was presented to  Tayside Council on Alcohol.  

The Outstanding Employee Contribution to Mentoring Award went to two staff members from SMN member projects who have made a special impact within their project: Mark Harris and Louise Rourke from Tayside council on Alcohol.

The Outstanding and Exceptional Mentor Contribution to Mentorng Award went to:

A full report on the event and winners will be available to download from the resources section of our website in the near future At the end of the event we also marked that our Strategic Development Manager, Iain Forbes, is moving on with the event marking his last formal day. The SMN Board thanked Iain for his positive contribution to the organisation over the past 10 years, and wished him well for the future.

Thank you to everyone who attended and helped make this one of the best SMN National Events to date.