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Family Mentorship Experience
» Partnership for People with Disabilities
The Family Mentorship Experience is a unique training model in the community that promotes effective and caring family-professional collaborations. The program was developed as a component of the Partnership for People with Disabilities’ Virginia Leadership Education in Neurodevelopmental Disabilities program. Va-LEND is a federally funded, advanced-level interdisciplinary leadership training program committed to training future leaders in the field of childhood neurodevelopment and related disabilities.
FME, a program requirement within the Va-LEND program, pairs a student with a family who has a child with a disability or special health care need. 
The student visits the mentoring family five times during the academic year and stays in touch by e-mail and telephone. Students are expected to learn about the child’s day-to-day activities — such as time spent at home, school and on the playground — as well as the challenges and joys of living as a family with a child who has a special need. Students also keep a reflective journal.
The program is coordinated by a faculty member who is a parent of a child with Down syndrome. Through FME, students learn to become sensitive to how families live with a disability, appreciate family strengths, recognize the similarities and differences in all families, regardless of disabilities, and develop leadership in promoting parent-professional partnerships. Graduates report that FME has changed the way they practice and enhanced their skills in family-centered care.
Get involved
To support this program or get involved as a volunteer, contact Janet Willis at jhorsley@vcu.edu.