By Benjamin Rothstein

DOVER — The Capital School District and the Wilmington-based nonprofit Connecting Generations have outlined plans for a group mentoring program titled “Let’s Talk.”

Tanny Dickerson, the creative mentoring director for Connecting Generations, presented at the district’s last Trauma and School Connectedness Task Force meeting of the academic year Tuesday.

“Group mentoring is a development approach where mentors work with multiple mentees simultaneously, focusing on a collaborative learning environment,” she said. “The mentor often focuses on shared goals, interests, promoting collaborative problem solving, networking and support.”

The group sessions will come in several forms: topic-based, where a subject is decided on prior to a discussion; open forums, which have no defined topic; facilitator-led, where a facilitator gives a short presentation, then splits the group up for talks; and activity- or game-based, during which mentees do something hands-on and then discuss it as a group.

The training of mentors will be robust, covering a variety of areas developed during previous task force meetings. They include things like boundaries, diversity and active listening, all to prepare mentors for anything they might experience during a session.

“We are dealing with students from varied backgrounds, varied experiences, and we want to make sure that they are prepared when they sit across the table from these children, ... to understand the differences and how they are going to be able to manage them throughout the year,” Ms. Dickerson said.

Interested mentors will need three nonfamily references, a background check and two hours of training.

Those interested can visit connecting-generations.org/become-a-delaware-mentor. Mentors would typically visit a school twice a month on predetermined days.

Mentees will receive training, too — on things like the goals and structure of the program, how to build relationships, manage time and be professional. The district has previously stated that students could be identified for the program based on staff observations and relationships.

Mentors and mentees will both be monitored periodically by a to-be-hired coordinator, who also will be trained in tasks like recruitment and group session moderation.

The pilot for Let’s Talk is planned for Dover Middle School, starting in the fall with around 15 students.

“What a perfect opportunity to start planting those professional seeds,” Ms. Dickerson said. “Because we know, once you get to high school, it’s rush, rush, rush because now you have to make the decisions: Am I going to trade school? Am I getting a job? Am I going off to college?”