Mentor Link

What Mentor Link does

Mentor Link is a UK registered charity (Charity Reg No. 1169026) founded in 2002 that provides one-to-one social, emotional, and therapeutic mentoring to vulnerable and distressed children and young people, primarily within school settings. Its core product is weekly listening and therapeutic support delivered by trained volunteer mentors, supplemented by a specialised Emotionally Based School Avoidance (EBSA) project launched in 2025 that uses systematic desensitisation and elements of cognitive behaviour therapy. The charity does not operate proprietary technology platforms; its 'platform' is a network of 190 trained volunteer mentors supervised by Educational Psychologists (including trustee Dr. Helen Chaplin), with rigorous safeguarding protocols (enhanced DBS, two references, induction training) embedded in service delivery.

The organisation operates a community-led go-to-market model: it secures direct placements with primary and secondary schools, accepts referrals from parents, GPs, CAMHS, social services, and local authorities, and recruits volunteer mentors willing to commit one-to-two hours per week. It serves 128 active school partnerships across the West Midlands, Worcestershire, Staffordshire, Herefordshire, Gloucestershire, Birmingham, Wolverhampton, and Dudley, mentoring 250 children per week from a head office in Stourport-on-Severn and a regional office in Stafford. All services to children and schools are provided free of charge.

The revenue model is entirely donation- and grant-based: individual donations, a 100 Club monthly draw, Easy Fundraising affiliate income, Gifts in Wills, and grants from charitable trusts and corporate partners including BBC Children in Need, National Lottery Awards For All, Garfield Weston Foundation, Severn Trent, and a dozen smaller trusts. The charity is governed by a Board of Trustees chaired effectively by Founder and CEO Andrea Maddocks MBE, with 11 named paid staff and a wider volunteer base of approximately 190 mentors. No revenue, ARR, or valuation figures are disclosed.

Name

Mentor Link

Legal name

Mentor Link

Website

https://mentorlink.org.uk

Company type

Private

Founded year

2002

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

251–500 employees

Short description

Mentor Link is a UK registered charity providing one-to-one therapeutic mentoring to vulnerable children in schools, delivered by trained volunteer mentors across the West Midlands region and funded entirely through donations and grants.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Youth mentoring and emotional wellbeing services

NAICS

Child and Youth Services (62411), Other Individual and Family Services (624190), Educational Support Services (611710), Individual and Family Services (6241)

SIC

Services-Social Services (8300), Services-Educational Services (8200)

akta.pro primary industry

Youth Mental Health, Counseling & Wellbeing (Education-Linked) Nonprofits (BPAGADAK)

akta.pro secondary industries

Youth Mentoring & Positive Youth Development Nonprofits (BPAGADAD), Student Mentoring & Peer Support Programs (EDAJALAL), Peer Support, Mentoring & Student Leadership (SEL) (EDAKAMAO)

Keywords

• Child mentoring services
• Youth emotional support
• School pastoral care
• Emotionally based school avoidance
• Charity wellbeing programmes

Headquarters

HQ city

Westbury On Severn

HQ country

United Kingdom

HQ region

Europe

Offices2 records

Markets served

GTM type

B2B and B2C

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Others

Revenue model

1. Donations: Individual donations accepted via PayPal online transaction service and other direct methods. The charity also operates a 100 Club for monthly donations at £4 per month with a £50 monthly prize draw.
2. Corporate Support and Grants: Funding from corporate partners and charitable trusts including Severn Trent, Slicker Recycling, BBC Children in Need, National Lottery Awards For All, Garfield Weston Foundation, E F Bulmer Trust, Eveson Charitable Trust, Heart England Community Foundation, Monday Night Group, St James's Place Charitable Foundation, Swire Charitable Trust, The Roger & Douglas Turner Charitable Trust, and Worcestershire Community Foundation.
3. Charity Wills and Legacies: Gifts in Wills from supporters to support the long-term sustainability of mentoring services. Supporters can leave a percentage of their estate or a cash sum.
4. Easy Fundraising: Scheme where supporters raise funds for the charity every time they search using designated easy fundraising links.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels4 records

Marketing channels7 records

Core offering

Mentor Link is a registered charity that provides one-to-one volunteer mentor listening and therapeutic support to vulnerable and distressed children and young people (aged roughly 5–16+) during weekly sessions in partner schools across the West Midlands and surrounding counties. Working from referrals via schools, parents, GPs, CAMHS, and children's services, mentors use evidence-based approaches including systematic desensitisation and elements of cognitive behaviour therapy, with a dedicated Emotionally Based School Avoidance (EBSA) project supporting children with school attendance issues. The charity's services are delivered free of charge to children and schools and are funded through donations, grants, legacies and fundraising.

Product overview

Mentor Link operates as a single integrated charitable service offering one-to-one therapeutic mentoring for vulnerable children and young people in schools. The core product is their weekly mentoring sessions provided by trained volunteer mentors. An additional specialized module is the Emotionally Based School Avoidance (EBSA) Project, which provides targeted support for children with attendance difficulties using evidence-based therapeutic approaches. The organization also embeds safeguarding protocols as an integral support service component, ensuring all mentors undergo safer recruitment procedures, DBS checks, and safeguarding training before placement.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• One-to-One Mentoring Service Core mentoring service providing vulnerable children and young people (aged 5–16+) with a DBS-checked volunteer mentor who delivers weekly one-to-one listening and therapeutic support sessions in partner schools across the West Midlands, Worcestershire, Staffordshire, Herefordshire, Gloucestershire, Birmingham, Wolverhampton and Dudley. Services are delivered free of charge to children, families and schools.
• Emotionally Based School Avoidance (EBSA) Project Specialised project supporting children experiencing school attendance difficulties linked to social and emotional needs, using systematic desensitisation and elements of cognitive behaviour therapy techniques. Mentors are trained by Educational Psychologists (including trustee Dr Helen Chaplin) to deliver graded-exposure support that helps children return to school.

Quantifiable outcome

• 83% of mentored children reported improved mental-health and emotional wellbeing
• +7 more outcomes

Named customers4 records

Segments4 records

Ideal customer profiles3 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Partnerships

Four partnerships are on record, tiered core and minor.

• Worcestershire Children FirstcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerDr. Helen Chaplin from Educational Psychology Team at Worcestershire Children First delivers training to staff and volunteers on Therapeutic mentoring and strategies to improve engagement in learning. She is also a Trustee of the charity.
• Borwell SoftwareminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerSoftware company in Malvern that provided a work experience placement for mentee Josep Haines, including mentoring from a young software engineer, to support his interest in IT and coding.
• Support StaffordshireminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerLocal support organisation. Karen, Service Manager at Mentor Link, attended a networking Locality Forum event with Support Staffordshire to connect with other voluntary organisations.
• NHS Mental Health TeamminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerNHS Mental Health Team attended the Mentor Link open day at The Shire Hall, indicating partnership in supporting children's mental health.

Scale indicators16 records

Recent moves5 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Regional players

• Mentoring Plus: UK youth mentoring charity working with disadvantaged young people in the South West of England. Regional peer with similar volunteer-mentor model serving vulnerable adolescents, but operating in a different geography.

Direct peers

• YoungMinds: UK charity focused on children and young people's mental health, providing resources, training, and advocacy. Direct peer in the school-linked youth mental wellbeing space, with overlapping funder pool and policy agenda.
• Place2Be: UK children's mental health charity providing counselling and emotional support directly in schools. Direct peer — both deliver in-school, volunteer/staff-supported emotional support to vulnerable children, and compete for similar school partnerships and grant funding.
• Childline (NSPCC): Free, confidential helpline and online support service for children and young people in the UK. Direct peer in delivering listening and emotional support to distressed children, though delivered via remote channels rather than in-school.

Others

• Worcestershire Children First: Local authority-owned company delivering children's services in Worcestershire, including Educational Psychology. Listed because it is both a strategic partner (Dr. Helen Chaplin) and a statutory provider whose in-house services compete for the same school wellbeing funding.

Broad incumbents

• Barnardo's: One of the UK's largest children's charities, running mentoring, mental health, and family support programmes nationally. Broad incumbent — overlapping beneficiary population but at vastly larger scale and broader service portfolio.
• Action for Children: Major UK children's charity delivering services including mental health support, mentoring, and family services. Broad incumbent operating across overlapping themes but at national scale with statutory contracts.
• Anna Freud Centre: UK charity delivering mental health training, research, and school-based interventions for children. Broad incumbent in the school mental health space, often training the same Educational Psychologists that Mentor Link works with.
• NCB (National Children's Bureau): UK umbrella organisation advancing children's wellbeing and rights through policy, research, and practice. Broad incumbent that influences the same school-based wellbeing funding and policy environment Mentor Link depends on.

Emerging players

• Whitfield Aspen Education Links: Smaller UK mentoring organisations operating in defined local areas to support children and young people. Emerging regional peer with comparable volunteer mentoring but smaller scale and narrower coverage.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks5 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/Mentor_Link
• Facebookfacebook.com/MentorLinkCharity

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles12 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Mentor Link