Online Mentoring in Washington State

Yes, families and young adults anywhere in Washington State can work with a dedicated Blackburn mentor by video. Washington is on Pacific time, the same as our team in Los Angeles, so there is no time difference to work around. Sessions are scheduled in your local time, and high school students always have a parent involved.

Same clock, different landscape

Sharing a time zone makes scheduling simple: a 4 pm session in Spokane or Tacoma is 4 pm for the mentor too. The landscape is another story. The Cascade Range splits the state in two. West of the mountains is the wet, green Puget Sound region, home to most Washingtonians. East of the mountains is drier, sunnier and more rural, with wheat fields, orchards and vineyards.

Crossing the passes in winter can mean chains and closures, and the drive from Seattle to Spokane takes most of a morning. Video mentoring makes all of that irrelevant.

Where Washingtonians live

Seattle and its neighborhoods, the state’s economic center.
The Eastside, including Bellevue, Redmond, Kirkland and Issaquah, home to a large share of the tech workforce.
Tacoma and the South Sound, with Olympia, the capital, and a major joint military base.
Everett and the North Sound, tied to aerospace manufacturing.
Spokane, the hub of the Inland Northwest, plus the Tri-Cities, Yakima and Wenatchee.

An economy of software, airplanes and apples

Washington is home to some of the largest technology companies in the world, and the Seattle area employs a huge number of software engineers. Aerospace manufacturing has been central to the Puget Sound economy for generations. The ports of Seattle and Tacoma move cargo across the Pacific. In the east, Washington leads the nation in apples and grows wheat, cherries, hops and wine grapes. Washington also has no state income tax.

Tech families often live with long hours, reorganizations and high expectations, and teenagers absorb that. Young adults entering the Seattle job market face a high cost of living and stiff competition.

Schools and the path to college

Most students attend public schools, and the Seattle and Eastside areas also have well-known independent schools. Washington has a popular program, Running Start, that lets eligible high school juniors and seniors take courses at community and technical colleges. After high school, students choose among the state’s public research universities, regional universities, a large community and technical college system and private colleges. Many stay; many others leave for California, Oregon or the East Coast.

Running Start students in particular juggle two schedules and two sets of expectations, which is exactly the kind of load a weekly mentor helps organize.

Where a mentor helps

High school students, including those balancing college courses, get a weekly plan and accountability. See mentoring for high school students.
College students get support with independence, routines and staying on track. See mentoring for college students.
Young adults get help with a first job, a budget that works in an expensive market and a plan for the next few years. See young adult mentoring.

Because there is no time difference, Washington families often schedule sessions right after school or work. More on online mentoring, family involvement and mentoring in every state.

Pages for areas in Washington

Coming up in Washington State: ferries, harvests and gray winters

From November through February, daylight on the west side is short and the skies stay gray, and young people often find routines slipping just when the school term gets heavy. Many Washington campuses run on quarters, so a fast ten-week winter term lands squarely in the darkest stretch. On Bainbridge, Vashon and across the Kitsap Peninsula, students and young workers plan their days around ferry departures. Late summer brings a different disruption: wildfire smoke can cancel outdoor practices, camps and jobs across the state for days at a time.

East of the mountains, the farm calendar sets the pace. In the Yakima Valley, Wenatchee and the Tri-Cities, cherry, apple and hop harvests employ many families, and lots of bilingual teens work alongside parents in summer while aiming to be the first in their families to graduate from college. In the Seattle area, entry-level tech and aerospace jobs are attractive, but hiring swings with the industry, and a young adult can go from a first offer to a layoff notice faster than expected. Rents in Capitol Hill, Ballard and Fremont push many toward Renton, Kent, Lynnwood or Everett.

Situations that come up for Washington families and young adults

A Kitsap student or young worker whose day revolves around the ferry schedule.
A teen in the Yakima Valley working harvest with family in summer and early fall.
A young adult in a first tech role whose team was cut and who is job hunting for the first time.
A student whose summer sport or camp job keeps getting interrupted by smoke days.
A college student who loses momentum in winter quarter when the days get short and wet.

Washington shares Pacific time with Los Angeles, so there is no conversion: sessions are scheduled by video in Pacific time, and in-person meetings are available only in Los Angeles. Two guides that fit here: what to do after a layoff and our guide for the first-generation college student. See education by state too, plus the metro pages for Seattle, the Eastside and Spokane.

Common questions

Is there any time difference between Washington and your team?

No. Washington and Los Angeles are both on Pacific time, so the session time is the same on both ends.

My teen is in Running Start. Can a mentor help with the workload?

Yes. A mentor helps plan the week across high school and college classes, keep deadlines straight and protect time for sleep and activities.

Can a young adult in Seattle work with you around a full-time job?

Yes. Early morning, evening and weekend sessions are common for working clients, with text check-ins between.

Get started

Want to talk through what your student or young adult in Washington needs? Call (888) 305 5422, email contact@blackburnmentoring.com or start with a short assessment. A member of our team reviews every assessment personally and sets up a free intro call.

Online Mentoring and Coaching in Washington State