Yes. Blackburn Mentoring works with families and young adults in Santa Barbara, Montecito, Carpinteria and Goleta, mostly by video, with in-person meetings available in Los Angeles, about a two-hour drive down the 101. Each client has one dedicated mentor, weekly or more frequent sessions in Pacific time, and text and phone contact between sessions.
Close to Los Angeles, but its own world
Santa Barbara is small and beautiful, tucked between the Santa Ynez Mountains and the ocean. Montecito is quieter still, with large estates, a tight community and a lot of families who split time between here and somewhere else. It is a lovely place to grow up. It can also be a small pond, where a teenager has limited options for part-time work and a young adult feels there are only so many career paths in town.
Because the area is a college town too, there are plenty of young adults around, and the line between a structured life and an endless summer can blur. That is often where a mentor is most useful.
How the video and in-person mix works
Our mentors meet in person in Los Angeles, not in Santa Barbara. For families here, that usually means:
- Video sessions for the regular weekly rhythm, so the plan never waits on traffic through Ventura or a closed stretch of the 101
- An occasional in-person meeting in Los Angeles when the family is already there, for example for work, appointments or a weekend
- Text and phone check-ins between sessions, which keep things moving when the next meeting is on a screen
Families who spend part of the year in Los Angeles can lean more on in-person sessions during those months. See coaching in Los Angeles for how in-person meetings work there.
What Santa Barbara clients might work on
- A high school student who coasts because school feels easy, with grades or follow-through starting to slip.
- A senior deciding between college, work or a structured gap year, and wanting a real plan for the months before fall.
- A young adult who moved back to the family home after college and has not found work that fits in a small local job market.
- A professional who wants structure around a career change, fitness or money, often with remote work in the mix.
Small town job market, big ambitions
Santa Barbara’s economy leans on hospitality, education, health care, wine country and a growing group of technology companies, plus a lot of people who work remotely for employers elsewhere. Housing is expensive. For a young adult, that can mean a choice between staying near family and moving to Los Angeles, the Bay Area or out of state. A mentor helps lay out the tradeoffs, build a job search routine and set a realistic timeline for moving out. Our guides on moving out of your parents’ house and a remote work routine are useful companions.
Where a mentor helps
A mentor is one steady adult outside the family who helps turn goals into weekly steps and checks that they happen. Mentors are not tutors, therapists or admissions counselors; with permission, they coordinate with professionals already involved. For teens, see mentoring for high school students; for twenty-somethings, see young adult mentoring.
Related
- Coaching in Los Angeles
- Coach in Malibu
- Online vs in-person mentoring
- An adult child living at home
- Online Mentoring and Coaching in California
Common questions
Do your mentors come to Santa Barbara or Montecito?
In-person sessions happen in Los Angeles. For the Santa Barbara area, the weekly rhythm happens by video, with in-person meetings in Los Angeles when you are there.
Is video enough for a teenager?
For most teens, yes, when sessions are regular and the mentor checks in between them. A parent joins the intro call, agrees the goals and gets regular updates.
We split time between Santa Barbara and another city. Does that work?
Yes. Sessions are scheduled in your local time anywhere in the United States, so the same mentor stays with you wherever you are.
Get started
Looking for a mentor in Santa Barbara or Montecito? 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.