Blackburn Mentoring works with families and young adults in Birmingham, Alabama by video. Anyone in Mountain Brook, Vestavia Hills, Homewood, Hoover or the city itself can be matched with one dedicated mentor, meet weekly or several times a week in Central time, and keep in touch by text and phone between sessions. Our team is based in Los Angeles.
Over the Mountain and beyond
Birmingham’s southern suburbs sit just over Red Mountain from downtown, which is why locals call them the Over the Mountain communities. Mountain Brook, Vestavia Hills and Homewood are known for strong public schools, deep family roots and tight social networks built around church, sports and neighborhood.
In close communities, expectations travel fast. A student can feel that everyone knows their grades, their team and their plans. A mentor who is outside that circle gives a teenager room to say what is really going on without it becoming a topic at the next tailgate.
What families here might bring to a mentor
- Senior year drift. Plans are mostly set, and motivation falls off a cliff. See the senior year slump.
- Freshman year away. Many Birmingham students head to large universities in the region, where football weekends and big freshman classes make it easy to fall behind. College transition mentoring helps students build structure before and after they leave.
- A son or daughter back home. A graduate who returned to Birmingham and is working part time or not at all.
- A young professional starting out. Health care, banking, engineering and construction are big employers here. A mentor helps with the first year in a new job and the habits that go with it.
The medical city effect
Birmingham’s large academic medical center and hospital systems make health care one of the biggest parts of the economy. That shapes young adults’ choices: plenty consider nursing, medicine, research or allied health roles, and many parents work long clinical hours. A mentor does not give admissions advice or clinical guidance about medical careers, but can help a student set up the study habits, schedule and informational conversations that make a demanding path realistic. Our guide on informational interviews is a good place to start.
How sessions work in Central time
Birmingham is two hours ahead of Los Angeles. A 4 pm after-school session is 2 pm for the mentor, and evening slots work for professionals. Sessions are 30 or 60 minutes, weekly or several times a week, on a weekly or monthly plan, and they continue when a student leaves for college.
- Take the five-minute assessment and tell us about the student or yourself.
- Have a free intro call, with a parent included for any high school student.
- Get matched with one mentor and set two or three concrete goals.
- Meet by video, with text and phone check-ins between sessions and, with permission, progress updates to parents.
Where a mentor helps
A mentor is a steady weekly presence focused on goals, habits and follow-through. Mentors are not tutors, therapists or admissions counselors, and with permission they coordinate with people already involved. For teens, see mentoring for high school students; for students already on campus, see mentoring for college students. More on how video sessions run is on the online mentoring page.
Related
- Online mentoring in Atlanta
- Online mentoring in Nashville
- Homesick as a college freshman
- Mentoring for families
Common questions
Do you have mentors in Mountain Brook or Vestavia Hills?
Our team is in Los Angeles. Mentoring in the Birmingham area happens by video, with text and phone contact between sessions.
Can the mentor stay with my student after they leave for college?
Yes. Sessions are online, so the same mentor can continue from senior year into the first year of college.
How are parents involved?
For high school students, a parent or guardian joins the intro call, helps agree the goals and receives regular progress updates. For adults, updates are shared only with permission.
Get started
Want to talk about a student or young adult in Birmingham? 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.