Blackburn Mentoring serves Philadelphia, the Main Line and the surrounding suburbs by video. A teen, college student or young adult works with one dedicated mentor in Eastern time, weekly or several times a week, with text and phone contact between sessions. Our team is based in Los Angeles, and Philadelphia clients work with us entirely online.
A region full of colleges
Philadelphia and its suburbs hold dozens of colleges and universities within an easy drive. That shapes family decisions in a quiet way. Many students stay close to home for college, commute from the suburbs, or live in University City or North Philadelphia while their parents are a short train ride away. Being nearby is a real advantage, and it can also blur the line between high school and adult independence.
For a student who stays local, college transition mentoring helps with the parts that do not happen automatically:
- Treating college like a new chapter even when home is twenty minutes away
- Owning class schedules, deadlines and advising appointments directly
- Building a social life on campus instead of defaulting to high school friends
- Agreeing with parents on how often to check in and about what
Main Line and suburban high school students
Families in Ardmore, Narberth, Wayne, Gladwyne and Radnor, and across Chestnut Hill, Bucks County and Delaware County, often have students in rigorous public and independent schools with long histories and high expectations. High school mentoring works on planning, follow-through, sleep and confidence. A parent or guardian joins the intro call, agrees the goals and receives regular progress updates.
Center City, Fishtown and the first job
Graduates who stay often rent in Center City, Fishtown, Northern Liberties or South Philly and begin careers in healthcare, education, law, finance or the city’s growing life sciences sector. The region’s hospitals and universities are among its largest employers, and early careers there can mean shift work, demanding training and long days. Young adult mentoring helps with:
- Routines that survive rotating shifts or long clinical or office days
- A budget that accounts for rent, loans and transit
- Deciding whether and when to pursue graduate school
- Making new friends after college friends scatter
Between New York and Washington
Philadelphia sits on the rail corridor between New York and Washington, and many parents commute or travel along it. Young professionals sometimes weigh a move to one of those cities for a bigger job. A mentor can help think that through with a practical list rather than a vague feeling: cost of living, career path, relationships and what the next three years would actually look like.
Questions to ask before choosing a mentor
Whether you work with us or someone else, it helps to ask:
- Will one person work with my student every week, or will it rotate?
- How are goals set, and how is progress shared with parents?
- What happens between sessions?
- Where does mentoring stop and a therapist, tutor or counselor take over?
Our answers: one dedicated mentor; goals set together on the first sessions and reviewed weekly; text and phone contact between sessions; and referral to licensed professionals for mental health needs. In a crisis, call or text 988. For more, read our guide on how to find a mentor.
Session times and getting started
Philadelphia is three hours ahead of Los Angeles, so a 4:00 pm Eastern after-school session is 1:00 pm for your mentor and a 7:00 pm evening session is 4:00 pm. See how online mentoring works.
Related
- Online mentoring in New York City
- Online mentoring in Princeton and Central New Jersey
- Your first job after college
- Mentoring for college students
Common questions
Do you work with families on the Main Line and in South Jersey?
Yes. We work with clients across Philadelphia, the Main Line, Bucks, Delaware and Montgomery Counties, and South Jersey, all by video.
My student is going to college close to home. Is mentoring still useful?
Often more so. Staying close can make it easy to lean on home routines, and a mentor helps the student build their own.
Do you meet in person in Philadelphia?
No. Our team is based in Los Angeles, and Philadelphia clients work with us entirely by video.
How do we start?
Take the five-minute assessment on our Get Started page. Our team reviews it personally and sets up a free intro call.
Get started
Want to talk about mentoring in Philadelphia? 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.