Made in the UK. Built for the world.
We Are Youth Mentors is the global membership platform for youth mentoring professionals — born from over 20 years of practice, passion, and purpose.
Formerly The Mentoring Lab — Est. 2017
“We started as The Mentoring Lab. We grew into something the whole world needed.”
We Are Youth Mentors began as The Mentoring Lab, founded in Birmingham, England in 2017 by Elaine Isadora Thomas. What started as a UK-based youth mentoring training and development company became, over the following years, one of the most respected voices in the youth mentoring sector.
Through The Mentoring Lab, Elaine and her team delivered outcomes-focused mentoring programmes, trained hundreds of youth mentors, and developed the evidence-based Mentoring Toolkit that is now used by practitioners across the UK and beyond. They worked with schools, charities, local authorities, social care teams, and community organisations — all united by a belief that young people deserve mentors who are properly equipped, supported, and recognised.
But Elaine saw a gap. Youth mentoring lacked a professional home. There was no global platform where mentors could develop, be credentialled, find work, and connect with peers who understood the work. The tools existed. The expertise existed. What was missing was the infrastructure.
In 2025, The Mentoring Lab became We Are Youth Mentors. The same values. The same methodology. The same deep commitment to young people. But now built as a global membership platform — for every youth mentor, in every country, doing this vital work.
Our Mission
To give every youth mentor in the world a professional home — with the tools, training, standards, and community to do the best possible work for young people.
Our Vision
A world where every young person has access to a skilled, supported, and professionally recognised youth mentor — regardless of where they live or what system they are navigating.
Our Values
- ✓Young people first — everything we build serves the young people our members serve
- ✓Evidence over opinion — all our tools are rooted in research and real practice
- ✓Inclusion and equity — built with the global majority in mind
- ✓Professional recognition — mentors deserve to be seen as the professionals they are
- ✓Community over competition — we grow together
Meet the Founder
Elaine Isadora Thomas
Founder, We Are Youth Mentors | Formerly Founder and CEO, The Mentoring Lab
Elaine Isadora Thomas is one of the UK's most respected voices in youth mentoring, youth leadership, and professional development. With over 20 years of experience working with young people, mentors, organisations, and communities, she has dedicated her career to ensuring that mentoring is done well — everywhere, for everyone.
Elaine holds a BSc in Social Research and Caribbean Studies and has worked across the youth, education, social care, criminal justice, and voluntary sectors. She has trained and supported hundreds of youth mentors, delivered programmes for Fortune 500 companies and grassroots community organisations, and consulted with some of the most respected institutions in the UK sector.
As Founder and CEO of The Mentoring Lab, Elaine developed the evidence-based Mentoring Toolkit — now one of the most comprehensive practical resources available for youth mentoring practitioners. Endorsed by Barnardo's, Compass Wellbeing, Hackney Community Voluntary Service, and many others, the toolkit has been used with thousands of young people across the UK.
In 2025 Elaine founded We Are Youth Mentors — taking everything built through The Mentoring Lab and evolving it into a global platform. Her vision is simple: every youth mentor in the world should have access to the tools, training, recognition, and community they need to do transformative work with young people.
Elaine is also the founder of the Association of Youth Mentors in the UK and is a sought-after speaker, consultant, executive coach, and mentor to emerging leaders in her community.
When she is not building the platform, Elaine enjoys geopolitics, Islamic history, hiking mountains, documentary making, and mentoring the next generation of leaders.
From a toolkit to a global platform
Everything on this platform was built from real-world practice — not from a boardroom.
The Mentoring Lab Founded
Elaine founded The Mentoring Lab in Birmingham, UK, with a mission to deliver outcomes-focused mentoring to young people and train the professionals working alongside them.
The Mentoring Toolkit Created
The first edition of the Youth Mentoring Toolkit was developed — an evidence-based framework drawing on 20 years of practice and the best tools from mentoring, coaching, sociology, and psychology.
Copyright and First Publication
The toolkit was formally published and copyrighted, becoming one of the most comprehensive practical resources for youth mentoring practitioners in the UK.
Introduction to Youth Mentoring Training Developed
A full CPD training programme was developed, equipping mentors to deliver safe, above industry standard youth mentoring across the sector.
Toolkit Updated and Expanded
The Mentoring Toolkit was updated and expanded — reviewed with young people, mentors, and sector leaders to ensure it remained current, evidence-based, and relevant to the challenges young people face today.
We Are Youth Mentors Launched
The Mentoring Lab evolved into We Are Youth Mentors — a global membership platform taking the tools, training, and standards built over eight years and making them available to youth mentors everywhere in the world.
The Youth Mentoring Toolkit
At the heart of We Are Youth Mentors is the Mentoring Toolkit — developed by Elaine Isadora Thomas and first published in 2017 through The Mentoring Lab.
The toolkit draws on over 20 years of real-world practice and incorporates evidence-based tools from mentoring, coaching, cognitive behavioural therapy, sociology, and positive psychology. It has been used with hundreds of young people across the UK and is endorsed by leading organisations in the youth, education, and social care sectors.
Every member of We Are Youth Mentors gets full digital access to the complete toolkit — including all tools, activities, worksheets, and session resources.
Included tools:
Includes: GROW Model, SWOT Analysis, Johari Window, CBT Thought Triangle, Zones of Regulation, Wheel of Life Balance, Wheel of Qualities, DIKW Hierarchy, Fabian Technique, De Bono's Six Thinking Hats, Perceptual Positioning, Betari Box, Pareto Principle, and more.
Trusted and endorsed by leading organisations
What sector leaders say about the work behind this platform.
Interested in partnering with We Are Youth Mentors? Contact us to discuss organisational membership, licensing, or strategic partnership.
Made in the UK. Built for the world.
Youth mentoring is not a UK issue. It is a global one. Young people in every country, on every continent, are navigating systems, communities, and challenges that require skilled, supported mentors in their corner.
We Are Youth Mentors was built with the global majority in mind. The toolkit, the standards, and the training have been developed with cultural sensitivity, diversity, and inclusion at their core. We know that mentoring looks different in Birmingham and Bridgetown, in Lagos and Los Angeles — and our platform is built to serve all of those contexts.
Our ambition is to become the world's leading professional home for youth mentors — connecting practitioners across borders, raising standards globally, and ensuring that wherever a young person is in the world, the mentor beside them has everything they need to do transformative work.
Founded in Birmingham, England. Growing across the world.
This is your professional home. Wherever you are.
Whether you are a youth mentor in London, Istanbul, Kingston, or Los Angeles — We Are Youth Mentors was built for you. Join thousands of youth mentoring professionals who are developing their practice, earning recognition, and connecting with a global community.
Formerly The Mentoring Lab — Est. 2017 · Made in the UK · Built for the world