You approve the mentor. You don't get to read the journal.
We know that's an uncomfortable sentence. Here is the reasoning, the vetting your child's mentor went through, and exactly what you will and won't see.
What you see
- ✓That the account is active, and when it started.
- ✓That your child is matched, and with which vetted mentor.
- ✓A named program coordinator you can call, any time, about anything.
- ✓A direct call from that coordinator if a safety concern is raised.
What you don't
- ✕Journal entries and check-in notes — no read path exists for anyone, including staff.
- ✕The contents of messages between your child and their mentor.
- ✕Mood history, or anything resembling a clinical or wellbeing record.
Why can't I read my child's journal?
Because a journal an adult might read is not a journal — it is a performance, and the young people who most need somewhere private are the ones who stop writing first. The safeguard is not surveillance of their writing; it is that every adult who can reach them was background-checked, trained, and approved, and that a trained reviewer sees any conversation that gets reported.
What checks does my child's mentor go through?
Eleven stages: application, screening call, two references verified by a person calling back, a criminal background check with an expiry date, four safeguarding training modules, a scenario-based quiz, and a named coordinator signing them off. About three weeks. A mentor whose background check lapses is locked out of messaging automatically on the expiry date.
How do you know they aren't saying something inappropriate?
Mentor conversations are text only, inside the app, never disappearing, and monitored — meaning your child or the mentor can report a message and a trained reviewer reads it. Mentors are trained never to move a conversation to another app, never to meet in person outside supervised events, and never to promise secrecy. Breaking any of those suspends their messaging while it is reviewed.
What if my child tells their mentor something serious?
The mentor escalates to a coordinator — that is trained, expected, and explicitly not something they handle alone. Depending on severity a safeguarding lead is paged immediately or within two hours, and you are contacted directly by a person. Mentors are told plainly never to promise your child secrecy.
Can I withdraw consent?
At any time, and it ends the match immediately. Your child keeps their own journal and check-ins — those were never yours or ours to take away.
How do you know I am who I say I am?
A coordinator verifies your identity before your consent takes effect. Consent is never granted by clicking a link alone, because a link in an email is not proof that a parent sent it.
Questions before you decide
Talk to a person. A program coordinator will walk you through the vetting file of any mentor matched with your child, the escalation process, and what happens if you withdraw consent.
Contact a coordinator