MATES Community Champions
About the Community Champions model
MATES Community Champions are organisations that provide their staff with flexible work arrangements to be able to mentor a student in the MATES program during business hours. Mentor meetings take one hour per fortnight for the duration of the school year, excluding school holidays.
There are two ways that an organisation can manage staff volunteering in the program:
1. Donating staff hours to the program.
2. Allowing staff to make up the time spent volunteering, outside their usual working hours.
Local sporting clubs and community groups can also qualify as Community Champions by hosting a CGLLEN MATES information session, distributing information about the program and encouraging members to become mentors.
The benefits
MATES has been shown to have significant positive impacts on participating students, including improved attendance at school, better mental health and increased confidence.
There are also many advantages to mentoring for this rewarding program.
For mentors:
- Access networking opportunities
- Gain work experience and learn new skills
- Increase your connection to the community
- Gain a sense of fulfillment from doing something meaningful
- Develop greater connections with colleagues
For employers:
- Strengthen your organisation’s public image and connection to the community
- Raise the profile of your organisation amongst prospective employees
- Increase the job satisfaction of your staff
- Improve employee confidence, self-esteem and morale
- Strengthen your organisation’s internal culture
- Gain business promotion through CGLLEN networks (newsletters, website, social media and annual advertisement)
For sporting clubs and community groups:
- Provide your members with access to free personal development opportunities
- Raise the profile of your club in the local community
- Access valuable networking opportunities
- Increase club membership through wider publicity (CGLLEN newsletters, website, social media and annual advertisement)
- Strengthen your club’s internal culture
Our MATES Community Champions:
East Grampians Health Service is based in Ararat and Willaura and is committed to providing quality care and services that meet the needs of the community, whilst continuously striving for improvement and aiming to lead the way in provision of health related services.
The organisation became our very first MATES Community Champions' workplace in May 2023.
Grampians Comunity Health provides a broad range of primary health care, therapeutic and community support services in the Pyrenees, Grampians and Wimmera Southern Mallee. The organisation has office sites in Stawell, Ararat, Horsham, St Arnaud, Warracknabeal, Hamilton and Maryborough, as well as visiting services right across the Grampians and Wimmera townships.
GCH has been a MATES Community Champion since June 2023.
Stawell West Primary School (SWPS) has made a strong commitment to the MATES program by joining as a MATES Community Champion, encouraging staff to become MATES mentors. Seven office staff and education support officers completed their training in May 2025.
SWPS was one of three schools involved in the initial pilot of the program has been participating in MATES since 2021.
Find out more
For further details, or to express your interest in becoming a MATES Community Champion workplace, club or community group, please contact our MATES Coordinator:
Natalie Taurau
Phone: 03 5352 3266
Mobile: 0432 204 840
Email: mates@cgllen.org.au