For years, mentoring was often imagined as an hour-long, face-to-face chat over coffee. But working closely with hundreds of young people — particularly those in care or navigating big life transitions — we’ve seen something shift.

Today, many young people build trust not through set-piece meetings, but through what we call micro-connections.

Short messages.
Quick check-ins.
A simple “How did the interview go?” or “Thinking of you today.”

Moments of encouragement that create consistency and safety.
And that’s where the magic really happens.

Through our work at Goal 17 Ltd — and the data-driven insights from our safeguarding platform, Wowment.ai — we’ve learned that mentoring relationships rarely begin at the first meeting. Instead, they often start weeks or even months earlier through safe, consistent, low-pressure interactions.

In fact, it can take three to four months for a young person to truly start trusting a mentor — especially if they’ve had difficult experiences with adults in the past.

This isn’t just anecdotal.

• Research shows that Gen Z are 60% more likely to prefer digital-first communication over in-person meetings (McKinsey).

• Studies from the Harvard Centre on the Developing Child highlight that, for many young people who’ve experienced trauma, trust is built slowly through ongoing, everyday interactions.

That doesn’t mean face-to-face isn’t important. Some young people want to meet in person from the very start. Others prefer occasional in-person check-ins. But for many, the real foundation of trust comes from those micro-connections — the everyday moments that make them feel seen and remembered.

This is the power of micro-mentoring.
And it’s reshaping how we think about relationship-building across all our programmes.