“The mentoring relationship Jenna has with my teen has been an essential factor in recovery from a major depressive episode and managing ongoing anxiety. Jenna has periodic calls with me and the psychologist to learn what issues she can help address. It is wonderful as a parent to have a person I trust to take my teen on outings. Time with Jenna fills a social need for my teen for whom friendships can be challenging. My teen feels comfortable talking with Jenna about everything, and probably does. I trust Jenna to provide responsible and balanced perspectives on life situations and coping strategies. I am thankful we have the connection with Jenna and Bodin Group.”

“When our 18 year old son returned from being away, it was important to us that he had someone besides his parents to help guide him. Bodin introduced us to Jenna. Our son immediately liked her as they shared similar interests. As he navigated coming back to San Francisco as a different person than when he left, Jenna was extremely helpful in helping him find healthy ways to meet people. They went rock climbing, took walks, studied for his written driver's license test, played video games, tried and tested many places to determine who in SF had the best fried chicken. During these times, Jenna was able to talk to our son about his struggles, successes and things he was working through being sober. She was also instrumental in helping him apply, go to interviews and get a job which he loved! Jenna checked in with us regularly and it felt like we were all working together to support our son's re-entry after being away. Our son has now moved away and gone to college and he and Jenna still connect once a month to check-in. We are forever grateful for Jenna's guidance, feedback and kindness towards our son.”

“My daughter was going through and extremely difficult time in 2019. She was not turning in assignments. She was in therapy for depression yet I still could not reach her. She was going to flunk out of 8th grade. I desperately looked for different agencies to help my daughter. One of the agencies suggested Bodin that they had a new program in development specifically geared toward children not adjusting well to the pandemic, shelter in place and online school. I reached out to Bodin and my daughter was assigned Jenna as a mentor. Jenna had similar interests as my daughter. My daughter was a competitive swimmer before the pandemic and she missed it a lot. Jenna was able to reach her and with Jenna's help and mentoring my daughter began turning in assignments. The best part is she began looking forward to Jenna's visits and coming out of her bedroom. My daughter graduated from 8th grade barely. Now, she is a freshman in high school. She is a straight A student. Jenna was a shinning moment in a dark time for my daughter and I. I would highly recommend Bodin to any parent whose child is struggling with the same issues as my daughter's. Mentoring really helped my daughter see beyond her depression and education issues.”

"I am really grateful for Austin's work with my son Nick. Austin is passionate about his work and he is doing an outstanding job by closing the gap of true male role models in our society.

I met Austin O'Such at one of his presentations about the Bodin Group where he described his role as a mentor for adolescents and young adults. I knew right away that he would be a perfect match to work with my son Nick, who was unmotivated and was struggling with self-confidence, social skills, and direction in life. Over a period of few months, Austin has helped Nick to be more engaged socially, to increase his self-confidence, assisted him with job application process, tutoring, and to find new interests in life. Austin also helped Nick to advocate for himself and to be more self-reliant.   

Austin O'Such might be the answer to help your struggling son or daughter."

Miriam L.

The first thing I did in the mentoring program was beef up my resume and cover letter. Next we got in Austin’s car and he started to drop me off at places that looked like tech startups.

“If you want a tech internship, go in there and give your resume to the head of HR”

At the time I barely had enough confidence to pronounce my name. That day was significant. Every time I left a building I was resume-less and Austin was waiting in his car with a cheesy grin and I would try and look cool but then I’d lock eyes with Austin and a huge grin would creep on my face.

Austin has helped me build my confidence and people skills. Austin helped me forge a more productive mindset and schedule. Everyone should have an Austin in their life. He’s taken me on college trips, taught me new skills, forced me to get up early, and imparted his irrationally optimistic brand of determination on me.

Recently, he’s taught me how to surf. Last time we went out I caught my first wave. In these moments I appreciate having him in my life. Surfing is an activity that is physically exhausting and mentally regulating. It will be a lifelong hobby of mine, I can’t wait to catch more waves once I get back from college.

-Logan L.

We were about to send our teenage son to a therapeutic program out of state when we heard about the mentor program at Bodin. Austin has been helping our son get out of the home kayaking, going to a hackathon, hiking and other activities. He has issues with social activity and getting out of the home but seems to respond well to these mentors and has even learned some computer coding from Blaise. For the first time in the last 1.5 years we have felt hopeful and feel a mentor to help him become more functional in life has been more useful than the multitude of health care professionals. The cost has been well worth it to save my sanity. They have gone above and beyond to make an effort for our son.

D.M

We have been really pleased with Austin as a mentor associated with the Bodin Group. In addition to his energetic style and interpersonal skills, his status as a recent college grad who successfully attended a wilderness program gives him instant "street cred" with our teenager. Someone like Austin as a mentor is a missing link in just about every other therapeutic approach we have tried; he is far more relatable to a teenage young man than most therapists or psychiatrists. Both we and our son have been very happy with his mentoring.

-Bill N.

The Mentoring Program at Bodin stands out as one of the best investments I ever made. When you are a teenager, feedback from someone close to your age often is worth much, much more than what you hear from the best therapist. Spending time together in the real world has a huge impact and ideas planted during those times seem to have a very significant impact compared to “normal” therapy. I rate this as an 11 on a 10 point scale.

-Bill L.

The Bodin Group's mentoring program was just what our son needed to help him make the transition from a wilderness program to life back at home and school.  As parents, we felt that we had pretty good communication going on with our son, but we also understand that teenagers don't talk to their parents about everything.  Our mentor, Austin, was able to quickly connect with our son and become a trusted friend.  He looked forward to spending time working out and surfing with Austin.  It was so nice knowing that our son was spending time with someone who felt like a peer, but was a person that we trusted to counsel and guide him.  Our son's mentor had overcome similar challenges in his own life, and could understand our son's experiences in a way that we just could not. 

-Becky