The pair meet up weekly to share a meal and chat and attend organised monthly activities.
"You can have the best mum in the world, but you still need that male role model. It's critical," he said."It's not about teaching young guys anything, but it's just about seeing how adult men interact with the world and cracking that adult code in the process."The volunteer male mentors come from all walks of life, and range in age from 23 to 63.
Mr Parkes joined as a mentor two years ago, after going through "troubled times" when he was in an "abusive and manipulative relationship.""One of the biggest things that changed me was having a friend that didn't stand in front of me telling me to fix my problems, didn't stand behind me pushing me to fix my problems, just stood next to me," he said.
"The change in their attitude, their positivity, their acceptance of themselves, the acceptance of people around them is a really big thing," Mr Parkes said.