Episode 12:  Show Notes

In today’s episode we will be discussing mentoring from a health perspective, the health benefits of having a non-emergency mindset, and dealing with trust issues.

Part 1: A Look at Mentoring from a Health Perspective

Definition

Mentorship is a relationship in which a more experienced or more knowledgeable person helps to guide a less experienced or less knowledgeable person. The mentor may be older or younger than the person being mentored, but she or he must have a certain area of expertise. It is a learning and development partnership between someone with vast experience and someone who wants to learn. (Wikipedia)

Environments

A good question would be where can mentoring occur?  We frequently see mentoring in the business setting, or other types of career focused environments.  But, it is not limited to those settings.  Some workplaces may refer to it with slightly different language.  It may be called an apprenticeship, preceptorship, or it may just happen and not be called anything at all.

Personal Experience

On a personal level, I have been both the giver and the receiver of mentoring.  At times, it has been a formal arrangement and at times it has been more spontaneous.  At times, mentors were provided for me while others I searched out on my own.  Some I have worked with face-to-face, some virtually, and some I never met.  That probably sounds a bit confusing, so let’s dig into this section a little deeper and I’ll give you some examples that may help you understand things better.

Mentoring Others

I have been a Registered Nurse for over 25 years now.  But, I have had many different types of jobs within the nursing field over the course of those years.  In each of those phases, I came in as the novice, in need of learning and growing.  But, as time went on (usually about 2 years had to pass) I became highly proficient in those areas and eventually an expert.

In most of those experiences, I have been called upon to mentor nurses that were new to the type of nursing we were doing, or at least the facility where we were working.  Most recently, I worked as a university professor for about 10 years.  Often, I have adjunct instructors under my supervision that were hired for one semester.  Most semesters I mentored one or more instructors that were either new to teaching or new to the university.

What I Did As A Mentor

Aubrey, Bob & Cohen (1995) speak of the five common techniques used in mentoring and I think you’ll agree that they make a great deal of sense.

* Accompanying – making a care based commitment to walking alongside a learner as they learn and grow.

* Sowing– planting seeds of knowledge early in the process.  At this point the learner may not understand or accepted by the learner.  But it will be needed at a later stage in the process.

* Catalyzing- when it’s time to give the learning a boost and speed it up.  When the learner is ready to make significant changes in thinking or behavior.

* Showing– this is a technique used to make something more understandable.  It can involve giving an example, demonstrating, or showing someone what you are talking about.

* Harvesting- this last technique is more reflective and involves asking the learner what they have learned.  In a sense, it’s like collecting the ripe fruit.

I’m also an educator, so I do want to point out that although teaching is similar to mentoring, it is not the same.  Teaching often involves a group of students, is limited to times when class is in session, and ends at the end of the semester.  Whereas, mentoring does not have those same restrictions, and may go on for many years.

Non-Career Mentoring Opportunities

There are many organizations that allow mentoring relationships too. A few include Big brothers, big sisters,