MENTORSHIP GUIDELINES
The American Medical College of Homeopathy
Todd Rowe MD, MD(H), CCH, DHt
©2000 American Medical College of Homeopathy
Student Group Mentorship Guidelines for AMCH
What is Mentorship?
In the Odyssey by Homer, Mentor was entrusted with the education of Odysseus's son, Telemacheus. Mentor served as a guardian who protected and a wise teacher who educated him in the ways of the world. Mentorship is an opportunity to meet with faculty and homeopathic practitioners in a more intimate and relaxed setting. It provides a forum to discuss issues pertaining to the program and the development of each student as a professional homeopath. Mentorship is not supervision. Supervision is mostly case focused whereas mentorship is more process focused. There will be opportunities throughout the program, especially in the third year of training, for supervision. There are two types of mentorship at AMCH. The first is group mentorship. Each student is assigned a group mentor to meet with throughout the entire program. In addition to formal group mentorship, AMCH also offers student mentors. Student mentors are volunteers who meet with students in person or by phone to aid them in their homeopathic studies.
Making the Most Out of Group Mentorship
The best mentorship experience only comes with both student and faculty preparation. As you go through the month, preparing for class, write down any questions or problems that arise and bring these to your group mentorship sessions. Mentorship is more process focused than content focused. It is an opportunity to talk about issues pertaining to what it is to become a homeopath and one's homeopathic journey.
Student Mentorship
Student mentors are volunteers from previous AMCH classes who have agreed to assist students in their homeopathic studies. Attached is a listing of these individuals and their contact information. Please remember that these are volunteers with limited time and energy.
The Details of the Group Mentorship Process
Faculty Group Mentorship Guidelines for AMCH
What is Mentorship?
In the Odyssey by Homer, Mentor was entrusted with the education of Odysseus's son, Telemacheus. Mentor served as a guardian who protected and a wise teacher who educated him in the ways of the world. Mentorship is an opportunity to meet with faculty and homeopathic practitioners in a more intimate and relaxed setting. It provides a forum to discuss issues pertaining to the program and the development of each student as a professional homeopath. Mentorship is not supervision. Supervision is mostly case focused whereas mentorship is more process focused. There will be opportunities throughout the program, especially in the third year, for supervision of cases.
What Are the Keys to Good Group Mentorship?
The most important need of students in the mentorship process is to be inspired. Students look to mentors as examples of what they will become and what they can be. It is important to keep what you say upbeat and inspirational. Mentorship helps students identify where they are on their homeopathic journey and then to take the next step. Mentors hold up a mirror so that students can see themselves and they inspire students to reach beyond where they are. They bring out the full potential of their students. Good mentorship satisfies informational needs, challenges assumptions, provides vision, lends an ear, guides the learner to set realistic expectations and goals, lends a helping hand, encourages the learner to network with the community and helps to establish the larger picture of practicing to be a homeopath. Mentoring is a powerful growth experience for both the mentor and the homeopathic learner. True mentorship is less concerned with transferring knowledge to the learner, than facilitating a learning relationship. The old model of a mentor who was an authority that the homeopathic learner would model themselves after, has been replaced by a facilitator. Facilitators of learning see themselves as resources for others. The responsibility for learning ultimately is shared. There are predictable phases of mentorship (see The Homeopathic Journey handout in this syllabus). Awareness of these phases can help facilitate mentorship and ease transitions during the process. Each mentor will conduct the mentorship meetings differently depending on their style and training. Whatever style you choose, it is important that the basic philosophy and content be consonant with the core philosophy and approach of the school.
The Details of the Group Mentorship Process
Mentorship Continuing Education
Good mentorship is a skill that must be continuously worked on. Included in the syllabus is a bibliography of material that you may find helpful in learning more about mentorship. In addition, AMCH requires mentorship/supervision training every two years. This is an opportunity to talk and work with other mentors to improve your skills. Please see the Mentorship director for the time and location of the next training.
Excerpted from The Homeopathic Journey
Mentorship
"Everything that happens to you is your teacher. The secret is to learn to sit at the feet of your own life and be taught by it."
-Polly Berends
A crucial component to homeopathic training is mentoring. This can be useful throughout all phases of training. Mentorship should be distinguished from supervision. Supervision is mostly case focused, whereas mentorship is mostly process focused.
In the Odyssey by Homer, Mentor was entrusted with the education of Odysseus's son, Telemacheus. Mentor served as a guardian who protected and a wise teacher who educated him in the ways of the world. Mentorship helps students identify where they are on their homeopathic journey and then to take the next step. Mentors help to hold up a mirror so that students can see themselves and to inspire them to reach beyond where they are. They bring out the full potential of their students.
Good mentorship satisfies informational needs, challenges assumptions, provides vision, lends an ear, guides the learner to set realistic expectations and goals, lends a helping hand, encourages the learner to network with the community and helps to establish the larger picture. Mentoring is a powerful growth experience for both the mentor and the homeopathic learner.
True mentorship is not as much concerned with transferring knowledge to the learner, as facilitating a learning relationship. Mentors help students to integrate career and family life. The mentor of old who used to be an authority that the homeopathic learner would model themselves after, has been replaced by more of a facilitator. Facilitators of learning see themselves as resources for learning. The responsibility for learning ultimately is shared. According to Brookfield, effective mentoring is characterized by voluntary engagement of both partners, mutual respect, collaboration, critical reflection and empowerment of the learner (Brookfield 1986).
Diversity in mentorship is very important in training. Cross-cultural mentoring, cross-gender mentoring, cross-generational mentoring and cross-medical discipline mentoring, can all promote the growth of a homeopathic community. Finding the perfect match between mentor and homeopathic learner is less important. Different mentors often have much to offer, even if the homeopathic learner is not fully comfortable. A diversity of mentors also reduces the risk of mentor cloning. As the number of homeopathic women practitioners grow, the demand for female mentors will steadily increase.
Mentoring can occur face-to-face, utilizing chatrooms, through phone conferencing and via email. It is not unusual for mentoring to begin as face-to-face and end with a long-distance relationship. The difficulty is that it is much harder to know what the other person is feeling and thinking in a long-distance relationship.
Mentorship can also be in a group format. Mentorship groups are a common model in professional training toward the end of programs. They are often called professional seminars and are designed to help students make the difficult transition from school into practice.
There are predictable phases present in all mentoring relationships (Schlossber, Lynch and Chickerin 1989). It is important for the mentor to be aware of these phases and their signposts during mentorship. These phases include tilling the soil, planting the seeds, nourishing the growth and reaping the harvest (Zachary 2000).
1) TILLING THE SOIL
Mentors must prepare carefully for mentorship. Homeopathic knowledge and experience are insufficient. This phase is a time to reflect on one's motivation for becoming a mentor, becoming comfortable with mentoring skills, identifying one's learning needs and developing an awareness of one's limits as a mentor. Mentors must have clarity about their personal motivations and readiness to be a mentor. Teachers and mentors who have a deep understanding of why they are doing something are more committed to it. Typical motivations include:
Crucial to evaluating the readiness to being a mentor is the issue of time. The main reason why mentorship relationships fail is lack of sufficient time. Most mentors underestimate the time commitment necessary for quality mentoring. Mentorship requires many different skills than classroom teaching or even supervision. Some schools offer training programs in mentorship as well as having mentoring programs for teachers and students. These skills must be consciously developed in the mentor before the mentoring begins. These include (Zachary 2000):
Mentors must have a clear understanding of their own journey, so that they can better prepare their students for what lies ahead. Self reflection on their experience with previous mentors in their life can be very helpful. Mentors also must have clarity about administrative expectations and roles. Although this phase is not necessarily time intensive, it is a critical stage of the process.
2) PLANTING THE SEEDS
This phase of mentorship is more the business end, yet it is critical in building and forming the relationship. The key to successful mentoring involves taking the time to establish the human connection and develop a relationship. Only when the relationship has been successfully built, will the learning follow. The mentor establishes a climate conducive to good learning.
During this phase of mentorship, mentors first meet the homeopathic learners and establish a rapport. Their initial contacts involve bargaining, sharing information, creating a shared understanding about assumptions, setting boundary conditions, creating shared goals and a plan to achieve those goals, exploration of confidentiality issues and ethics, outlining expected stumbling blocks on the journey and defining successful completion criteria. This is an opportunity to talk about previous mentoring and teaching experiences that create the underlying expectations. All of this must be done collaboratively. Learners must be involved in planning how and what they will learn. Ultimately a consensual agreement can be reached to meet the work goals, whether written or oral.
Simple ground rules must be established. These may include beginning and ending on time, the need for open and candid communication, respecting differences, honoring each others expertise and experience, safeguarding confidentiality and putting interruptions aside. There should be a discussion about how to manage breakage of ground rules, should these occur.
Each mentoring relationship is unique and mentors must prepare anew for every mentoring relationship. It is important for mentors to assess the homeopathic learners' idiosyncratic learning style to better fit their teaching style with that of their students. Mentors also need to know where the homeopathic learners are from a developmental perspective.
The question often arises as a mentor "where do we begin?" Rather than starting with some predetermined program or agenda, it is much more helpful to start with where the homeopathic learner finds themselves in the present moment (Lindeman 1989). This is the best embarkation point.
3) NURTURING THE GROWTH
This is the longest phase of mentorship. Here the mentor nurtures the growth and development of the homeopathic learner. Learning must be tended to or it becomes mechanistic and rigidified. There are three keys to this process. These are support, challenge and vision (Daloz 1999).
Mentors must establish and maintain a safe learning climate. This requires mutual respect and authenticity by the mentor. Other factors include active listening in ways that respect the homeopathic learner, consistency, providing a learning structure, expressing positive expectations, acting as an advocate (publicly and privately), admitting ignorance when one does not know and sharing oneself as a mentor. This requires the mentor to practice openness and being open to feedback. In this process, it is helpful for the mentor to give both themselves and the homeopathic learner permission to make mistakes and then create ways to learn from the mistakes together.
A mentor must also challenge the homeopathic learner to grow. This requires setting tasks, creating homework and setting standards. Good mentors provide ongoing feedback to the homeopathic learner and the administration. The learning process must be monitored to ensure that the homeopathic learners' goals are being met.
A mentor provides and sustains a vision for the homeopathic learner. Most powerfully they do this through modeling what it is to be a homeopathic practitioner. This occurs through holding up a mirror for their students to see themselves more accurately. Open, accurate and honest feedback is a vital part of this process. This mirror function is a great advantage of mentorship over classroom teaching. Mentors foster self reflection in their students. Lastly mentors help provide a road map for the student on their homeopathic journey.
It is very useful for the mentor to keep some type of written record of the mentorship experience. This is a place to work through feelings, frustrations and meaningful learnings. This can serve administrative purposes and help with accountability. This is often in the form of process notes where details are less important and the focus is more on process.
Many of the issues that arise with 'problem students' have been discussed elsewhere (see Chapter One), but one special issue that pertains to mentorship should be mentioned. Some students seek to make their mentor their counselor or therapist. They may start confiding serious personal problems or ask their mentor to take on the role of homeopathic practitioner. It is very important to keep these roles separate. Careful boundaries must be set and adhered to in the mentorship work. Students should be referred for counseling or to their homeopathic practitioner for these types of issues.
4) REAPING THE HARVEST
One of the challenges for mentorship is knowing when to end. Students can develop dependency relationships on their mentors which make it difficult for them to leave. An important guide is to end when the goals established at the beginning of the mentorship process have been met. It is much easier to end if conditions for termination were set at the beginning of the mentorship process.
This phase is an opportunity for much growth and self reflection for both the mentor and the homeopathic learner. It is an opportunity to harvest what one has learned and to move into a more collegial relationship. For the student it is an opportunity to give back in service what one has learned.
It is important to mark the ending and to celebrate it together. This models how to end well with one's clients and in one's work. Inevitably, endings are emotional processes filled with grief, joy, fear and excitement. Individuals who have difficulty ending relationships will have the most difficulty with this phase of the work.
Even after the harvest however, the journey is not complete. There is always another step. The opportunities for renewal and regeneration are continual. Mentors can become an important resource long after the relationship has ended. Students often maintain periodic contact in which they need to receive validation for their accomplishments and by which they measure their progress.
Mentor Credentials and Payment
Credentialling Requirement for the Selection Mentors
Payment for Mentors