Mentoring - Professional and Safe

Introduction

Mentoring is a professional relationship and like any other professional relationship, there should be clear guidelines about the role that will set out what a mentor can and can’t do.

Some of these will be determined by the organisation that provides the mentor. 

These can feel like limitations but they are important and they are there to ensure that both parties are safe, supported and have clear expectations about what the mentoring entails.

Providing Effective Support

Here are some helpful tips to ensure that mentors provide effective but appropriate support

A Mentoring Agreement can help to establish the basic details of Mentoring relationship such as;

• The frequency that you meet with your mentee
• How many mentoring sessions will be provided
• How long the meetings last for
• Where are you going to meet
• How will you make contact with the mentee
• What is the process for arranging or canceling meetings
• Is there a type of activity the mentoring will focus on e.g. school, work, confidence building etc

It is always a good idea to discuss any changes to the planned Mentoring Agreement with your Mentoring Co-ordinator or Line Manager so they can support and advise you.

Providing Appropriate Support

Here are some things that you might want to think about or discuss with your line manager or Co-ordinator, before you start

• Do you know what to do if you have concerns about the person that you mentoring in terms of their safety or well-being
• How much personal information can you share and if this is appropriate or helpful
• What to do if you meet the mentee outside of the mentoring sessions
• How you will be supported or how you can offload if you are finding things difficult
• What are the rules around confidentiality and sharing information
• How to keep the focus during the sessions
• Are there any things that I can’t do that I need to be aware of e.g. lend money, meet outside of the agreed time, give my personal telephone number or address or talk about the mentoring sessions with family or friends.