You Are the Most Important Person

I started mentoring young professionals in the profession of communication sciences and disorders (CSD), in the late 1980's. I had been in a hospital job for a few years, with acute rehab, acute med, SNF, outpatient, home health and hospice among our services. Needless to say for many readers of this blog, we had a steady demand from master's students in the nearby CSD training program. It's been my good fortune since then to mentor more than a score of women and men, entering the field of CSD: whether a shadow during undergraduate years, a participant in ASHA's STEP program, or an intern prior to receiving the master's degree - they have all taught me a lot.

* the mentor does not have to be infallible - In these days, all the digital interconnections in our world allow persons with Internet savvy the ability to answer content questions. So, if the mentee needs to know  the efficacy of melodic intonation therapy, there may be little need for the mentor to actually provide the answer. Where the mentor will lend expertise is in framing the search terms for the answer: "efficacy of MIT w/ global aphasia"; "MIT short form"; "MIT and return to work for persons w/ nonfluent aphasia ";  - only one example of how the mentor may help hone the mentee's thinking on her/ his feet.

* a thinking mentee is a fearless mentee - the workplaces for CSD professionals  are constantly changing,  as the economic forces supporting their operation convulse and change.One day procedures in the worksite will require response "A" from the clinician, and the next day they are clamoring for your response to be "D". The mentor can be of assistance through contacts with the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association (ASHA), the credentialing and advocacy organization for professionals in CSD. When ASHA staff are able to give the working clinician advance word of  changes in reimbursement policy, or in development of regulations affecting practice, the mentee may adapt to the changes with more confidence. In numerous instances the mentor can help the mentee learn proactive,  evidence-based abd easily-expressed  action in the daily grind. which reminds us that -

* the relationship comes first - when a mentorship begins, how the dyad communicates sets the tone for how the mentee achieves her/his goals. The trust,
The clarity, feedback, and the focus and planning for the duration -they all begin with the formation of the mentor - mentee relationship. What the mentor seeks to give the mentee is not so different from what happens, at the first meeting of clinician and client in the CSD treatment setting -

* you are the most important person to me now -  at this moment, I am solely focused on you, and what you need is my top priority. I will be ethical and open throughout. I am committed to your great future.