Clinical Psychology Post-graduate Training Programme Mentoring Programme

Outline  What is mentoring  Why have a mentoring programme  A brief history  Current position  Future plans  Discussion  Photos

Thank you!  Firstly, a big Thank you for continuing to support the mentoring programme through an extremely difficult year  Welcome to our new mentor  This year we have asked students to also provide photographs and brief biographies, which were ed to mentors ahead of time.  There are only six students looking for mentors this round, as the class size has reduced from ten to eight, (due to earthquake and other factors) and two of these eight already have a pre-existing mentor relationship

What is mentoring in Psychology  “A mentor is someone whose funeral you would attend” Kaslow and Mascaro (2007) Mentoring is……  A nurturing process  From person of greater experience  Guidance, support and encouragement  “stimulates the mentee to develop an individual style and personal talents in regard to their psychological practice” Ohio Psychological Association

Mentoring vs Supervision  Mentoring involves greater investment in the personal and career development of the mentee, whereas supervision primarily focuses on the development of competence ( Johnson, 2007)  In some of the literature, mentor and supervisor roles can be embodied in the same person (although the roles are quite distinct)  Much of the mentoring literature is based on early career psychologists, rather than psychologists in training  The Clinical Psychology mentoring programme is organised so that supervisor and mentor roles do not combine in the same person, for any particular student.

Why have a mentoring programme?  Research into mentoring in other professions, and psychology, points to the benefits for mentees, particularly in terms of career motivation and career self-efficacy  Provides a longer term, supportive relationship for the developing Clinical Psychologist, that is separate and distinct from the inevitably evaluative relationship with University staff and community supervisors  Provides an opportunity for community Psychologists to support the profession and the University, by mentoring new members of the profession.

Why have a mentoring programme?  A survey of 787 American Clinical Psychology graduates found:  66% had a graduate-school mentor  Men and women were equally likely to be mentored  Those who had been mentored rated their mentor relationship quite favourably  94% of respondents viewed mentoring as extremely important in doctoral training (Clark et.al. 2000) (NB These mentors were faculty-based rather than community-based)  This same study found that clinical students were less likely than experimental graduate psychology students to be mentored, and accounted for this by the diffusion of training inherent in clinical programs (i.e. multiple, short-term supervisors, so mentoring relationship not able to develop)

Mentoring and Attachment  Attachment theory can help us understand mentoring relationships, and provide a framework for research  A positive mentoring relationship associated with trust, and has positive effects on lives of both mentor and mentee, via activation of secure base schema Noe et al (2002)  Attachment theory may also offer some insights into how best to select a mentoring partner Allen et al (2006)

A brief history  Search of literature carried out  Committee formed in Feb 2008 with University and Clinical Psychology community representation  Policies and procedures developed  Applications from prospective mentors sought early 2008  Opportunity for mentors and students to meet June 2008  Mentees left to approach mentor of their choice  A “co-ordinating mentor” appointed to assure anonymity of any feedback to the University training programme  Ongoing training and support for mentors  The cycle repeats for classes of 2009, 2010 and now 2011

Current position approved mentors  9 students from st year class were matched with mentors, 8 students from 2009, and 8 students from 2010 class  Feedback from mentors has been very positive – they are enjoying the role  The “speed-dating” session which will occur shortly, has been used three times before. Seems to work well, although there is a risk of mentors not being matched  Community placement supervisors who are also mentors, need to be mindful of dual roles, so mentoring is particularly suitable for those in private practice, or working part-time  The University will avoid placing a particular student with a community supervisor who is also their mentor  Encourage your colleagues to apply, if you think they may be interested  The first group of mentored students completed their clinical training in February 2011

Evaluation of the Mentoring Programme  Approved by the Human Ethics Committee  The 2010 and 2011 intakes have been invited to participate and have completed questionnaires prior to the commencement of mentoring  Recent graduands who did not receive mentoring have also been invited to participate and completed questionnaires as a naturalistic control  At the end of each academic year both students and mentors (information sheets and consent forms to participate in the study will be sent to mentors ahead of time) will be asked to complete a Reflection on Mentoring questionnaire.  Funding currently allows for data collection for two years only (i.e., )  It is hoped to access further funding to continue the research at least until the end of clinical training for both the 2010 and 2011 intakes.

 Hypotheses:  Mentored students will have higher career motivation and career self-efficacy than non-mentored students  Among those who are mentored, there will be a positive relationship between career motivation and career self-efficacy  There will be a positive relationship between career motivation and career self-efficacy and satisfaction with the clinical training programme  Mentored students will have higher satisfaction with the clinical training programme, than non-mentored students.

Benefits  As a thankyou for your contribution to our students, the University is pleased to offer free library membership to approved mentees  Please contact Anna Leuzzi for further details about how to organise this  Remote access to database unfortunately not possible

Discussion and Questions Thankyou for your contribution