Mentoring Group
The GMC defines a mentor as ‘someone who will provide you with guidance and confidential support, which can be wide-ranging, covering not just clinical work but also professional relationships and career plans’. Doctors already have established frameworks and for assessment, appraisal and revalidation but the emphasis in mentoring is to provide an opportunity for the mentee to reflect and develop their own career aspirations and priorities. The benefits of mentoring in medicine are increasingly recognised and mentoring is now supported by many organisations including the GMC, the Royal College of Physicians and the BMA.
BASHH introduced a mentoring scheme in 2009 with the aim of supporting new consultants during their transition from trainee to consultant. We have received very positive feedback from newly appointed consultants about the benefits of the scheme. Since this time the scheme has expanded to merge with the British HIV Association (BHVA) to include doctors working mainly in HIV medicine and to include SAS doctors. More recently we have also expanded to include the Faculty of Sexual and Reproductive Health (FSRH).
We now offer mentoring to the following doctors:
- New consultants within 18 months of their first post, including locums
- Consultants returning to work after a significant career break
- Established consultants who are undergoing a period of change (for example, as a result of tendering of services) who believe they may benefit from having a mentor
- SAS doctors at any stage of their career; this includes co-mentoring
Our mentors are experienced consultants and SAS doctors who have had specific training. The mentoring period offered is 18 months.
If you think you would benefit from having a mentor, please contact your regional mentoring representative (speciality trainees and consultants) or the SAS representative (SAS doctors) as listed at the bottom of this page. We ask you to complete the short mentee application form, accessed via the link below before you are considered onto the scheme.
Would you like to become a mentor?
We are always looking for new mentors to join our scheme. To be a BASHH / BHIVA/FSRH mentor you must have worked at your current grade (SAS or consultant) for 5 years and have undergone training in mentoring. You need to be empathic and willing to give your time to support and guide a colleague who may benefit from your experience. We ask that you adhere to our Ethical Code of Practice and sign our Confidentiality Policy.
We run an annual one-day mentor training course each year which provides the training you need, or you can attend other suitable training e.g. through a deanery or your own hospital. Please contact a member of the mentoring committee for further information.
If you are a Consultant or SAS doctor who would like to become a mentor on our mentoring scheme, please complete the self-nomination form below and send it to Catherine Chima-Okereke at catherine.chima-okereke@nhs.net
Support and Development for our Mentors
Following initial training, we offer on-going support for our mentors through our regional mentoring representatives and through our mentoring discussion group sessions. These sessions have been running in London since 2014 with very good feedback from attendees. From 2021 we will be running these sessions virtually via Zoom to make it easier for our mentors from outside London to attend. The sessions offer mentors a confidential but informal space to support one another in the art of mentoring. You don’t need to have a mentee or a problem to benefit from these sessions and all levels of experiences are welcome.
All sessions are facilitated by a consultant psychiatrist (Dr Lopa Winters) and are free of charge. It is expected that BHIVA/BASHH/FSRH mentors will attend at least one session over a 3-year period as part of their on-going development as mentors.
Sessions for 2022 have now ended and have included the following:
January 2022 - The beginning of a mentoring journey
March 2022 - The middle of a mentoring journey
May 2022 - The end of a mentoring journey
July 2022 - Open session
Dates for our next mentoring discussion groups and topics are:
To be confirmed. Please contact one of mentoring Chairs for further information.
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