Mentoring Student Clinicians: Learning From Who We Are

Developing student clinicians in professional fields often focus on externals, such as processing incoming information and mastering technical skills. Informal and formal faculty mentoring can help student clinicians to integrate these external skills into their self-concept as clinicians. The authors describe the development of mentors as well as make recommendations for how the mentoring process should operate. Article: With every passing moment, we are someone we were not the moment before. When searching for a location in a nearby shopping mall, we consult one of the maps placed in convenient locations. The first thing we must do is find the arrow labeled “You are here. ” We must know where we are at the beginning of the journey in order to choose a direction. Sometimes we are temporarily detained or even diverted to another destination, and then we must reconsider our developing situation and our options. For a developing professional, the learning process operates in much the same fashion. It is not enough for students to learn protocols and facts; it is essential that they integrate what they learn into a professional persona. Having one or more mentoring relationships with faculty can offer students the opportunity to reflect and develop