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Administrator
Administrator
15007 Posts
Gratitude: 3353
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 Posted - 10/29/2007 : 11:10:23
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Dear Members,
Good news - you can now ask another member to be your guide or mentor.
This is how it works:
- Go to your blog (by clicking on the "My Blog" button in the menu on the left of the screen).
- Click on: "To select your mentor, click here."
- Select your mentor from the list of our Senior Members (i.e., members that have posted at least 100 times). Then click on "request mentorship" to send your request to that Senior Member.
- Wait. It may take hours or days until the mentor you requested receives your request. If the mentor is too busy, your request may be politely declined.
- If the mentor you requested accepts your request, you will be able to privately talk to your mentor in your blog. This occurs in the forum titled: "Discussions With My Mentor". No one else (except the Administrator) can see this discussion between you and your mentor.
- If you wish the Administrator to read something your mentor has written, click on the "Notify Admin" button underneath the post in question.
Guidelines:
- We want to prevent romantic involvements between members and their mentors. For this reason, we strongly recommend that members select mentors of the same sex. The opposite would be true for our gay/lesbian members. (This is the same policy that Alcoholics Anonymous has found helpful for their sponsorship program.)
- We want to prevent our members from becoming too dependent upon any one mentor. Thus we suggest that the duration of any one mentorship be limited to just 2 months. At the termination of each 2 month mentorship, the member is free to request another Senior Member to be his/her mentor. By "rotating" mentors in this way, we hope to expose our members to a rich variety of viewpoints and friendships.
- We want to always preserve our anonymity. In our mental health community are some individuals who are very vulnerable. In order to protect them from predatory individuals on the internet; we ask our members not to exchange any personally identifying information (email addresses etc.). Likewise, we ask that our members never arrange to meet "in real life".
- We want our mentoring service to be professionally supervised. That is why all member-mentor communication is subject to periodic viewing by our Administrator (a psychiatrist). This will ensure against sexually inappropriate or abusive communication. This is the same level of supervision that exists for the rest of our website.
- Unfortunately, due to time-constraints, our Administrator isn't available to be a mentor.
How To Be A Mentor
- To be a mentor, you must have posted at least 100 times.
- Go to your blog, and click on the "Who I Mentor" tab.
- Click on "To edit your mentor settings, click here."
- Indicate how many members you wish to mentor (1, 2 or 3).
- Once you have indicated that you are available, your name will be shown to prospective members seeking a mentor.
It is our hope that this mentoring service will greatly strengthen the bonds of understanding and friendship within our support community.
Phil Long M.D.
Administrator 
Please disregard the "member" called "justatest". Mark and I use this member name for testing purposes.
More About Our Mentorship Program: - Our senior members want to help others. Thus we have started a mentorship program.
- Mentorship is a continuing responsibility for helping another member. It assures the other member (the "mentee") that their mentor will care about their progress, and take time to support them. Having a mentor gives the other member an understanding, sympathetic friend when one is needed the most.
- Talking frankly and listening to a mentor can be very helpful. Mentors can give examples, from their own lives, of how they dealt with your illness. They can give you guidance in applying coping skills to everyday life.
- Even senior members can benefit from asking a friend in our community to be their mentor. All members can benefit from a friendly, confidential, trusting relationship with a mentor.
- There is no charge for our mentoring, and mentors can never refer their mentees to for-profit websites (e.g., their own website where they charge for counselling).
- To request a mentor, you simply go to your blog, and use the "To select your mentor, click here" command. You will then be shown a list of all the senior members that have volunteered to be a mentor. By reading the posts of these senior members; you can judge which senior member would be most helpful in your particular situation. You would then select that mentor from the provided list of senior members.
- To avoid potential romantic entanglements; we ask that you select a mentor of your same sex (or the opposite for our gay/lesbian members).
- The senior member that you select as your mentor will privately communicate with you (in your blog's "Discussions With My Mentor" forum). Only you, your mentor and our administrator can see this forum in your blog.
- A mentor will automatically be able to view the mentee's "My Mood Calendar" (to monitor daily moods and posts).
- A member can have only one mentor at a time. However, every 2 months, we ask members to change their mentor. By rotating mentors in this way, a member forms new friendships with a number of mentors (rather than staying with just one mentor). By rotating mentors, a member learns to depend on our community, and not just one mentor.
- A mentor doesn't give their mentee specific advice. Instead, the mentor simply tells the mentee how he/she coped with the same illness. We believe that this teaching through example is more respectful than simple advice giving.
- Mentors should ensure that their mentee is aware of the information on their illness at www.mentalhealth.com .
- Mentors should not try to impose their personal views on their mentee (especially their religious views).
- Severe mental illness always requires professional care. Thus our mentors are not a substitute for professional therapy. Our mentors are not therapists, they are friends. Thus mentors should not "play doctor" and suggest that their mentee change their diagnosis or medical treatment without first consulting their doctor. However, it is appropriate for a mentor to tell their mentee what medical treatment helped the mentor, or to refer their mentee to scientifically-proven information on the internet.
- Mentors should quickly admit when they do not have an answer, and should not hesitate to suggest that their mentee obtain professional help when it is appropriate.
- Mentors should encourage their mentee to post in our support community (rather than rely solely on their private mentor-to-mentee communication).
- Any member can become a mentor once they have posted 100 times (and thus become a senior member). Mentors should be at least 18, and have enough time to devote to their mentees.
- We welcome you all to take part in this new mentorship program.
Phil Long M.D.
Administrator  |
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You Can Now Have A Mentor
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