Mentorship Program
The Ellen Perlman Simon Mentorship Program
The Mentorship Program provides members the opportunity to learn from other social work leaders and clinicians in health care or to serve as a mentor to colleagues developing their leadership skills. The Program creates the foundation for a meaningful mentoring experience by fostering an intentional and purposeful relationship guided by clearly-defined goals.
Unlike clinical supervision, the mentor/mentee relationship is centered on and guided by specific deliverables and goals. Mentees may choose to utilize their mentors for guidance and consultation toward the completion of a project (deliverable), or may identify goals related to more global skill development. Deliverables are intended to encompass and develop core leadership skills such as navigating professional dilemmas, strategic planning, or staff development, to name just a few.
NOTE: Applications for mentors and mentees will be accepted on an ongoing/rolling basis to match folks throughout the year.
The Mentor/Mentee relationship is non-evaluative and is not meant to serve as clinical supervision or consultation.
Process & Requirements
Application & Matching Process
The Mentorship Committee will review applications and make appropriate matches based on areas of interest and skill. Participants will be notified via email of the match and provided with tools to assist with goal-setting and program structure.
Duration of the Program
Participants are requested to commit to a six-month partnership with a minimum of one session per month. The Mentorship Committee highly encourages interactive sessions using phone or electronic technology, which could include video conference and in-person meetings if geographically feasible.
Participant Requirements (all participants must be active members of SSWLHC):
- Possess a minimum of 5 years of experience in a core mentorship/leadership topic area or in a leadership position
- Are able to maintain professional/ethical boundaries as established by the NASW code of ethics
- Must maintain SSWLHC Membership for duration of program
- Agree to participate in a pre/post program survey
- Must be able to maintain professional/ethical boundaries as established by NASW
- Agree to develop a project or goal to focus the mentoring relationship.
- Must maintain SSWLHC membership for the duration of program
- Agree to participate in a pre/post program survey
Questions? Please email the Mentorship Committee at help@sswlhc.org
Questions About The Program?
1 hour per month for 6 months
No. The Mentorship is not supervisory or evaluator in nature.
A Mentor does not have to be a senior leader in their field. A Mentor does not have to be an expert in their field. A mentor can be someone with a certain degree of experience in an area (i.e presentation skills; staff development; programmatic experience) who is willing to share their experience with others.
While it is recommended to have a set meeting time each month for the sake of consistency, it is not a requirement. The Mentor/Mentee match can have as much flexibility as needed in their scheduling to be able to meet on a monthly basis.
Mentors have reported back to us that they in fact get more out of the relationship at times then the Mentee does.
It’s a chance to help other professionals enhance their skills, or branch out in new areas of practice and/or leadership. It’s a chance for mentors to learn about other organizations and current challenges for new and emerging leaders. It’s a chance to take part in inspiring the next generation of social work leaders.
The formal mentorship relationship is over. However, an informal relationship can continue as long as both the Mentor and Mentee want it to! If you have a question…… THE SSWLHC MENTORSHIP COMMITTEE HAS THE ANSWER!!
No, no documentation is required, though most find it helpful to have some goal list to keep track of accomplishments. There is a goal check in worksheet that is available for use, but documentation isn’t required. The Mentee should populate their goals list and share it with their Mentor.
Helping each other.
Learning from each other.
Challenging each other.
Working together as a community.
