When asked what the purpose of Mentorship is, Tiona Sykes, a Marriage and Family Therapist Associate, shared that “Mentorship: bridges the gap between being a therapist and being a teacher. A mentor is supportive and encouraging and at the same time guides and shares wisdom.” Mentorship is essential in our everyday life, but especially in our careers. Finding the right mentor to guide us is challenging enough, but practitioners within the mental health space have found it even more difficult.
According to Jess Barron, Editor & Chief of Pollen, “77 percent of female practitioners agreed that mentors are critical to career success, yet only 26 percent of practitioners currently have a mentor.” SimplePractice, a leading platform for private practice, identified this need across their platform, they launched a pilot program to facilitate these connections and then hosted a mentor matchmaking event. Since the pilot program's launch, 95% of survey respondents' matches have already met each other, with 50 pairs successfully matched. Tiona Skyes was one of the many practitioners paired with a mentor which she meets virtually every other week.
Why Is it Important for Practitioners to Have Mentors?
Guidance, support, and accountability are crucial when providing mental health treatment. As a practitioner you are interacting with different types of people who have a variety of triggers and traumas, therefore as a therapist, it is essential to be held accountable and have someone who can guide you through your internal processing while “dealing with things that trigger [you] and [your own] countertransference.” Sykes shared similar sentiments and disclosed that one of her biggest challenges working in the field straight out of grad school was learning how “to put all this educational knowledge into practice because when you put yourself in front of people, all of that goes out the window”.
Why is it so tricky for Practitioners to find mentors?
The right mentor is going to be different for everyone. Some of the factors people pay attention to that make matching with a mentor difficult are; geography, personality nuances, and identity. Jess Barron, Editor & Chief of Pollen, shared the stats from SimplePractice’s February 2023 survey of more than 900 mental health practitioners. The survey found a significant mentorship gap, especially within BIPOC practitioners. Some of the data collected showed the following:
“65% of all Black, Indigenous, and People of Color practitioners noted identity is important when selecting a mentor.”
“59% agree that lack of mentors with shared background is a barrier to success”
When speaking to MFT Associate Tiona Sykes, she discussed the value and importance of having a black mentor. She highlighted how people of color make up a small percentage within the mental health field, which calls for a desperate need for representation. Having a mentor with that baseline understanding and cultural awareness also makes for a deeper connection and quick rapport building. Practitioners make it look easy as they continuously show up for their clients and help their community process trauma, grief, and different mental health issues. Unfortunately, it becomes easily overlooked how important it is for practitioners within the mental health field to have mentors that can bridge the gap between being a therapist and a teacher not only in their career but also in their own personal lives.