Mentoring : Practices, Potential Challenges & Benefits

The book covers a range of topics from mentoring graduate students, to mentoring in post graduate medical education. Often, it is not just the protégé that benefits, but often the mentor who also learns about caring and sharing as well as the therapeutic elements of mentoring. The difference between counselling and mentoring (there is sometimes a fine line) is also reviewed and discussed. Some chapters directly address racial, ethnical, and cultural issues as well as complex adaptive mentoring programs. Some of the subtle nuances of mentoring are also explored including the phases of mentoring, the structuring or lack of structure in a mentor relationship and the benefits and risk of mentoring in cross-cultural supervision. Mentoring in the realm of pre-service teacher education is also examined as well as the differences between mentoring, coaching and supervision. Tangential concerns such as "mindful mentoring "in healthcare and medicine and the importance of data gathering and empirical research as well as data interpretation are also addressed. The book contains experts from literally around the world including England, Germany, Australia, Italy, and also from clinical sites as well as medical sites. This text is recommended for those who are involved with people, whether supervising them, assisting them, nurturing them, as well as guiding them. In this age of the Internet and Web- where we are only connected by text and e-mails, this book serves as a welcome reminder that "It is all about people and relationships "and this book addresses one of the most needed areas of concern - that of people mentoring others, caring for others and helping to support others in various fields of endeavour from kindergarten to medical school, and beyond.