Learn more about mentoring and other professional supports in SPA's Position Statement: Professional Support, Supervision, and Mentoring.
Is there a fee associated with SPA's Mentoring Program?
Mentors who participate in this program should not charge a fee for this support. Mentoring in this program is a voluntary partnership in which both the Mentor and Mentee may benefit.
How long do mentoring partnerships last?
This will depend on a range of considerations. You should discuss these questions with your Mentor/Mentee to determine how long the partnership will last:
- What are the learning goals?
- What is the Mentee's current level of knowledge and skills in this space?
- How much time can the Mentee dedicate to learning?
- How much time can the Mentor dedicate to supporting?
- Does the Mentee need to acquire learning by a certain date? (e.g., employment or work role change)
- What ongoing support does a Mentee need to consolidate their learning into practice?
How are Mentors and Mentees matched?
Members must first enrol as a Mentor, Mentee or both. During the enrolment process, members will select various demographics. These demographics establish the support that they are seeking or are able to provide.
A registered Mentee visits the “Find a Mentor” page and fills in their search criteria. The Mentee clicks the names of the potential Mentors to view their profiles. Once the Mentee has decided on a Mentor, they click on the Mentor badge (seen below the registered Mentor's profile picture) to request that person as their Mentor. An e-mail is sent to the Mentor alerting them that they have been requested to be a Mentor. The Mentor accepts or declines the request. The Mentor and Mentee may also communicate from the Mentor's profile page before sending a request. This can help you determine if you and the Mentor are the right fit for your support partnership.
A registered Mentor visits the “Find a Mentee” page and fills in their search criteria. The Mentor clicks the names of potential Mentees to view their profiles. Once the Mentor has decided on a Mentee, they click on the Mentee badge (seen below the registered Mentee's profile picture) to request that person as their Mentee. An e-mail is sent to the Mentee alerting them that they have been requested to be a Mentee. The Mentee accepts or declines the request. The Mentor and Mentee may also communicate from the Mentee's profile page before sending a request. This can help you determine if you and the Mentee are the right fit for a support partnership.
Once a Mentor has accepted a request, both the Mentor and Mentee should review and complete a Mentoring Agreement.
How can Speech Pathology Australia support my mentoring partnership?
SPA can help you make the most of your mentoring experience. Please contact the Professional Support Advisor for support with:
- Enroling in the Mentor Match
- Communicating with your mentoring partner
- Finding the right Mentor or Mentee for you.
- Determining learning goals
- Creating a learning plan
- Managing issues that arise in the mentoring partnership
- Providing and receiving feedback
- Enhancing your mentoring skills
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For Mentors
How do I become a Mentor?
Click here to enrol as a Mentor. You will be instructed to choose various demographics. These represent the areas in which you can provide support. You will also be asked to complete your member profile.
Mentors are not required to have a specified number of years in the profession. However, SPA acknowledges that the knowledge and skills you need to offer mentoring typically come with a combination of experience and professional learning. Ensure that you have the qualifications, experience, knowledge, and skills to provide support in the areas that you indicate. Speech pathologists have an ethical responsibility to "represent our professional qualifications, experience, and standards accurately and fairly."
In addition to experience in the areas in which you provide support, you should understand principles of adult learning and feedback. The Mentoring Foundational Skills tool may help you assess your readiness to provide mentoring, and identify areas of learning to help you prepare.
Does the mentoring I provide count toward my Continuing Professional Development (CPD) requirements?
In some cases, the mentoring you offer may count as CPD in the "Other Learning" (O) category of the Certification Program. To include the provision of mentoring in your CPD hours, a mentoring activity must:
- be relevant to the role or context of your speech pathology practice
- strengthen your current knowledge or provide you with new or enhanced learning
Where a speech pathologist offers support for a fee, this becomes a professional service. This is not typically eligible to meet CPD requirements.
Mentoring that you provide would not count toward the Professional Support (S) requirement of the Certification Program. To meet this requirement, you must receive professional support. You can receive support in partnerships where you are a Mentee, Supervisee, or engaging in bi-directional learning like in Peer Supervision or a Community of Practice.
Who are the Mentees?
Mentees are SPA members who are seeking support related to professional learning.
Can I have more than one Mentee?
There is no limit to the number of mentoring partnerships you can establish. We strongly recommend that you be judicious in determining the number of Mentees that you can support at one time. Select only Mentees who are best suited to learn from your individual knowledge and experience. You can limit the number of Mentee requests that you accept on the Mentoring enrolment page.
How do I find Mentees?
In many cases you, Mentees will search for you. You can also search for Mentees who you feel you might be a good fit to support.
Once you have enroled as a Mentor, go the "Find a Mentee" page. Select the criteria you want to use for your Mentee search. Click on the Mentees' names to view their profiles. Once you have found a good match, click on the Mentee badge (seen below the Mentee's profile image) to send the Mentee an email request.
When you and a Mentee have decided to move forward with a mentoring partnership, complete a Mentoring Agreement.
How will I know if a Mentee has selected me as their Mentor?
You will receive an e-mail from the Mentee requesting you to be their Mentor. You will be prompted to accept or reject the request.
Is it okay to reject a request?
Yes. There should be a good reason to do so. We encourage you to have an initial conversation to explore whether the partnership would be mutually fulfilling. If a potential Mentee has misinterpreted information in your profile, you may find them to be an unsuitable match. If you want to decline a request, go to the "My Mentoring Relationships" page. Check the “decline” button next to the request.
What if I am unavailable for a period of time?
Go to the "Mentor enrolment" page. Click the “Mentor Status” link. Click the tick-box next to “Temporarily Not Participating.” This will indicate that you are not accepting Mentee requests at the moment. Your mentoring profile will not be included in a Mentee’s search for a Mentor. Please communicate your availability to existing Mentees.
How do I end a mentoring partnership?
If the mentoring partnership is complete, go to the "My Mentoring Relationships" page and mark the relationship as “completed.”
If the mentoring partnership isn't working out, please kindly discuss your decision to end the partnership with your Mentee. Go to the "My Mentoring Relationships" page and mark the relationship as “completed.”
What are the expectations for participating Mentors?
We expect that you will provide support that is consistent with SPA's Position Statement: Professional Support, Supervision, and Mentoring. This includes:
- Reflecting on and establishing mentoring supports that are based on the needs of the Mentee
- Upholding the Code of Ethics and prioritising the wellbeing of the Mentee, service users, and other stakeholders
- Ensuring that you have the qualifications, experience, knowledge and skills to provide the required mentoring supports
- Establishing your partnership with a formal Mentoring Agreement
We expect that you will respond to requests from Mentees in a timely manner.
We expect that you will communicate with your Mentees in the manner that you've agreed upon. Communication can occur in various ways: in-person, video conference, phone, email. We recommend that some supports occur through video conference of in-person.
We expect that communication will remain confidential and secure unless your Duty of Care overrides the need for confidentiality in exceptional circumstances. You should discuss the limits of confidentiality as you complete your Mentoring Agreement.
We expect that you and your Mentee will assess your mentoring partnership. You and your Mentees should be prepared to manage difficulties that occur in a support partnership. Contact the Professional Support Advisor for additional support related to you mentoring partnership.
How much time should I spend on Mentoring?
This will depend on your Mentee's learning needs. We suggest that you determine how much time per month you can dedicate to the mentoring partnership. Discuss this when determining if you are the right fit for the Mentee. If a mentoring partnership will require significant time, consider indicating that you are not accepting additional Mentee requests on the "Mentor enrolment" page.
We recommend that you communicate with your Mentee at least once per month.
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For Mentees
How do I become a Mentee?
Click here to enrol as a Mentee. You will be instructed to choose your preferences for various demographics. These represent the areas in which you are seeking support. You will also be asked to complete your member profile.
Can I participate in the Mentoring Program as a student?
The Mentoring Program is typically for SPA members who have completed their speech pathology qualification. While a student is in the process of seeking their degree the university is responsible for their professional learning. Seeking external learning and support, like mentoring, could create a conflict with the university curriculum, practice education policies, research practices, etc. If students wish to participate in additional learning or supports, they should speak with their university lecturers or practice educators about opportunities.
In some cases, the Mentoring Program could be suitable for students seeking support in non-practice areas like preparing to work rurally and remotely, or to transition into the profession. In this case, students should seek advice from their university prior to contacting mentors.
Does the mentoring I receive count toward my Continuing Professional Development (CPD) requirements?
In many cases, the mentoring you receive through SPA's program could help you meet CPD requirements of the Certification Program. Mentoring you receive may be counted toward the requirement to engage in 2 hours of Professional Support each year. Mentoring that is offered by a more-experienced speech pathologist may also be counted toward the requirement to transition from Provisional to Full CPSP status. In order to include mentoring activities in your CPD hours, these must:
- be relevant to the role or context of your speech pathology practice
- strengthen your current knowledge or provide you with new or enhanced learning.
Who are the Mentors?
Mentors are SPA members who have volunteered their time to support other speech pathologists.
Can I have more than one Mentor?
There is no limit to the number of mentoring partnerships you can establish. We strongly recommend that you be judicious in selecting Mentors who are most suited to your mentoring needs. Please keep in mind that Mentors are volunteers. They may have limited time to offer and could have other Mentoring partnerships.
How do I find a Mentor?
Once you have enroled as a Mentee, go the the "Find a Mentor" page. Select the criteria you want to use for your Mentor search. Click on the Mentors' names to view their profiles. Once you have found a good match, click on the Mentor badge (seen below the Mentor's profile image) to send the Mentor an email request.
In some cases you, Mentors might contact you if they feel they are a good fit to support you.
When you and a Mentor have decided to move forward with a mentoring partnership, complete a Mentoring Agreement.
What should I do if I don’t hear from the Mentor I requested?
Life gets busy and sometimes requests are missed by the volunteer Mentors. If you don’t hear from the Mentor within one week, feel free to contact them using the contact information found on their profile page.
What if the Mentor isn’t the right “fit” for my needs?
Sometimes, regardless of the information provided, Mentors and Mentees don’t always "fit." If this happens, we suggest that you discuss your decision honestly and kindly with your Mentor. Thank them for their time then start a new Mentor search.
Where can I meet with my Mentor?
It is up to you and your Mentor to decide how, when and where you want to pursue your mentoring partnership. It is likely that most of your communication will occur by phone or electronically. We recommend that some supports occur through video conference or in-person.
How much time should I spend on mentoring?
This will depend on your learning needs and the Mentor's availability. We suggest that you determine how much time per month you can dedicate to the mentoring partnership. Discuss this when determining if the Mentor is the right fit for you. Please keep in mind that Mentors volunteer their time and could have many additional responsibilities.
We recommend that you communicate with your Mentor at least once per month.
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Disclaimer: Speech Pathology Australia (the Association) provides information and contact details of those members who have self nominated as mentors, for the benefit of those members looking for mentors. The information on this and related pages is supplied by individuals and organisations outside of remit of the Association. The Association therefore cannot confirm the accuracy or the validity of the information provided. The views expressed in mentoring relationships are not necessarily the views of, or endorsed by the Association. The Association makes no warranty or representation in relation to the content, currency or accuracy of any of the views expressed in mentoring relationships. The Association expressly disclaims any and all liability (including liability for negligence) in respect of use of information and the information contained within views expressed in mentoring relationships. The Association recommends you seek independent professional advice prior to making any decision involving matters outlined in views expressed in mentoring relationships.