Society for the Advancement of Psychotherapy, APA Division 29: Mentorship Program
Mentor Application
The APA Division 29 Mentorship Program is an initiative to pair undergraduate and post-baccalaureate student members as mentees with graduate student members as mentors. Given that Division 29 students attend universities and work at institutions around the world, it can be difficult to network and connect with one another. In addition, undergraduates and postbacs often feel lost or uncertain about the steps to take to decide on graduate education degrees to pursue, to find schools that are right for them, and to find research mentors they are interested in applying to, especially within the field of psychotherapy research. Thus, this mentorship program aims to foster connection and collaboration between undergraduate, postbac, and graduate student members of Division 29 to help mentees gain understanding of the graduate school process and achieve their goals. The program also allows graduate students the opportunity to advance their mentoring skills and discover if this is a role they would like to pursue in the future.
The mentorship relationship consists of a one-year duration. We require a minimum of four meetings throughout the year, though mentors and mentees can choose to correspond as often as they see fit. Mentors will receive a set of guidelines to follow when working with a mentee. For example, the first meeting is designated as a goal development meeting, during which the mentor and mentee build rapport and collaborate on creating reachable goals for the year. Goals might include the mentor advising the mentee on writing a personal statement for graduate school applications, providing feedback on a C.V., discussing research ideas, or considering different avenues for graduate programs.
Throughout the mentoring relationship, we will collect data from mentors and mentees on their experience of the program, the quality of their relationship, and achievement of goals. This will occur through a brief Qualtrics survey that we will ask both the mentor and mentee to complete following each mentoring session. Overall, we hope this program offers a unique, beneficial experience to mentors and mentees alike and creates connections that last beyond the mentorship year.