Reflections 2021

Mentor Reflections per Topic as Reported by the Mentors of Osler

Do you think you were successful in providing newcomers / mentees with support and assistance in the adjustment and transition in their new university environment?

Yes I feel like I was beneficial in guiding my mentees through the adjustment from high school into university. I answered their questions and concerns and we had regular discussions about what was going on in their university lives.I think I helped them feel more comfortable at university especially since there were worries about it being online so my mentees felt like they would not know anyone or be able to make friends. I gave them advice on socializing and we also formed bigger discussions with other groups so they got to know other mentees outside of our circle.I got to know my mentees personally and hopefully I made them feel like they could come to me for advice on anything they were struggling with at campus. Over time they had fewer issues with admin and academics and I felt like they adjusted well to their environment.

What has been the most challenging part of being a mentor? What will you do differently? What will you advise prospective mentors?

I think the most challenging part of being a mentor was finding suitable times to have discussions especially since it was lockdown. We could not have face-to-face discussions past Welcoming week during the year as my year was not allowed back on campus yet so finding times that suited everyone was slightly challenging given that nearly all of our interactions were online.We used Whatsapp to communicate which was largely effective however everyone wpuld respond at different times - sometimes days later than the initial message was sent. This meant that the conversation could become disjointed and the solution to one issue could be spread out over several days instead of just discussed in one sitting. Online communication also relies on people participating and some of my mentees were shy which made things slightly challenging as you cannot force someone to talk - especially online where they can just ignore the messages.For future mentors I think also using Whatsapp groups would be useful however I think having a regular schedule for group discussions should be organised from the start if you know that communication will take place online. I would have done that differently as I think having a more regular schedule would have made communication easier.

How do you think you think you refined and strengthened your "communication" skills during your term as a mentor? Please elaborate.

I think my communication skills improved since becoming a mentor. I am much better at listening actively during discussions to formulate better answers for my mentees. I also think I have more concise and effective conversations since we started using online platforms to communicate. I think I tried to involve everyone with discussions and also followed up on certain topics which I normally have no reason to. I am better at including everyone's opinions and answering everyone's questions as before I used to get sidetracked by one specific point.

How do you think you think you refined and strengthened your "collaboration" skills during your term as a mentor? Please elaborate.

I think my collaboration skills increased as the mentor group became a team and groupwork was necessary for effective communication. Finding suitable times for everyone to discuss and monitoring the actual discussions to make sure everyone's voice was heard required collaboration on our part and I think my teamwork skills when working in non face-to-face situations improved greatly.I think previously I used to shy away from taking the lead in groups but I lead a lot of the decisions in our mentor group. Our group also had ground rules of respect and appreciation for everyone's opinions which lead to open and friendly discussions. There was a mutual respect between everyone which made our interactions a lot more pleasant and enjoyable.

How do you think you think you refined and strengthened your "critical thinking" skills during your term as a mentor? Please elaborate.

I think my problem-solving skills increased during my mentoring year as my mentees brought me questions and concerns that I had never even considered before and I was forced to think of practical and effective solutions. I think I became less rigid in my thinking and came up with better discussion topics as time progressed. I also think the diversity of my group allowed me to become more open-minded as some of my mentees came from areas I had never even heard of and it was really interesting finding out about their various backgrounds. My lack of knowledge about a lot of their backgrounds made me less judgmental.I think I have better rationale and a clearer though process as being a mentor gave me the opportunity to think critically about situations and problems which my mentees presented. I was able to analyze questions better and come up with better solutions as the year went on due to the practice from mentoring.

How do you think you think you refined and strengthened your "creativity" skills during your term as a mentor? Please elaborate.

I think lockdown forced the mentors to become creative in their approach to mentee groups. Social distancing changed a lot of usual activities and relying on online communication made us look for out-of-the-box ideas to keep our converesations interesting. During our mentee discussions we would often have group fun facts about ourselves to start the discussion. This would break the ice and make people more comfortable before we talked about more serious topics.