Mentoring: International Buddy Network and training day.

May 2012- Ongoing.

Late May 2012, I signed up to take part in the University of Leicester's International Buddy Network scheme as soon as it first came to my attention. In its basic form, it is a university run scheme to aid international students coming to Leicester to settle in and find their feet. This is done through allocating each new student that signs up, a mentor. The 'mentee' student can then meet up informally with their mentor, as and when it is felt necessary to chat or discuss any issues they may be having. As with any transition it is likely that the new student might have questions about university life and the culture in Britain, so ultimately the mentor is there to offer support and to help them find a solution.

In order to better equip us to do that, there was a training day to attend. The day, split in to different workshops, comprised of : Mentoring skills, Cultural and Diversity awareness, Signposting, Career skills and Specific training/details for the International Buddy Network itself.

The day taught us the general overview of becoming a mentor (i.e listening, keeping in contact, becoming a friend but not too close, professionalism.) but it also taught us us where we should direct mentees in order to fulfil different needs, (i.e finance, health etc) and made us aware of the transition that international students go through. 

During the day we acted out many role play situations. For example I, in the role of mentor, was given the task of responding to a mentee’s plea for help after suffering from insomnia for days. I then had to use the knowledge that I previously had and the knowledge that I had gained that day in order to respond a) in the correct manner and tone, and b) with the correct information. I decided that I would show compassion, yet I would not tackle this issue by myself. I would provide the mentee with information on healthcare at the university, advise them to speak to their personal tutor and finally potentially discuss some simple tips that I may have in the meantime. This exercise was both insightful and useful, an experience that will be useful to draw upon when the situation calls for it.

For me the day was useful in numerous ways, the first of which was the communication skills employed during each workshop. On many occasions it was necessary to work in teams to collect ideas together and this brought into play many interpersonal skills. Furthermore as the day ended with a small talk on careers and organising CVs and work experience. Although not a success the first time I created one, it did make me think about creating a blog for a short period of time. This last part of the day helped me to start focusing on my employability skills and gather together examples of these, almost a prelude to the Leicester Award I later undertook.

As a result of this day I contacted my mentees to make myself known to them and provide them with any information they might need. I have since found out from feedback that this has proved invaluable for all of my mentees, especially during the first few weeks. Additionally I feel that I have made many new contacts, with my mentees, which has been especially useful as I have also had the opportunity to practice my language skills with them.