What happens in the first session?
After introducing myself and explaining a little about my background, I talk about what mentoring is (and isn’t!). There is some paperwork to do (which I complete, not you); for instance a referral form that lists your name, address, university course, etc. I also need to go through some administrative stuff such as cancellation policies, your responsibilities, confidentiality, and so on. We might at this point decide on things such as whether you need to have breaks within the sessions.
I will try to ascertain if there is anything that is really bothering you and that needs immediate attention. I then run through some of the areas we might look at together – things like procrastination, managing workload, social interaction, motivation, anxiety management. There is no pressure on you to speak at this stage, unless of course you want to!
Hopefully you will start to feel a little more comfortable, and I will move on to asking you some more in-depth questions. You can decide if you want to answer, or not. You can request a break at any stage. The questions are designed to help me get an idea of what kind of support you need. This is called an assessment. Some of this will focus on positives, such as what you are good at and what you like doing. Some of it unavoidably has to look at negatives, as these might be the things that we need to look at in more detail.
Once we have agreed some areas to work on, I will draw up a contract, with timelines. This helps to ensure we stick more or less to what’s been agreed. It is not set in stone and will be regularly reviewed and altered as necessary. We both sign and keep a copy of this, and one is normally sent to your disability officer (with your permission).
In every session, there will be the opportunity for you to ask questions, and to talk, if this is what you want.
If you feel at any point that mentoring is not for you, or you would prefer a different mentor; you can either tell me, or your disability advisor.