ABGERO Mentorship Guidelines
I would say that the main task is to motivate applicants to complete the process in a timely manner by offering assistance in the:
- Application phase (getting them to highlight gero-specific educational, supervisory & work experiences that meet our criteria; helping them understand the difference between senior and non-senior options);
- Work Examples and Professional Self Study Statement phase (this is the phase most candidates get stuck so please assist mentees with deciding which Work Examples to select, how to put their Work Examples in context, & how to craft the Professional Self-Study Statement as to reflect competence in both foundational and functional geropsychology domains; and finally
- The Oral Exam phase (make sure that candidates understand the format for the oral exams, know their materials well, highlight their gero-specific competencies, and especially review APA ethical principles & standards regarding the gero-specific ethical vignettes.
I leave it up to the mentors to determine if one conducts in-depth review of their materials – I believe this is not required of a mentor. I have found that email works just fine regarding mentorship tasks.