Occasionally when mentoring or supervising professionally in the Christian community, you will need to have a difficult conversation about theology and beliefs. Even within the Christian community, there are many differences: between denominations—for instance,Catholics and Protestants, Calvinists and Moravians all vary drastically—but there are also subtle differences even within a denomination. For example, some mentees/supervisees may believe in predestination, while others are firm believers in freewill. Every person is influenced by their own experiences and their spiritual education, which leads to many different interpretations of God’s word and will…

Have you ever been working with a mentee or supervisee, and a few weeks, months or years in, you begin to sense that their momentum is slowing? During sessions, do they seem distracted or unmotivated? This could be because of a need for more focus and energy regarding their goals…

Over the last few weeks, we have been exploring how to confront and challenge our mentee or supervisee when it is necessary. We have mostly focused on how we, as a mentor or supervisor, can encourage our clients to open up, to speak frankly and to face difficulties in themselves and the world around them. Today, we are turning towards ourselves and how we handle those conversations…

The role of mentor/supervisor is a reflective practice. Our job is to help our clients learn to see what they are not seeing about themselves and their behaviour and encourage them to become more self-reflective on their path forward. Unfortunately, it’s not as simple as holding up a mirror….

Have you ever finished a session with a mentee or supervisee and were left feeling that something was wrong? That something they said was not aligned with what God wants for them? It can be difficult to see behaviours or attitudes in your mentees or supervisees that you recognise as unbiblical and unhealthy for their lives but it also allows for the opportunity for you to provide some insight and, hopefully, help correct their path forward.

When working with mentees and supervisees as a Christian mentor or supervisor, we naturally run into behaviours that don’t align with the Bible’s ethics. This can be an excellent opportunity to bring the Bible into the conversation and explore stories that may parallel your mentee’s current situation. This means that we, as mentors or supervisors, need to understand the message

Challenging and Confronting others is a difficult skill set that all mentors or supervisors need to have. Even our easiest and most pleasant mentees and supervisees will occasionally need to be challenged and pushed to grow. Some of the people we work with will need us to address many tough issues; confrontation may be a regular part of sessions. Either way, being able to acknowledge and embrace difficult issues within this relationship, and to take personal action, is key to successful transformation. This is exactly what we will be looking at over the next few weeks. This is an opportunity to self-reflect: how do you handle challenging your mentees? How do you prefer to confront supervisees? Are difficult conversations something you feel comfortable with? How do you go about correcting unhealthy behaviours? 

When working with mentees or supervisees, we often come across the concept of safety: physical, psychological, social, emotional, and spiritual. While there are many ways in which a person’s well-being can be at risk, we are often unaware of them, especially in our workplaces.  Psychosocial hazards arise from or relate to the design or management of work or a work

Every mentor or supervisor uses their own experiences to guide their mentees. It is almost impossible not to use one’s experiences and perspectives during sessions. Here are some to be aware of: Your Experience Mentors and Supervisors often enter into the role because of their personal experience. We have been pastors, coaches, teachers, leaders, and everything we have learned has