‘Member roles will include identifying mentee and mentor candidates’
ACLP is setting up a new subcommittee to spearhead mentorship.
The Board at its July meeting gave the go-ahead to the proposal from members leading education activities in the Academy.
“Mentorship can play an important role in the development of C-L psychiatrists and support their creativity and productivity,” says Education Committee chair Ann Schwartz, MD, FACLP.
ACLP’s current mentorship program, coordinated by the Residency Education Subcommittee, has grown significantly over the past few years—so much so that a separate team behind it is needed, incorporating mentorship’s wide reach within the Academy.
“We receive applications from medical students, residents, fellows, and early career psychiatrists, so mentorship work runs across several of the current ACLP subcommittees and SIGs,” says Dr. Schwartz.
Last year, the Residency Education Subcommittee matched more than 80 applicants to mentors. The program has provided speed-mentoring, longitudinal-mentoring, and group-mentoring; aspects of mentorship have included advising about research projects and developing a career within specific subpopulations.
Simultaneously, the Early Career Track Subcommittee of the Annual Meeting Committee has separately coordinated longitudinal- and group-mentoring programs tied to the ACLP Annual Meeting.
“The work has increased significantly over the years, and the separately administered mentorship programs has led to some confusion for both those seeking mentorship and those offering mentorship,” says Dr. Schwartz. “We feel that a separate Mentorship Subcommittee, with administrative support, would be helpful in coordinating efforts across training levels into Early Career Psychiatry.
“We have proposed the creation of a Mentorship Subcommittee housed under the Membership Committee. Membership would include a designated member(s) of the Medical Student Education, Residency Education, and Fellowship Education Subcommittees as well as other members from the organization, such as member(s) of the Early Career Psychiatrists or Women’s Health SIGs and the Research Subcommittee.
“Member roles will include identifying mentee and mentor candidates, recruiting mentees from under-represented minority groups, pairing mentors to mentees, and assessing quality and continued effectiveness of the mentorship program.
“In addition, the proposed Mentorship Subcommittee could collaborate with and benefit from the expertise of the Diversity, Equity, Inclusion Subcommittee to create a DEI track within the program.”
The Board accepted the recommendation and charged the new Mentorship Subcommittee to:
Rewarding Experience of Mentorship
The ACLP Residency Education Subcommittee runs an annual Trainee Mentorship Program. The goal of the program is to offer guidance to Psychiatry residents interested in C-L Psychiatry by connecting them with C-L Psychiatry specialists to meet the resident’s mentorship needs. Mentors advise about a variety of topics such as career options, applying for C-L Psychiatry fellowship, scholarly projects, and working with specific subpopulations within C-L Psychiatry.
ACLP members are invited to sign up and to encourage residents to sign up. The experience is rewarding, especially when mentoring trainees who have limited access to C-L Psychiatry faculty at their own institutions. The deadline for application is August 30. A detailed description of the program and both the mentor and mentee sign up forms can be found here.