Pablo Van Schravendyk
Title: A preliminary interpretative phenomenological inquiry into the experience of counsellor-mentors working with university students who have mental health difficulties.
Background: Mental health mentoring is offered by counselling and psychotherapy professionals as an intervention for UK university students experiencing mental health difficulties, and is an under-researched phenomenon.
Aim & method: This preliminary interpretative phenomenological inquiry aims to understand how ‘counsellor-mentors’ create their role and the challenges experienced therein through a descriptive online questionnaire and individual interviews, and analysed using reflexive thematic analysis (Braun & Clarke, 2019) and critical realist reflexivity (Alvesson & Skoldberg, 2018).
Outcomes: To increase knowledge of the role of counsellor-mentors, and mental health mentoring’s potential to respond to the needs of students experiencing mental health difficulties.
Rationale
To clarify the aims and challenges of mental health mentoring increases student-mentee understanding of how they might benefit, and therefore provide informed consent as mentees; to contribute to the university sector and psychotherapy profession’s knowledge of how mentoring directly engages with student mental health distress and its potential to do so.