MENTORING WITH EXPERIENCED PRACTITIONERS

It’s a wonderful experience and a real privilege to observe someone grow and gain confidence in their abilities over time. This happens in every consultation, many patients I have taught will recognise that this has happened to them. It is not confined just to mentoring, but it is fast tracked in the mentoring process. I always begin by asking my mentees to think about what they specifically want help with. It helps us to make the most of our time together. Would you like to be mentored? If you would like to discuss whether this is possible, please email Mags at magsclarksmith@gmail.com

Below is some of the feedback from three different mentees:

Another powerful realization that has shaped my work is that when I’m always scanning for what isn’t right, it can be a form of protection because being truly present requires vulnerability. Working with you has supported me in profound, lasting ways, helping me arrive at where I am today with greater clarity, integrity, and self-trust.
Additional outcomes from the mentorship:

- Mags helped me strengthen my interpersonal boundaries with clients in ways that increased my energy and sustainability as a therapist.  
- She modeled a true valuing of the self, and through her example I’ve learned to better honor my time, energy, and containment, which has made me feel more competent in the way I approach sessions.  
- She has a rare depth for helping uncover hidden leaks in self-esteem, and then supporting the inner work required to strengthen what’s needed.  
- I appreciated Mags' practical somatic tools that led me to a newfound consciousness of how I hold myself in my body, helping me feel and work from new internal places.  
- I was reminded that nonverbal communication is vital, and that my comfort and regulation in my own skin is a vital part of the therapeutic work.  
- She helped me terminate and discontinue relationships that weren’t a fit, which was something I could not have navigated alone.  
- The mentorship created accountability and clarity, allowing me to value my time more intentionally and reduce my caseload without shame.  
- I learned how to intervene to get runaway sessions back on track in a non-shaming way, aligned with integrity and professional care.

Thank you, Mags. Your mentorship helped me deepen my boundaries, strengthen my inner foundation, and approach my practice with greater steadiness and confidence. I am forever grateful. Ali 

Summarising our mentor/mentee relationship is difficult for me to fully capture the depth I feel I obtained in my practice from our time together. This has been an enriching experience for me and deepened my understanding of therapy… Many of our discussions informed my sessions with clients and helped me to articulate an idea in a manner that they find more easily able to understand.

In addition, I have learned so much about the connection between chronic pain, the unconscious mind, neural pathways and the autonomic nervous system. I now have a framework to move forward with, but more importantly my curiosity around this topic has been sparked and I am motived to continue to learn more about this, especially the unconscious mind.

I am beyond grateful for the time, energy, wisdom and thoughtfulness you put into all of our sessions… Please know that there will hopefully be a ripple effect that has come from you sharing all this knowledge with me. Beth

In contrast, the other mentoring sessions were about research ideas and how to bring them to fruition. My mentee commented that they had learned a lot more about the research process on multiple levels, including:

Generating a good research question that is specific and interesting to me; valuing my lived and clinical experience in the research; understanding some of the pressures and expectations that come up in the research process and how to navigate those; learning the specific steps from gathering to publishing data, presenting information and who to reach out to in order to get research going, or work with.

[The sessions] clarified my specific research interests significantly… I gained not just technical support and feedback on the research process but also gained from understanding your lived experience of the realities of being a researcher. Thank you again! Kate

 Please see the Resolving Chronic Pain Blog on Giving Back which is about my mentoring

Would you like to be mentored? If you would like to discuss whether this is possible please email Mags at magsclarksmith@gmail.com