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The Mentoring Service

What Is Mentoring?

Developmental mentoring is a fulfilling relationship between somebody with more experience (mentor) and somebody with less (mentee), with the goal of helping both individuals, and the organisation they work in, to become elevated versions of themselves.

Medical Professional

What can you expect from having a mentor?

A trained mentor guides the mentee to develop their own bespoke, contextual solutions to the presenting issue (professional and personal growth) rather than providing them with a paternalistic approach where the flow of information is one-way mentor->mentee. Mentors assist stress reduction and adaption to change.

The Mentoring Process

Mentoring commences with a process of matching between mentor and mentee (suitability to co-work) and establishing a contract to detail joint confidentiality, responsibilities, meetings and objectives. The purpose of mentoring is to bring about beneficial change in the mentee’s professional life. The mentoring sessions involve the mentee telling their story prompted by the mentor to establish what’s presently going on. The joint work proceeds to determine what would be a preferred, future goal instead. Additional, joint work delivers a future strategy of how to empower the relevant changes within a committed time frame.

Medical Tablet

Career Stages...

Surgical trainees:

Core Trainees (CT1,2) and run-through trainees (ST3 - ST8) are committed to their respective surgical ISCP curricula as well as providing work on the front-line of the NHS Trust in which they are employed. As such they are exposed to additional chronic stress across both domains. They are more likely to suffer a degree of burnout than consultant surgeons. The GMC NTR 2022 indicates 19% trainees have experienced very high-level burnout as compared to 12% of their trainers. Those in Fellowship posts (post ST8) usually have to move geographically, often abroad, and are learning complex surgical techniques whilst keeping watch for a future consultant post. These post CCT surgeons are highly committed perfectionists who are at risk of the Imposter Syndrome and burnout.

 

Surgeons:

The step up to first year consultant is full of challenges including relocation and setting up a service in a new hospital working with NHS Staff they do not know. This is perhaps the most stressful point in a surgical career. Consultants <44 years are more likely to suffer burnout than those >45 years. Overall, about 50% of surgeons suffer moderate level burnout at some time in their career.

Mental Health in Surgeons and Trainees:

The WHO (2019) defined burnout as an occupational syndrome resulting from chronic workplace stress that has not been successfully managed. It is a dis-ease rather than a disease. It is characterised by emotional exhaustion, depersonalisation and cynicism, and reduced professional efficacy. Normally, a surgeon’s mental health is talked about as their wellbeing, which is maintained by having a harmonious life at work and home. Once resilience is lowered, usually in the professional workplace, wellbeing can be replaced by levels of burnout which affects performance and patient care. 15% of surgeons use addiction to cope (alcohol or drugs), 8% seek professional help, 6% require a leave of absence. Surgeons and trainees with burnout can benefit from developmental mentoring in improving their resilience and in restructuring their careers.


 

Preventing high levels of burnout is preferable to trying to manage the syndrome. This requires surgeons, and their trainees, to know how to use their emotional intelligence to become self-aware and to be able to self-regulate their behaviour. This needs to be done in alignment with frequent ‘small’ reflective practice in which the surgeon asks themselves how do they feel in their emotions about the state of their everyday work. If they note they are unhappy, taking the BMA Oldenburg Burnout Inventory, is one way to immediately confirm or refute the presence of burnout and seek help from a number of sources including a mentor.

Surgery
Case Study: Mentee 1

ST6 trainee with good CV, a thesis and numerous, published scientific papers and presentations had difficulties with lack of self-confidence, sensitivity to small mistakes and had doubts about ability to pass exit specialty exam to become a consultant. With developmental mentoring he accepted the diagnosis of Imposter Syndrome, a condition where high-achieving individuals ascribe their accomplishments to luck, rather than individual skill and merit. The trainee was on the cusp of burnout. Developmental mentoring allowed the trainee to separate the cognitive dissonance arising from their feelings and the facts of their academic success. They were then able to let their feelings go. They also began reframing their mental language to be more supportive. The trainee acknowledged that their perfectionism played a role in generating their Imposter Syndrome thoughts as it had always been aligned with a publish or perish attitude to their career advancement. 

Book Your Consultation

A healthy career and life balance is in reach. 

Mentoring works extremely well for opportunities in a career. Notwithstanding this all Surgeons and trainees, at some stage of their career, will run into professional problems and in these instances access to a trained mentor can be life-affirming. In addition to professional development all Surgeons have a non-surgical life and this too may benefit from using a trained mentor to establish ‘Life-Balance.

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Tim Terry conducted a sample study from a group of 20 mentees in 2021 to establish how successful the mentees felt the process was. Please download the feedback sample below

Mr Tim Terry

Surgeon (rtd), Educator, Mentor

BSc (hons), MBBS, MRCS, LRCP, FRCS, MS, PG dip Med.Ed

 

Over 45 years experience within the NHS, Education and Private Medical Practice


Let's Connect

Text Only : 07876 506519
EMail : grsterry@aol.com
LI : Tim Terry

Access My Professional Advice to achieve your Healthy Balanced Surgical Career.

I charge a *fee of £105 for up to 60 minutes per Mentoring Session *via Zoom or WhatsApp.
Longer sessions are available and attract an extra *fee of £50.

Additionally a comprehensive written feedback report is available for a *fee of £20 following each Mentor Session.


*Payments are expected on the day invoice is received. Mr Terry reserves the right to charge interest of 10% of total fees per day plus the Bank of England base rate on late payments. T&C on Invoices.

Mentor Sessions are available from 10.00 am to 08.00 pm daily via Zoom or WhatsApp

*
Face to Face  Mentoring Sessions are available, depending on location and will attract expenses on top of the Mentor fee. 

© 2025 by Mentoring Medics

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