APA’s Women Psychiatrists Caucus Offers New Resources to Promote Mentorship

Mentorship is often thought of in the context of medical students and residents. Though it is definitely important at these early training stages, the value of mentorship continues after this period. Mentorship is a lifelong concept that can be valuable no matter the career stage. Throughout our professional journeys, there are transitions: We start new jobs, take on new roles, step into new leadership positions, change institutions, reduce hours, retire. We consider work-life integration not only at one point in time but across our life and career stages.

Mentorship is not only for the acquisition of skills and knowledge; it can also provide a place to talk about the challenges and successes experienced in the day to day. Gender inequities persist for women physicians including salary, career advancement and leadership, and bias and harassment. Mentors can provide a space to discuss these experiences.

Women physicians continue to be dissatisfied with the imbalance between their work and personal lives, and it is often a reason they exit medicine. Work-life integration may look differently across career stages. For example, the needs of physician parents of young children may be different from those of parents transitioning children to college. Creating safe space for work-life integration discussions within the mentor-mentee relationship is necessary.

In today’s world of medicine, the quick-paced and financially focused environments can push physicians to feel like cogs in the wheel. Spending at least 20% of a workweek on meaningful activities can reduce the risk of burnout, according to Tait D. Shanafelt, M.D., and colleagues in a 2009 paper in the Annals of Internal Medicine. Mentorship can be a satisfying element for physicians who want to give back, share their experiences or skills, and nurture other physicians. The mentoring relationship is mutually beneficial to both mentors and mentees.

Though we have typically thought of the mentor-mentee relationship as a dyadic relationship, there is value to developing a group of mentors who have diverse perspectives from their differing career paths, backgrounds, and work settings. It is with this diversity of thought that we can begin to imagine our own possibilities and create our own path forward. Though we have traditionally thought of mentors as those who are further ahead in their careers, there are also benefits to peer mentorship. Additionally, team members can also be valuable mentors if we are open to receiving mentorship from a wide range of sources.

Despite the known benefits to mentorship, women are less likely to receive mentorship. As we consider intersectionality, this can be even more difficult. Physicians who are underrepresented in medicine are less likely to receive mentorship as both trainees and faculty.

Here are some ways to connect with mentors:

Join the APA Women Psychiatrists Caucus for our second year of “Mentorship Mondays,” which will start again in the fall, and listen to our podcast series “APA Women Psychiatrists Caucus Chats: Conversations With Women Leaders.” It can be accessed here or on your favorite podcast platform. We think of these women leaders’ stories as a collective form of mentorship; we can learn from their stories and their insights.

Finally, consider joining the Women Psychiatrists Caucus. If you are interested, please contact Madonna Delfish at [email protected]. ■