Mentoring During a Crisis

Mentors are important during a crisis, especially for those on the front lines. During the current Covid crisis, doctors, nurses, grocery store workers, postal carriers, and many others have been navigating physical danger, complexity, and uncertainty, with no end in sight. Now more than ever they need emotional support. But they can’t always turn to their managers, who may be consumed with solving problems and overwhelmed with keeping their organizations running. Workers may also fear that managers, who hold the key to future advancement, may view  a request for help as a weakness. Thus mentors can play a critical role, providing a stabilizing force, someone who can help talk them down when they’re triggered, scared, burned out, or confused—all off the record. Mentoring at such stressful times isn’t easy, and the first step that’s often skipped is to take care of yourself. You can’t offer emotional support if you don’t have your own emotional fortifications in place. Then you can turn to helping your mentees by offering them emotional support and concrete tactics.