The AAPA Student Mentoring Program

Written By Tai Chang, Ph.D.

What is mentoring?

Graduate school in psychology is a time of risk, growth, and opportunity - a period of transition on the road to becoming a psychologist. While driving down this road, however, there can be many turns, detours, rest stops, illegal U-turns (at least if you drive like some of us) and even a few fender benders. Drivers of cars always have the option of buying insurance and maps, asking for directions at the nearest gas station (or if you live in Wisconsin, a milk/cheese/gas station), or leaving the car in the garage and opting for mass transit. But when you're driving on the road of graduate education to land of Psychologyville, there is no insurance against making mistakes, following directions doesn't always get you to where you want to go, and you always always have to do the driving.

This is where mentoring comes in. Mentoring is defined as a personal relationship in which a more experienced professional serves as a role model, guides, advises, or sponsors a less experienced graduate student or junior professional. Mentoring is like the American Automobile Association (AAA). It helps you get to where you want to go, but you still have to do the driving. And if you happen to get a flat or break down somewhere along the way, mentoring can help you get started again. However, this is where the similarities stop. There isn't just one road to Psychologyville or even just one Psychologyville; there are many roads leading to many Psychologyvilles. A mentor cannot tell you which road to go down or even what is at the end of the road, but s/he can help you figure out whether you want to take the 10-year scenic route or the 5-year expressway. A mentor can also help you figure out whether to head toward Academic Avenue (it's not really a place, just a long and winding road), Professional Plaza, Consultant City, or any number of other places.¹

What are the benefits of mentoring?

Research suggests that mentoring provides benefits at both the predoctoral and postdoctoral levels. The predoctoral benefits include the development of professional skills, enhanced confidence and professional identity, being more productive as a scholar, increased networking, dissertation success, and satisfaction with one's doctoral program. Postdoctoral benefits include higher income, more rapid promotion, distinction and prominence, willingness to mentor others, and increased career satisfaction and achievement.² In psychology, between one half and two thirds of doctoral students are mentored by faculty, and clinical psychology students are less likely than non-clinical students to receive mentoring. In addition, our own evaluation of AAPA's mentoring program suggests that ethnic/racial matching fosters a better understanding of what it means to be an Asian American psychologist. Ethnic/racial matching may also help Asian American psychologists-in-training deal with possible racism, prejudice or discrimination, and provide expert knowledge on topics related to Asian American psychology.³

How does AAPA provide mentoring to students and early professionals?

Informal mentoring has always taken place in AAPA among senior professionals, junior professionals, and graduate and undergraduate students. In the mid-1990s and under the leadership of Dr. Andrew Chen, mentoring became a formal institution within AAPA. In 1994, Dr. Barbara (Bobbie) Yee, who chaired the AAPA Convention that year, and other members of the program committee formalized the mentoring program by soliciting mentors and mentees within the organization. Mentors and mentees were paired together and had lunch on their own during the Convention. It was not until the following year that the Mentor-Mentee Luncheon was formed to enable mentors and mentees to have lunch together as a group at the Convention.

Over the years, the Luncheon has enjoyed the generous support of longstanding members and former presidents, including K. Patrick Okura and Dr. Reiko True, among others. Their contributions have played an important role in the expansion of the mentoring program and increased participation in the Luncheon. To this day, the Luncheon continues to provide a space for mentors and mentees to get to know each other and share their personal and professional interests. It is intended as a starting point for students and professionals to develop enduring mentoring relationships. However, geographic distance may make the development of these relationships challenging, and, in 2000, AAPA began exploring avenues to augment the mentoring that begins at the Luncheon. This led to the development of an on-line mentoring forum in the spring of 2002 that enabled mentors and mentees in the Luncheon program, the Division on Women mentoring program, and the general AAPA membership to connect with one another about academic, career, professional, and personal issues.

How can I participate in AAPA's mentoring program?

The AAPA mentoring program assists Asian and Pacific Islander American students and new professionals in their career development as psychologists and psychologists-in-training. The Mentor-Mentee Luncheon takes place during the annual Convention each August, and it is advertised each spring in the Asian American Psychologist, AAPA's official newsletter, inviting members to participate as either mentors or mentees. Additionally, the same information is provided on AAPA's listserv. If you happen to have missed both invitations, you may contact AAPA's student representative. The On-line Mentoring Forum usually takes place each spring, and participation is solicited via the listserv or by contacting the student representative. Participation in the Luncheon and the On-line Mentoring Forum is limited and provided on a first-come, first-served basis. Members of AAPA's Division on Women (DoW) can also participate in the Division's Mentor-Mentee Program by contacting the DoW chair of that program.

¹From Chang, T., Fu, M., & Kwak, D. (2000, June). Food for thought: Mentoring at the AAPA Mentor-Mentee Luncheon. Asian American Psychologist, p. 16.

²Johnson, W.B. (2002). The intentional mentor: Strategies and guidelines for the practice of mentoring. Professional Psychology: Research and Practice, 33, 88-96.

³From Fong, C., Chang, T., Fu, M., Alvarez, A., Lin, G., & Fukuyama, M. (2002, Fall). Mentoring for Asian American Psychologists in the 21st Century. Asian American Psychologist, p. 6.

top