Samantha Frost CA on why mentoring is good for your mental health

We caught up with wellbeing advocate Samantha Frost CA, one of the inspiring leaders from the ICAS Mentoring programme, to explore the impact of mentoring.

 

 

During our conversation, Samantha shared how mentoring can significantly boost a mentor's wellbeing, making the time investment truly worthwhile. 

And for a mentee? The benefits are just as significant - finding a listening ear, unbiased support, and honest conversations. Being a mentor to someone means making them feel heard and guided in a safe, confidential space.

Connect with Samantha on LinkedIn

Transcript:

This is important to me. My mentoring relationships, my volunteer work, it’s important to me from a wellbeing perspective. I know that I get back so much more than I put in. So if that’s the mindset that you come to it with, then you will make the time for it. But it’s honestly not a huge amount of time. It’s really not.

So I think with the mentees, going back to a previous point, I think its just about them feeling listened to. A lot of the time they’re at work and they have a difficult situation, and they just need to talk to somebody about it in a professional capacity, but in a confidential capacity as well. And if you’re having doubts about your career – “I don’t really want to go to my boss or my colleagues, but I need to talk to somebody who is either working in this landscape or knows what it is like” -  that is helpful for them to know that they can have that sort of professional, confidential conversation. 

But also, it can be completely transparent because I have no bias in what they decide to do. It makes no difference to me, whether they stay, go, move abroad – I have no investment either way in what they decide to do. I’m just there to offer suggestions. 

So I think it’s reassuring for them that they can have that kind of completely open, honest all cards on the table [type of conversation], because they don’t need to worry about what I think or who I’m going to talk to or, how I’m going to judge them professionally. I just want what’s best for them. And together we can try and work through some of that stuff.  

Interested? Learn how to get started as an ICAS mentor: