Now, more than ever, RACGP New Fellows need strong and supportive mentors
The RACGP Mentoring Program is offering approximately 60 RACGP New Fellows the opportunity to be mentored in order to achieve career objectives. The program provides matching, training and support services for mentors and mentees for a minimum of six months.
The primary aim of the Mentoring Program is to professionally and personally support RACGP members to manage pressures in a way that conduces to positive social and emotional well-being, collegiality and connectedness, career progression, job satisfaction and leadership skills.
Dr Paula Conroy, RACGP Future Leaders Alumna
Dr Paula Conroy, RACGP Future Leaders Alumna talks about the upcoming RACGP Mentoring Program and the value of having a mentor as a GP.
Hi there. My name is Dr Paula Conroy and I am a New Fellow and a member of the RACGP.
I was a member of the Future Leaders Program last year, in 2019, and had a mentoring relationship with a colleague last year. I’ve recently moved to Canberra and am now based here for the foreseeable future, obviously based on the current environment but I am thrilled to be a part of this project. So for me mentoring is a really important thing to consider.
It allows you to grow, certainly as a professional, as a doctor, but more importantly as a human. It provided me with a chance to have a supportive relationship that gave me guidance and advice around career opportunities that I had maybe never considered, looking at those unknowns so to speak. As well as that though the relationship that we forged was really important. It was supportive, it was a safe space to talk about things and discuss problems and touch base on a regular basis. I found it really valuable. So mentoring is more important now, more than ever, because of the support and sense of connectedness it provides.
All of us are under immense pressure as GPs, as professionals and as human beings and a mentoring relationship allows us to touch base with one another and to work through things. It’s a two-way street in terms of mentoring. The mentor and the mentee both benefit and I think it is a chance to check in with each other and make sure that you are doing OK in these difficult times. I thoroughly enjoyed my mentoring relationship and highly recommend it to anyone moving forward. If you are interested, please click the link below, or head to
RACGP.org.au/mentoring program and good luck with it all.
How do I register my interest?
To register your interest in the program as a mentor or mentee, please click here. Applications close COB Monday 29 March 2021.