Mentoring in Dietetics |
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Dietetics excels as dietitians and dietetic students mentor others with their studies and careers. The mentoring experience is transforming for the mentee, mentor, and profession.
Why use mentoring to develop as a dietitian?
The demand for dietitians and nutritionists has never been stronger. Nutrition is acknowledged as a key component of health promotion, disease prevention and management of special conditions. The public places dietitians at the top of the list of health professionals that they see as the most trusted source of nutrition information. Dietitians are the health professionals with the best education and training to provide nutrition guidance in a variety of work settings. However, a significant number of dietitians are approaching retirement age and the number of people entering the profession will not be sufficient to fill the resulting gaps (Bates, H., McKay, M., MacKenzie, S., Zuberhbuhler, L., Practice, Winter, 2005).
Mentoring will help meet the growing demand for dietitians and help all dietitians develop throughout their career. Mentoring:
Dietitians and dietetic students all have talents and skills to share; all have something to learn about the next steps in their career.
How have dietitians been mentored?
Mentoring can be part of a formal program or relatively informal. Consider these stories of inspiring people as well as formal mentoring. [More]
Being a mentor can be an exciting and rewarding career opportunity. Be a champion for mentoring - ask to be mentored, offer to be a mentor and say "Yes!" when asked to be a mentor.
Having the right resources can either help to "get you started" or enhance that mentoring experience. Dietitians of Canada Members - click here to learn more about mentoring in dietetics.
Created June 19, 2006.