Mentors
A mentor is a cranio sacral therapist who is achieving the sort of results that you aspire to achieve. Having a mentor is crucial to ensuring that you get where you want to go in your cranio sacral training.
As well as being a sounding board and support, your mentor may also be the therapist who assesses you.
Assessment
After quite a bit of trial and error I discovered
that the best way to do practical assessments
was as follows: The student would come to see
me, with a willing volunteer. They would then
go through various techniques while I monitored
what was happening in their patient.
Note: The volunteer shouldn’t be another cranio
sacral student or therapist as their intention will
influence the proceedings. From experience I found
that if I asked a student to demonstrate a frontal
lift, for example, and the volunteer was a another
cranio sacral student or therapist, before the student
had even positioned themselves for the lift the volunteer
was already lifting their frontal bone with their intention.
The real value of assessment is the feedback you get.
Time and again I found that students would have a
good knowledge of the theory and their hands would
be in the right place but it was only when I tuned
into their patient’s system was I able to give
them really useful feedback about what they were
doing.
Feedback like. . .
‘You were doing great, then you went past the
point and started to push. Their system stopped
but you kept going.’
or
’8 of those fingers are perfect. But that one is too
heavy and that one is too light.’
or
‘Your shoulders are too tight, it’s making your
arms tense and shaky.’
or
‘You’re looking too hard, let it come to you.’
or
‘You’ve got your intention in this area, which is
great, now include this bit and this bit.’
It is important to know that ‘Assessment’ doesn’t
mean examination. An assessment isn’t an ‘exam’.
It is based on the knowledge that you want to get it
right and become competent. The role of your assessor
is to help you to do that. Assessment should go on
throughout the training. There are two types of practical
assessment.
Directional assessment – This is assessment
designed to keep you on the right track. It is intended
to help you avoid getting into bad habits by practicing
a technique incorrectly or labouring under an incorrect
understanding of a concept.
Competence assessment – This is to assess your
competence in a particular technique. No assistance or
helpful tips are given. This is assessment to see if you
can do it on your own.
Now hang on while I get my soap box out. This
is the sort of assessment and feedback EVERYONE
learning cranio sacral should get about EVERY
technique they learn.
I understand only too well how time consuming
this type of assessment is for the assessor.
Nevertheless, if every school adopted this type
of full competency assessment and stopped taking
the short term, adjunct, quick cash view, cranio
sacral therapy would take a massive leap forward
around the world in terms of competence and
notoriety. (Soap box put away.)
Mentorship happens in the following ways.
One to One.
This takes the form of bringing a person to practice
on. Your mentor tunes in as you demonstrate a
particular technique. Depending on whether you
are having Directional or Competence assessment,
your mentor will give you specific feed back about
your contact and intention and/or hints and tips
on how to get better at the particular technique.
Telphone Consultations.
This takes the form of one to one consultation via phone
or skype.
How often will I need to see my mentor?
That depends on you and will vary through out the
course of your training. Sometimes you will need to
see them more that others.
As a working rule of thumb you can expect to see your
mentor once a month for an assessment, either directional
or competence. You will probably have at least one
half hour phone conversation with them a month also.
You will find that just knowing they are there and that
you can call them if you need to often makes it
unnecessary to actually do that.
How much should you pay for mentorship?
Ideally you should pay your mentor approximately 10%
more than they charge for their treatment sessions.
So if your mentor charges 100(whatever you currency is)’s
for treating an adult then you should pay 110 for a one to one
assessment and half that for a 30 minute phone call.
I suggest this because teaching is harder than doing so
you are going to have to make it worth their while to
teach you when they could be making the same money,
more easily, treating people.
Bear in mind this approach to cranio sacral training
is not common as yet so while it is developing you may
find yourself enrolled with a cranio sacral school and
paying their fees and having to pay your mentor.
Try not to make your financial situation your mentors problem.
Ultimately what you pay your mentor is something you
are going to work out between you and your mentor.
Who is qualified to be a mentor?
That is up to you, the prospective student. It will be
determined by what kind of a cranio sacral therapist
you want to become.
If you want to have qualifications and letters after
your name then that is the sort of mentor you should
seek out. If qualifications don’t matter that much to
you then look for a mentor who gets the sorts of results
you want to get.
Personally I think your mentor should, above all else,
inspire you.
Choosing your mentor is your first chance to trust
your own judgement in the cranial field.
Go and meet your prospective mentor. Have a cup of
tea with them. Hang out with them. See if you are
compatible. Sit in on some of their sessions if they
will let you. Offer to help them out in their practice.
Answer phones, make appointments, that kind
of thing. Go for a directional assessment with them.
To find a mentor near you look at the list of cranio
sacral therapists here.
Can I have more than one mentor?
Yes and it is probably better if you do as it will give
you different perspectives. The only caution I would
add is to be careful not to play one mentor off against
another within yourself as a way of avoiding some of
the more difficult aspects of your training.
I have been asked to be a mentor. What do I do?
Don’t panic. Read through this post to see what it’s all about
then look through the training materials here.
If there is, in your opinion, a gaping hole in the training
materials provided then get in touch, send in what you feel
is missing and I will add it.
If you need further information about being a mentor contact me here.
I do a lot of mentoring with students and therapists around the world via Skype.
The cost for mentoring via Skype is €75 per half hour.
To arrange a time for mentoring session with me click here.
