New Policy for Qualified Mentors (March 2010)

HTP proudly announces the new policy to designate Qualified Mentor (QM) status. HTP mentors support Level 4 HT Practitioner Apprentices toward course graduation and international certification status.

This document is divided into four major parts:

A. History of Mentoring in HTP

B. HTP’s New Qualified Mentor Standard

1. Applying for QM Status
2. Grandmothering for QM
3. Practitioner Directory - QM Listing

C. Qualifications and Charging for Mentoring

D. HTP Mentor Training Course

A. HISTORY OF MENTORING IN HTP

Historically in Healing Touch Program (HTP), it was required that a nurse be part of the mentorship process. It did not matter if the nurse was the mentor or mentee. In cases where neither was a nurse, the mentee contracted with a nurse Healing Touch Certified Practitioner (HTCP) to serve as a supervising mentor to meet the course and certification requirements.

The focus on nursing was established by Janet Mentgen, our founder, when she was invited by the American Holistic Nurses’ Association (AHNA) to offer her energy medicine program as their first certificate program in 1989. With a quickly growing popularity among non-nurse participants, Janet opened the doors to international certification in 1996 by creating an HT specific autonomous administrative body for certification. This was necessary because AHNA stated that they could not offer certification to non-nurses. With a new turn of events in 2008, HTP created the third and current autonomous certification administration body to protect and preserve Janet’s original standardized curriculum, which is recognized around the world.

HTP is reframing the mentorship relationship to align fully as an integral part of our professional educational program. With the advancement of energy medicine (EM) throughout the world and the growth of EM programs in North America, HTP promotes ALL our graduates as legitimate EM professionals, able to determine how to act within our Scope of Practice and Code of Ethics. This includes knowing when it is necessary to refer to other practitioners, or when to ask for assistance in the case management of clients. Therefore, it is no longer necessary to require a nurse in the mentorship relationship, whether it is as mentee, mentor, or supervising mentor.

Our new mentor policy reflects the progressive advancement of EM as a legitimate and respected form of holistic health care. HTP’s graduates are qualified professional EM practitioners by training, whether they are nurses, licensed health care professionals or lay practitioners.

B. NEW QUALIFIED MENTOR STANDARD TIMELINE

As of April 1, 2010, in conjunction with offering the Mentor Training course, HTP is transitioning in a new policy, which will be used to determine Qualified Mentors (QM). This policy is the QM Policy, which offers a transition period of eight months. By January 1, 2011 all supervising mentors must be QMs.

Definition of HTP Mentor: A mentor historically was and continues to be anyone who has achieved HTCP status and who is willing to serve as a mentor to an HT practitioner apprentice. This does not change. You are NOT required to apply for QM status in order to mentor. You may continue in your mentoring role supervised, but with the awareness that by January 1, 2011, all supervising mentors must be QMs. A supervising mentor used to be an HTCP nurse who supervised a mentorship between non-nurse mentor and mentee.

Definition of a Qualified Mentor: A QM is an HTCP that has demonstrated on application and by acceptance of the review panel, that s/he is objectively qualified to successfully mentor HTP apprentices toward graduation and certification.

This new qualification raises the standard for mentoring within HTP.

1. Applying for QM Status

If you hold an HTCP, you are a candidate for application to be a QM. Any HTCP who would like to serve as an unsupervised mentor for HT practitioner apprentices or who would like to continue to supervise other mentors, will need to meet the requirements of a QM. The title granted to approved applicants is QM.

Click here for QM application.

2. Grandmothering/fathering for QM

Some HT Certified Instructors (HTCIs) may qualify for the Grand-mothering clause to achieve the status of QM. If you are an instructor who has successfully and regularly mentored, an active practitioner, are current with HTP Level 4/5 homework and curriculum, and you have either served on the certification panel, or in a leadership role, or you teach Levels 4/5, you may be eligible to grandmother for QM.

Click here for Policy for Grand-mothering into QM status.

3. Practitioner Directory – QM Listing

The Practitioner Directory lists HTP graduates, certified practitioners, mentors and QMs. This list will assist Level 4 students in determining who to interview as a possible mentor (or mentors) for support during her/his apprenticeship period. The directory will show each mentor’s qualifications and contact information. It will indicate if the mentor is a QM or traditional (non-QM) mentor, as well as whether s/he charges for mentoring, offers group or individual mentoring, and whether s/he offers local or long distance mentoring.

Click here for the HTP Practitioner Directory.

Please note: The mentor directory is a service we have never offered before! If you are an HTCP, please update your directory listing now to reflect your mentoring status and interest!

Mentees can rely on QMs to be up-to-date on HTP course completion and curriculum requirements and can count on receiving accurate information and appropriate guidance. Mentees can choose to work with a traditional mentor (non-QM) as well as with a QM (i.e., working with two mentors) with the QM as a supervising mentor.

Repeated again, any HTCP can serve as a mentor. However, as of January 1, 2011, a QM will need to serve as supervisor for any mentee who is working with a non-QM mentor in order to establish a consistent level of quality mentorship for all students as HTP moves toward national accreditation and continued worldwide leadership in energy medicine education.

C. Charging for Mentorship Services

Charging for supervision (a kind of mentorship), is a long established professional practice in many fields. In health care, supervisors are frequently paid for the service of mentoring or “supervising” the practice of other practitioners in their field. Supervision is not just for novice practitioners. Many established practitioners, such as psychotherapists, have long-standing and ongoing supervisory professional relationships despite years of active practice. Professional associations and state boards of various health professionals often encourage or require supervision in various areas of their field. An example of supervision in energy medicine is that students in the Barbara Brennan School of Healing are required to pay for four years of supervision while they work toward matriculation.

Students choosing a mentor will need to consider the value of working with a QM mentor, who may choose to charge for her/his services. HTP neither encourages nor discourages a mentor’s choice to charge or to provide mentorship as a community service. However, HTP chooses to validate a QM’s right to charge for her/his time and expertise as a way to reflect the value of this service. We want to encourage QMs to mentor new practitioners on their path to graduation and certification in order to build the worldwide HTP community.

We have therefore identified the qualifications/experience that we feel should be considered when deciding whether to charge a fee for mentoring.

1. Successful experience in leading mentees through a professional certification process. This extends beyond just HT mentoring and can include mentorship and/or supervisory roles in health care as well as other life experience that leads to strong mentor qualities.
2. History of ongoing practice in Healing Touch post HTCP, especially in health care facilities or a case management role. Two years minimum recommended.
3. Staying current with HTP course materials, certification requirements, professional activities and publications (Energy Magazine, HTP Community Newsletters), and if an instructor, instructor memos
4. Successful completion of the nine (9) week HTP Advanced Practice Mentor Training Course
5. Credentials: Degree(s) in nursing, education, psychology, spirituality, healthcare, business, energy medicine or combinations of degrees/professional training.

HTP supports QMs who decide to charge for their mentorship services. QMs represent HTP’s “best” mentors because the expectation is that the QM be up-to-date in program materials and that s/he reflects exemplary mentor qualities!

Application approval confirms that QMs have successfully mentored HTP students through certification and are up to date on all requirements. Charging for mentorship is something that any HTCP can work toward as a way to engage in further personal and professional development, community service and an increased ability to achieve financial remuneration for ones’ education and professional experience. Mentors who are paid for their services may feel a deeper obligation to be available for their mentees because it is a paid service. Mentees who pay for mentorship may feel an empowered sense of entitlement to ask for what they need in this professional relationship. Hopefully they will feel they can both hire and fire their mentors in order to receive the experience they want and need for successful graduation and achievement of certification status as an HTCP.

D. HTP Mentor Training Course

QMs who have taken HTP’s new Advanced Practice Mentorship Training Course (beginning April 2010) can be relied upon to understand additional significant issues related to successful mentoring, such as learning and communication styles, transference/counter-transference and conflict resolution, just to name a few.

This course covers every aspect of Level 4/5 homework, certification criteria and how to assess and critique case studies for acceptable status in the HT Certification review process. The Mentor Training course is for the newly certified practitioner who would like to learn skills for exemplary mentoring, for QMs who want to be more current with HTP graduation and certification requirements, and for any HTCP who would like to gain more knowledge on the many in-depth topics covered.

For more information about the HTP Mentorship Training course see Tele-seminars on the HTP website.

Summary: In announcing both a policy for QM and a new course for training QMs, along with introducing guidelines for charging for mentorship, HTP has rounded out our professional education program and raised our standard to assure quality mentorship for all HTP students. We have answered the requests of many students, practitioners and instructors in creating this policy and course. HTP continues to gain recognition as worldwide leaders in energy medicine through continual advancements and growth in professionalism, as we continue Janet Mentgen’s vision to bring HT into every home, school, hospital and health care facility.