Welcome to the British Association of Prosthetists and Orthotists' Mentor Programme

The British Association of Prosthetists and Orthotists (BAPO) membership provides access to the BAPO mentoring scheme which is an exclusive service offered to our members. Members can use this service at any career stage to gain personalised guidance on a range of topics. Like all allied health profession (AHP) roles, prosthetists and orthotists, and our support workforce, face challenges. We believe anyone from the very start of their career to experienced clinicians can benefit from the support and guidance a suitable mentor can provide.

The scheme facilitates both traditional mentoring and reverse mentoring, recognising that we can all learn from one another regardless of seniority or experience.

Mentoring
Mentoring provides:
- Valuable experiences to the mentees, who are able to call on the experience and knowledge of other members of the prosthetic and orthotic profession to help their career development.
- Valuable leadership and management skills to mentors, from our mentoring guidance videos and supporting materials, to gaining experience in helping others progress in their career.
Mentoring relationships facilitate personal and professional development through support, challenge and review. Mentoring is about encouraging mentees to take responsibility for their own progression and challenging them to find their own answers.
Reverse mentoring
Reverse mentoring is the practice of matching mentors or senior leaders with junior staff, staff from underrepresented groups or those with protected characteristics. The aim is to allow a person to discuss their unique background, perspectives, or experiences with someone who has not had those perspectives or experiences. This can help to embed equality, diversity, and inclusion (EDI) into an organisation by:
- Breaking down cultural barriers and fostering mutual understanding among employees who may not interact otherwise.
- Creating a culture of inclusion where everyone feels valued and respected for their contributions, skills, and unique perspectives.
- Enhancing the skills and knowledge of both mentors and mentees, such as communication, empathy, innovation, and technology.
- Increasing the representation and retention of diverse talent in leadership positions by providing them with visibility, support, and feedback.
- Challenging the assumptions and biases that people may hold and facilitating awareness of issues and challenges faced by diverse colleagues.
In other cases, younger staff can communicate their experiences to more senior staff to help inform preceptor-ship objectives.

Some examples of reverse mentoring programs focused on diversity and inclusion include:

KPMG's reverse mentoring scheme, which connected black heritage colleagues with senior partners.

Civil Service's reverse mentoring scheme, which matched senior civil servants with junior staff from underrepresented groups.
Ready to get started?
Signing up is simple
- Register by creating an account. Once registered you can access our introductory videos and guidance to help you get the most out of the mentoring relationship.
- Decide the areas you would like to work on in a mentoring relationship - the support you are looking for as a mentee, or the areas where you would be willing to support others as a mentor.
- Then when you are ready, click the link and create your mentee or mentor profile. You can go back and edit it anytime you like and there are tools in the system to help mentees refine their goals.
What's next?
- The dedicated profile matching system will help mentees identify potential matches, based on their profile and what they would like to work on.
- If you have found someone who looks like a good match, introduce yourself and have an initial conversation You'll both be able to decide whether you want to work together before you commit. Don't worry if you don't find a match right away - there are new mentors and mentees signing up all the time.
- Once you have a match and have agreed to work together, the platform will help you keep moving forward with prompts and advice.
- At the end of your mentoring relationship, it will help you look at what you've achieved together – and decide what you would like to do next.