Mentors, Counsellors and Society

Mentor and Mentee - 

'Mentor' is a person who gives advise, guidance and direction to a 'mentee'. The age, gender, relation etc. are not the criterions for students to decide a mentor. Rather, mentor is mostly not selected, but, happens to be one during the course of life. In many cases the person who advices, guides and directs is not even addressed as 'mentor' but plays an equally important role.

Mentorship starts -

A Mentor is expected to start his role especially when the mentee approaches him / her with some issue. Mentorship is executed in some cases where the Mentee has not even addressed the problem. In such cases the Mentor and his guidance is taken very casually, perhaps it may not ecen be put to practice. Honestly speaking, the Mentor is not at all expected to teach, not being a Teacher or a Professor. Mentorship starts where all this ends and the unsolved  problem of the Mentee lives him helpless. 

Mentor and Counsellor - 

Listen - ask - interpret - analyze - guide, this is the very basic flow followed by the Mentor or the Counsellor during communication with the Mentee or the Subject, respectively. The difference being, the Mentor counsels on the basis of his experiences and analytical intellect. The Counsellor's guidance is on the basis of the systematic, scientific training he / she has received about psychology, other factors remain same. If a person is associated with a Mentor, there are lesser chances he may have to consult a Psychologist, provided he religiously follows the Mentors guidelines. But in case the Mentoship is not able to stabilize the Subject, it's necesaary to approach a Psychologist.

Bottomline - 

A worthy Mentor is indeed the necessity of most of the people, but to identify the correct one is challenging.