Guidelines for the Mentor-Mentee Relationship

For Supporting Fullness of Opportunity and Safety in the Mentoring Period

Ratified by the TATC (formerly WDTA) and IAM on 9/13/06
Updated 3/1/2013 and 5/16/16, Slight editing for greater clarity  December 2017

1)     The mentor-mentee relationship has been designed as a support to ease the student’s approach to the Trillium work. Mentors also then enjoy the opportunity to share their developing understanding of the transformative process. This relationship has proven invaluable for mutually supporting growth in both parties.

2)     A mentee, in meeting with a mentor, is meeting with a person who has awakened to the second birth and who is on their way to deeper understanding and further stabilization in conscious embodiment and mutuality.

3)     However, the mentor is not yet a teacher. Therefore, the mentee needs to have regular meetings with teachers, who are further along in the second life and more experienced in living, teaching, and transmitting this way. Teachers bring more personal integration, and have been formally trained over time to hold and guide the mentee with greater depth and skill.

4)     For this reason, mentees may have 2 mentor sessions between each teacher session. Mentors are asked to remind mentees of this requirement to meet with their teacher.

5)     Though mentors are not teachers, they are important members of the aspirant’s support team. They help hold and nurture students in much the same way as older siblings might with their younger brothers and sisters. Mentors are uniquely suited to share their understanding and experience from a close range, as they have more recently passed through the beginning levels of awakening and practice. They can really help mentees “learn the ropes.”

6)     Mentors do not teach or administer therapy, suggest techniques, or give advice. They hold, reflect, empathize with, deeply listen to, and honor the wholeness of the student.

7)     Mentors will help students build their support team, including teacher and peers, and will help the students find out about sittings and other offerings and materials as appropriate.

8)   As a means of acknowledging the energy exchange of a mentor session, mentees are invited to make a $5 – $10 donation for each session. The donations can be made to either the central Trillium Awakening scholarship fund or to a local Trillium scholarship fund. Donations to the central TA scholarship fund are made via this link: https://trilliumawakening.org/donate/#options At the page that opens, mentees will find options to donate online via credit card of PayPal or “offline via check.

9)     During the mentee’s “due diligence” period, they may want to connect with different mentors, and with any and all teachers they feel drawn to. They are encouraged in time to settle on a mentor and a teacher who best suit them in order to deepen in their awakening process. During this period a student ideally would be attending many sittings and have exposure to several teachers to get the most rounded picture of this work.

10)  Mentees and mentors are encouraged to be clear with their support relationships. If a mentee is feeling that the relationship with the mentor is not going well or is coming to a close, and they are feeling they would like to change to another mentor or to stop being mentored, they are invited to bring this up with their current mentor and have a clear understanding or closure with the mentor before leaving or moving to another mentor. This serves the honoring of the relationship. Mentors will also talk with mentees if they feel the relationship is not working well or changes need to be made.

11)  Mentor-mentee experience will be shared under the following conditions:

  • Mentors will check in with their supervising teacher (small group teacher) regarding the progress of mentees and of their own work in relationship to the mentee. Mentors will keep the strictest confidence, giving only the level of information needed for safety and guidance.
  • The Mentor might, with the further support of the supervising teacher, consult with the teacher of the mentee.
  • Mentors may also share their experience of their mentoring work with their mentor peer circle—excluding names and identifying details.
  • Mentees are likewise encouraged to share significant aspects of their work with both their teachers and mentors so that the support team and the mentee can all be on the same page regarding the mentee’s work and experience on the Trillium path.