Our CPD-accredited, iHV Leading Excellence in Practice programme, to support future SCPHN leaders, aims to ensure we have strong leadership for our profession into the future. We are seeking experienced practitioners to get involved and support this work by becoming iHV Leadership mentors.

Our current mentors enjoy great reciprocal relationships with our candidates and speak positively of the experience of working with their mentees from our programme, with many reporting they also gain much from the meetings.

Leadership mentoring provides future leaders with a forum for setting, discussing and dissecting a path to leadership with someone who has walked that path before.”

Benefits to health visitors in becoming iHV Leadership Mentors:

  • The opportunity to work with the Institute of Health Visiting and gain valuable skills in mentoring for leadership
  • Able to support colleagues’ leadership learning to help them develop their professional competence and confidence and equip them for SCPHN leadership into the future
  • Enjoy the privilege to act as a resource to facilitate personal and professional development of others, along with the responsibility of helping health visitor leaders translate theory into practice, making what is learned on their courses a reality
  • Benefit from two-way learning by working alongside practitioners with different perspectives and generations of SCPHNs which will provide an opportunity to enhance your own practice using this insight
  • Develop your leadership capability to help to shape the professions’ leadership of the future
  • A free place at the iHV annual leadership conference as thank you for your support

What being an iHV leadership mentor involves:

  • Attending a half-day online workshop about the iHV leadership mentor role
  • Providing a short bio on yourself to share with your mentee
  • Being allocated a mentee who is participating in the iHV Leading Excellence in Practice leadership programme
  • Provide 4 x virtually delivered mentorship meetings of one hour for one candidate

The role of the mentors for this programme is to:

  • Act as a ‘critical friend’ – a mentor is able to offer guidance, support and form a positive one-to-one relationship with their mentees
  • Provide encouragement and guidance using a range of approaches to support the mentees in their development as future leaders
  • Create a supportive, challenging and reflective learning environment during the one-to-one sessions, to help them focus on their strengths and areas for development
  • Guide (but not direct) the mentee to support their personal development in line with the learning outcomes of the iHV leading excellence in practice programme

Criteria to be an iHV Leadership Mentor:

  • To be an Associate Member of the iHV (or willing to become one before the role starts)
  • To be an experienced SCPHN (minimum of 3 years)
  • To be passionate about leadership within Specialist Community Public Health Nursing and experienced in a clinical or specialist role
  • To be able to attend the workshop on the 22 November 9.00 -13.00
  • To be able to support one mentee at a given time
  • To have agreement from your employer to participate and provide mentorship in the future

We have cohorts waiting for your mentorship! Bring your expertise and experience to our iHV Mentorship panel. We offer places at selected conferences and honorariums in recognition of the contributions made by our mentors.

  • Autumn cohort 2022 – first meeting with your mentee in November 2022 through to June 2023

Or

  • January, May, September 2023 cohorts – schedule for meetings with your mentee to be confirmed.

Apply now! We are waiting to hear from you. Please complete the form to express interest in joining our iHV Mentorship panel. Applications close 28 September 2022.

We will confirm your entry to our iHV Mentorship panel from 3 October 2022.

Many congratulations to all the winners of who received an award at the CPHVA award ceremony on 8 April in London, including Patricia Kelly (one of our Fellows) who won Practice Teacher of the year and our own Elaine McInnes (also a Fellow) – read about Elaine’s win:

340px_ElaineMcInnesElaine McInnes, Professional development officer of the Institute of Health Visiting (iHV), has received the MacQueen award for excellence in research and practice development 2016.

Announced at a reception in London on 8 April 2016, the award recognises the importance of a research project that Elaine is undertaking as part of her doctoral studies. The project aims to understand what the components of successful preceptorship programmes are for newly qualified health visitors following the DH Health Visiting call to action 2011-2015.

Elaine commented on her award:

“I am thrilled and delighted to have won this award and I’d like to thank the shortlisting panel who recognised the importance of this project. We are in a unique position in health visiting as the rapid increase in staff (46%), and the variables this brings, has not had the opportunity to be investigated. Additionally, in health visiting research there is little evidence to the actual support required during the first year in practice. The quality of services that the health visiting profession delivers to families must remain first class. Families are more likely than ever to receive their care from a newly qualified health visitor and, as such, it is vital we ensure that the right support is in place for newly qualified practitioners”.