Mentorship, Coaching and Therapy
Mentorship:
Mentorship focuses on longer term career or personal growth, provides confidence building and support, extends beyond a particular goal or role. It may be less structured than coaching, and often includes advice-giving and career guidance. A mentee may ask questions for their mentor to reflect upon. The mentor draws upon professional expertise. Confidentiality is often assumed. People often seek mentorship for: guidance for general career or personal development, advice-giving. Do you need a mentor? Are you a mentor? Check out our panel on 12/5/25 on the topic of mentorship, and our “Lifelong physician mentorship community” on Viva Engage (Office App). There you can connect with mentors or mentees throughout WVUH. Often subspecialty societies also have mentorship programs, so check yours!
Coaching:
This is a collaborative process helping employees in personal or professional growth, such as improving specific skills, achieving specific outcomes, or overcoming specific challenges.
Coaching provides accountability. This is a goal oriented process and focuses on the coachee coming to their own solutions to problems (self-discovery). It may be more structured than mentoring. A coach may ask the coachee questions to inspire reflection. Coaches draw upon specific training and certifications and often have specific areas of focus. A contract is usually involved specifying reporting and confidentiality (and cost). People often seek coaching for: development of specific skills to allow career growth, people who feel stagnant or unfulfilled in work, navigation of life transitions, etc.
Do you need a coach? Are you a coach? There are many different coaches out there for a number of different purposes both within and beyond WVUH. If you think you might be looking for a coach, let me know and we can figure out some possible options for you. If you offer coaching services and would like others to know about it, please let the CWO know.
Therapy:
Therapy focuses on understanding and healing, and deriving benefit from that. Topics may be more personal or emotional in nature. Therapists are licensed and credentialled and the relationship is more strictly regulated. A broader array of techniques can be utilized. Therapist interactions are the most protected and confidential. People often seek therapy for: grief, major life transitions, trauma/abuse, addressing challenging relationships, work related stress or burnout, addiction, anxiety, depression. Need a therapist? There are a number of ways to connect with one. The Faculty and Staff Assistance program has experience in supporting physicians, and faculty physicians get 3 free visits before being transitioned to a community provider. Additionally, you can access either local mental healthcare or remote (but still within our system) mental healthcare through our physician access programs. If you’d like to see a community provider, I’d be happy to give you some suggestions to start with. You can also refer to our FAQ on physician mental health. These roles are complementary. They might all be useful at different stages. For example: You might seek out a therapist because you’re sleeping poorly and are irritable with your kids. Based upon this you realize a specific aspect of work is a stressor. Coaching may be helpful to determine what specific changes you would like to see in your job role to mitigate this stressor. Mentorship might be utilized to determine how to act on those changes within your specialty and setting. And your social support system can support you through all of this.
Where does the CWO fit into this?
As CWO, I am first and foremost an advocate and system influencer for physicians. I provide a confidential space (so long as nothing legally binding such as safety issues or harassment are shared) and collect stories and use those, with permission, to effect change in the broader hospital environment. I greatly value the insights and feedback I get from people who come to me and encourage you to do so. I focus on listening and acknowledgement for whatever people bring to me and connect them to existing resources when appropriate. I am a trained peer supporter, and log appropriate interactions as peer support interventions by place and time, but do not keep records or names. Because of the nature of my work, it is not unusual for me to provide support to multiple people in one department or division – but again my space is confidential for the individual physician unless we have discussed otherwise. Occasionally (but not always), as a longtime WVU physician familiar with the environment, I can play the role of mentor and offer potential solutions. While I'm not a coach, I may also occasionally incorporate techniques of coaching into interactions to help YOU come up with solutions.