Introduction:

The FMB Mentoring Program was built collectively between 2018/19, with external advisory and institutional support. Mental suffering among undergraduate students in the health area is well known, but became more intense with the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic, and programs like mentoring have been especially necessary for first-year students.

Experience Report:

Workshops were held to create the program steering group and mentoring team. In August 2021, once the program had been presented to representatives and boards, the Awareness Raising Workshop was conducted with high student participation. The group prioritized the construction of a warm, light-hearted and playful virtual environment, and the mentors were introduced to the students in this vein, who in turn received the invitation to join the program. The students named their preferred mentors in a questionnaire that remained available for two weeks. The groups were formed and met at least once a month in a welcoming and affectionate setting to discuss issues of interest to and chosen by the students. The steering group meets with the mentors every two months, focusing on spaces for exchange and sharing of experiences: challenges faced and overcome, and building a collaborative environment of mutual learning. In Nursing, 100% of the students joined the program, and in Medicine, 85%. The student assessments of the program were very positive.

Discussion:

The program provided an environment of dialogue in mental and physical health, time management, and academic activities such as scientific initiation and university extension. Mentors, mentees, the steering group and institutional coordinators experienced moments of caring, collaboration and affection.

Conclusion:

The mentoring program attained visibility among students, teachers and professionals and is becoming established as a strategy to retrieve the caring and humanistic aspects of relations in the institution at a time of such uncertainty, suffering and challenges.

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