Guidelines and Resources for IBCLC Mentors
What does it mean to be a mentor?
Becoming a mentor means to be able to inspire, guide, and support an individual willing to start a pathway to IBCLC.
Commitment:
Your commitment to mentorship can vary depending on the needs of your mentee. It can include
mentoring a IBCLC individually (for Pathway 3, this would be 500 hours).
supporting a Pathway 3 mentee as part of a mentor team (1-4 mentors sharing one student). This way, your mentee can divide up how they do their 500 clinical hours among all of you. You could have a mentee with you at 1 visit, 10 visits…or 100 visits!
CERPs:
According to the International Board of Lactation Consultant Examiners, “IBCLCs who serve as mentors for approved Pathway 3 Plans may receive CERPs for their service. For the purposes of CERPs allocation, each Pathway 3 Plan is eligible for a total of 25 L-CERPs. Over any given five-year period of time, IBCLCs may acquire up to a maximum of 50 L-CERPs for their service as mentors to applicants who complete their approved Pathway 3 Plan. CERPs will be allocated on the basis of the percentage of time each mentor provided direct supervision to the applicant following Pathway 3. The Chief Mentor will be responsible for reporting these percentages. Based upon this report, IBCLC Programme staff will notify the Chief Mentor of the number of CERPs each mentor earned.”
Resources for Mentors:
It it recommended to sign an agreement between the mentor and mentee to specify their type of mentorship, overall needs and commitment time frame. Here is an example of a mentorship agreement. Annie Frisbee also has sample agreements. This is not required by IBCLC, but is recommended to have some guidelines.
Your mentee will be responsible for
collecting your signature on the Pathway 3 Mentor Agreement Form (page 15 here)
keeping track of their hours (page 17 Here).
Chief Mentor Requirements:
One mentor must agree to serve as the Chief Mentor of the Pathway 3 Plan. The Chief Mentor is responsible for:
Creating and executing a Pathway 3 Plan which covers all of the duties listed on the Clinical Competencies for the Practice of International Board Certified Lactation Consultants. Your mentee can take the lead on creating this plan.
Securing the practice settings in which the applicant will obtain the directly supervised clinical practice hours (ex: going with the mentor on home visits).
Reporting the percentage of time each mentor provided direct supervision to the Pathway 3 applicant (see pg 18 here for Application for CERPs Award to Pathway 3 Mentors). The mentee can use their time sheet to first calculate how much time they spent with each mentor, then have the mentor sign and mail the form to their regional IBCLC office. This is for the purpose of awarding Continuing Education Recognition Points (CERPs) to mentors.
What’s next?
If you are a MLCA member and want more information regarding the mentoring process, please send your inquiry to info@mlca.org
If you are not a MLCA member and want to become a member in order to join the mentorship program, please sign up on our website https://www.masslca.org/
