Want to learn RFT through mentorship?
Submit an email to Patrick Smith with the subject line "RFT Mentor Match Request." Please provide some details about yourself, your familiarity with RFT, your broad interests related to RFT, your preferences regarding compensating a mentor for their time, and any other information you feel would be important for us to know for helping connect you with a mentoring opportunity that will work for you.
Want to offer mentoring?
Use the "Find a Mentor" form* linked here to submit your details and express interest in providing mentoring through our mentor match service.
*Note: Disregard the Part 1 & 3 links. This form is also used in the BiAnnual SIG survey. Those links will only work during the survey periods.
Frequently Asked Questions:
What is RFT Mentor Match?
Learning and applying Relational Frame Theory can be challenging. Much of the nuanced knowledge is not well documented. Learning through mentorship can be a very efficient way to accelerate you toward your RFT goals. The RFT Special Interest Group within ACBS represents the highest concentration of those experts. To facilitate dissemination and advancement of Relational Frame Theory, the SIG Steering Committee provides a matching service between mentors interested in working with learners and those learners. On and ongoing basis, we survey the community for members willing to mentor. When you submit a match request, we compare your request to available mentors and make introductions when we feel there is a likely valued fit.
Who Should Apply to Mentor Match?
Any learner interested in advancing their RFT goals. You may be a student, academic, professional, or even someone from outside the community who needs to get up to speed quickly.
Who are the available mentors?
Available mentors range across applied practitioner, academic faculty, and knowledgeable community members. Mentor availability changes and we want to ensure good fit between potential mentor and mentee so we don't disclose specifics. Most potential mentors have demonstrated significant contribution to the RFT community.
Will I have to pay for mentoring?
Many of our mentors provide mentoring and coaching as a professional service. Some may provide all or some of the mentor match time at no cost or a values based fee. The Mentor Match initiative does not require free work from the mentors. When mentors volunteer to be listed in the Mentor Match, their preference regarding providing paid, free, or some hybrid compensation of mentoring is part of the application. Mentee applicants will be notified of these preferences if a suitable match is identified. It is up to the mentor and mentee to agree to how the mentoring relationship will be compensated.
What are the steps of the matching process?
- Potential mentors submit their information using the "Find a Mentor" form* linked here or during the BiAnnual Survey.
- Applicant mentees submit their match request emails as described above.
- Once a match request email comes in, SIG Steering Committee members review the request and the available mentors.
- If an available mentor is a good match for the mentee, a Steering Committee member will reach out to that potential mentor to verify their availability and current interest in taking on a mentee. In the initial reach out to potential mentors, the applicant mentee ID will not be revealed to the potential mentor but some details relevant to checking match fit may be disclosed. This is why it is important for applicants to be clear and forthcoming about providing relevant information.
- If there is initial interest and availability by the potential mentor, the applicant will be provided relevant contact information for their matched mentor. At that point, applicant mentees are expected to reach out to their matched mentor. At the request of the applicant mentee, the steering committee may facilitate an introduction.
Because the goal of this program is high quality connections, we may not match applicants or potential mentors. Sincere efforts will be made to create valued matches, but matching is not guaranteed.
If you do not get matched, you are always welcome to apply again after the next round of the BiAnnual Survey.
What Mentor Match is NOT:
Mentor Match is not an employment service. Mentoring can be a very effective step toward career opportunities, but we are not placing applicants in jobs here. If you have a job opening, please share it to the RFT SIG listserve or email it to a Steering Committee Member to reshare at their discretion.
Mentor Match is not a graduate school application. Many graduate programs are built around mentoring. Some of our available mentors are also graduate faculty. Do not apply to mentor match as a substitute for an official grad school application. If you are pursuing admission into a graduate program that includes RFT, good luck. Make sure you apply through that program's official process.
Still Have Questions?
Further Questions about Mentor Match should be directed to Patrick Smith, or the current Community Engagement Steering Committee Member.