Anjali Pathak is a GP with an extended role (GPwER) in dermatology, with roles in community and secondary care, and an interest in medical education.
Anusha Dattani is a portfolio GP and Training Programme Director in Hertfordshire, with extensive experience supporting GPs and trainees, and is an accredited coach. She is on LinkedIn.
In her early days as an ST1, a nervous general practice resident shadowed her training programme director (TPD) in the GP surgery she would spend the next four years in. A patient had just experienced a challenging and emotionally-loaded situation. Yet in potentially rushed ten-minute slots, the TPD created calm, offering kindness and compassion that made patients feel unhurried and truly heard. Watching, the trainee thought: one day I want to be that kind of GP. That spark of aspiration would later grow into a mentorship, mutual in unexpected ways.
Watching, the trainee thought: one day I want to be that kind of GP.
We’re often told to seek out a mentor. The Royal College of General Practitioners’ (RCGP) mentoring scheme, with its structured approach and clear goals, is an excellent resource. But what about the moments that transform a mandated professional relationship into an unofficial, life-long mentorship? When we first began our working relationship as TPD and trainee, our conversations were, as you’d expect, about learning objectives, portfolio entries, and exam preparation. Our roles were clearly defined: a senior guiding a junior. As the months and years passed, the dynamic began to evolve. Our check-ins extended beyond the clinical, touching on the pressures of the role and the challenges of general practice.
What surprised us was how the relationship became a two-way street. The trainee still turned to her TPD for guidance, from managing multimorbidity to challenging patient expectations, but the conversations gradually shifted. When the trainee considered a dermatology diploma, the TPD offered a candid view of the workload and how it might fit within training. In turn, the trainee’s questions and reflections opened new ways of looking at cases. At the same time, the TPD was pursuing coaching qualifications and stepping into new leadership roles, sharing her own uncertainties and successes. Through shared experiences, reflecting on complex cases, swapping perspectives, and simply being there to lean on, we came to see the value of our different viewpoints. This was no longer a senior guiding a junior; it was two professionals learning and growing together.
Over time, our mentorship has balanced out in ways we didn’t anticipate but deeply value.
Over time, our mentorship has balanced out in ways we didn’t anticipate but deeply value. What began as structured supervision expanded into mutual learning and support. We now find ourselves not only navigating clinical challenges together and sharing personal and emotional reflections, but also collaborating on articles and presentations, broadening the scope of our work. Mentoring a younger GP has given the mentor fresh insight into the hard work, adaptability, and creativity of the next generation, and with that comes a growing sense of respect and admiration. As our relationship continues to evolve, it is exciting to imagine where it might lead next. We’ve come to believe that at any stage of training or career, every GP has the potential to be both mentor and mentee; it is a reciprocal relationship that fosters self-reflection, career development, and personal growth for all involved.
The benefits of this unintended mentorship have been profound for both of us. For the trainee, it has provided a crucial sense of psychological safety. Knowing there is a trusted colleague who understands the challenges of the role, and who offers a safe space for vulnerability, is a powerful antidote to isolation. For the TPD, the relationship has brought renewed purpose and fresh perspective. Our conversations provide a grounding point, a reminder of the passion that first drew her to medical education.
The RCGP mentor scheme is important, but our experience highlights that the most impactful mentorships are often organic, born from trust and mutual curiosity. In an era of burnout and retention crises, the connections we make with one another are just as crucial as any clinical skill. Beyond the hours and the pay, it is these relationships that enrich our professional lives.
So we invite you to reflect: who are the unofficial mentors in your life? And who might you be mentoring without even realising it? What could you learn about yourself and others from mentoring? In these unofficial dyads, where we are both teachers and learners, lies the key to a more sustainable, and more joyful, career in medicine.
Deputy Editor’s note: the concept of mentoring is sometimes poorly understood, even by senior doctors. As a starting point consider this ‘MedEdPearl‘ from Harvard on the different aspects of mentoring and visit the RCGP mentoring pages.
Featured Photo by Vardan Papikyan on Unsplash
