This week’s blog post features ALSPD intern Samantha Morgan and her mentee, ALSPD (Associate Lecturer Support and Professional Development) Manager, Christina Graney. The reciprocal mentoring programme, part of the Student Staff Internship project, was organised by the Faculty of Wellbeing, Education and Language Studies (WELS), and the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences (FASS) at The Open University (OU).
The premise for our mentoring relationship was ‘reverse mentoring’ where, traditionally, a more experienced member of staff is mentored by a less experienced colleague or student. However, in this blog post, we prefer to use the term ‘reciprocal mentoring’ because it captures the mutual learning that shaped our working relationship. Samantha brought her expertise and lived experience to mentor Christina – a Training and Development Manager. Our intention was that the mentoring was collaborative and power-free, whilst embracing diversity and inclusion. In this post, we reflect on our journey, the challenges we faced, and the outcomes of our reciprocal mentoring experience.
Mentee’s reflections from Christina Graney
It was a wet spring day. The rain was lashing down as a mysterious figure appeared on my MS Teams call… well actually I don’t remember what kind of day it was, but I do remember a great opportunity being presented to me by my lovely colleague Dr Suki Haider! Suki offered me some mentoring from a student intern, and I seized the opportunity.
As part of the reciprocal mentoring scheme, I would be mentored by a student intern for six months. Despite working at the OU for nearly 19 years in various professional services roles, I have not had very many opportunities to work directly with students, so this opportunity was very appealing.
My university experience was at a traditional, campus or ‘brick’ university. Attending in-person lectures and sharing notes at the end of each day in the campus library or student union was the norm. I knew it was important for me to learn more about the different ways that supported and open distance learning is experienced by our OU students. I was particularly keen to understand perspectives from students with different lived experiences to me.
For the mentoring programme I was paired with Samantha Morgan, a Psychology student in FASS. She was open and honest about the barriers she faced while studying and managing other responsibilities.
Our first meeting was perhaps a little awkward as we tried to work out how this would all work. I was very aware of my role as a manager at the OU and wanted to work hard to ensure I didn’t lead the session. Gradually, as we got to know each other, we found our rhythm.
Samantha shared her intersections of neurodivergence and health conditions, and I learned how these impacted her daily life and studies. Her determination to succeed and the importance of her studies to her future were inspiring.
It has been eye-opening to learn about the challenges Samantha faced as a student with intersectional health conditions and neurodivergence. Samantha was navigating the processes which would secure reasonable adjustment for her studies and personalised support from tutors. Samantha’s experiences like many others, highlight the systemic and structural issues in HE that can cause barriers for students.
As our mentoring relationship concludes, and I reflect on the last 6 months, I realise how impactful and transformative it has been for my development. I am continuing my journey into learning about allyship for students and staff from marginalised and/or minoritised communities and Samantha has been a significant part of that.
I want to thank Samantha for her time, honesty and patience, especially for giving me a glimpse into her amazing life as an OU student. Samantha has achieved so much with her studies, and as part of the student intern project. Her passion to make a difference and advocate for other neurodivergent students is endless and impressive.
Mentor’s reflections from Samantha Morgan
From the start, Christina was transparent about her concerns regarding her role in the mentoring relationship with me, given her extensive leadership experience. I appreciated this honesty and shared my worries about the potential for an unequal dynamic. We entered the mentoring partnership unsure of what to expect.
Despite Christina’s experience at the OU, she was eager to understand my perspective as a student facing numerous barriers. Christina’s commitment to change was evident as she sought to understand my experiences. I supported her understanding of the barriers students face from structures which create oppression.
I appreciated that Christina took the time to understand neurodiversity and one day turned up to our meeting and asked me if I would like to consider standing meetings. It was clear she had researched this and cared that I felt comfortable. In return I sent her a thank you card and shared her act of consideration with the team. It is small acts of considerations like this that include people and let them thrive.
One Saturday I wrote a piece called ‘The Gremlins’ and sent this to Christina cautiously as I thought nobody would want to read it. Much to my surprise Christina loved it and was very open in her feedback that it had helped create deep understanding of what life is really like for someone living with multiple intersections of neurodiversity. This reciprocal moment of sharing was the spark that ignited my writing. I am continuing to write and sharing it in various places now. Thank you, Christina, and the ALSPD team for reigniting that; I had forgotten that I do have important things to say that can help others. My work is soon to be published in the British Psychological society’s ‘The Psychologist’ online. This is a huge achievement for an undergraduate and I am very proud to be spreading awareness of unconsidered power dynamics on this platform.
Towards the end of my internship, Christina guided me in polishing my portfolio and project proposal. This shift in dynamics solidified the reciprocal nature of our partnership. I was fortunate to work with someone so open to change, but this should be the norm for student-staff mentoring. Challenging outdated power structures is essential for creating accessible and fair education for all in this gloriously diverse world we live in.
Closing thoughts from Christina
This journey has been incredibly thought-provoking and has led to transformational learning for both of us. We now regularly consider the other person’s perspective, question our assumptions, and seek evidence to support our beliefs. This approach is applicable in many scenarios, and I will use it when working across the university.
I have learnt that knowing one person with a diagnosis, means that you know one person with a diagnosis. Each individual may need different things to succeed. I will remain curious, supportive, and adaptable to help others thrive and be their true selves when working with me.
I’ll leave you with one of Samantha’s poems, which profoundly impacted me and offered a glimpse into daily life for people who live with intersections of neurodiversity.
‘Gremlins’ by Samanthan Morgan
Let me introduce you to the gremlins, ADHD, OCD and Autism.
Today I got a thought that visiting some shops in the sales was a fabulous idea! I ignored my body and autism both of which screamed at me to stay home and rest, and I went anyway. I was quite happy at home, but the ADHD gets an idea and before I know it, there I am, doing an activity that I have no interest in doing but appear to do anyway because a fleeting thought quickly becomes a hyper fixation. The ADHD does not really like routine or order, but the autism and OCD do, so they argue. The ADHD often wins, much to mine, the OCD and the autism’s distaste.
In town I met friends. We went to a busy restaurant. My fingers twirled constantly, my leg jiggling and my head was spinning from the noise. I have no idea why I do such things. It is never fun; all I want to do is escape. Well, I do know why. My ADHD loves spontaneity, being the absolute gremlin that it is. I look around and wonder why people talk about the things they do. They discuss things that I have trained myself over the years to ask about, such as the weather, or what they are doing on holiday. I learnt if I do that, then I fit in more. People grew tired of talking about my interests or deep subjects, they thought it rather odd. Frankly I would rather discuss the meaning of life or the state of the world, but apparently that is weird! So that must be kept in a box, until I meet people who enjoy discussions of such topics.
After I left, I walked around town, people were everywhere, and they kept bumping into me. I felt invaded and could feel stress, anxiety and frustration bubbling, I wanted to escape that very moment but could not. People cut in front of me, their big heavy shopping bags hit my legs. I wanted to scream. I walked around the shops and wondered what on earth I was doing here. I felt rather disappointed that I had allowed myself to become embroiled in classic capitalism. I wished I had just stayed at home, because it was much easier than this bizarre situation I voluntarily pursued where I felt my skin crawling and my mind screaming. I remembered that ADHD – the swine – had sought the perfect coat that very same day, so of course, waiting seemed impossible.
It is a funny old thing this brain of mine. I often wish it would just give me a break.
I decided to skip a few shops as I remembered there was a reason I felt this way. The autism hates busy places. I could reduce stimuli and feel better again. I did not know this some years ago, because I was diagnosed late, like many women are. I used to force myself to do these things; it never ended well. The call of my home was strong. As soon as I got in, I told my family I was taking some time out and proceeded to sit in a quiet dark room for a while. I have learnt this regulates my central nervous system and quiets the autism.
Well, at least until the ADHD fights against it and screams “We must do something! We cannot sit here resting, it is a waste of time!” and I scream back ‘BE QUIET BRAIN!’.
That ADHD really is a bane to my life.
I used much capacity today, so I am putting off jobs until tomorrow. It feels uncomfortable doing this, because the autism and OCD likes everything ordered, perfect and complete. But sometimes it cannot be that, so I try to accept the imperfect. This is necessary as the ADHD creates chaos. It often feels like ADHD is on one shoulder and autism and OCD are on the other and they argue. ADHD likes to be wild and free. Autism likes to be quiet, ordered and to have nothing changed. OCD just likes everything perfect. You could call them enemies. They certainly wind each other up – and me in the process! I try to find humour in this, which is why I describe ADHD, OCD and autism as annoying gremlins. Nature, rest, supportive people, accommodations and learning skills to manage them all help keep these little gremlins at bay so I can control them, not the other way around.
I will end this on; I did not even need a winter coat; I forgot I already have five!
Samantha is open to connections and regularly writes about neurodivergence: https://www.linkedin.com/in/samantha-morgan-024607347