The Virtual Center for Academic wellbeing – Mentoring program

The mentor training within the Digiwell Project was held in Helsinki at DIAK University on 21-23.03.2023. Members of the project and the mentors to be trained were present from each partner university. Over the course of 3 days, the mentors were trained on aspects regarding digital well-being, both from theoretical and practical points of view.  

The Norwegian team fostered an activity focused on gaining a better understanding of the mentoring activity in general and the one specific to each university, such as the example of the activities organised in Finland and Norway for staff members which contribute to mentoring and strengthening the work group. One of the results of the project, the booklet on digital well-being, was assessed in small groups and the changes/improvements were discussed.  

Exercises asking for reflection various aspects of digitalization and its challenges were the starting point of exchanging good practices in digitalization. The specific steps needed to implement this mentoring programme in each university, the resources (personal and organizational) to be used and the challenges/difficulties expected were also analysed and integrated in the strategies presented by each university along with the digital platform with the online course of digital well-being.  

The participants’ conclusions regarding what it takes to be a successful mentor in digital well-being from the personal and organizational points of views are: being open-minded, flexible, empathetic, communicating, creative, willing to learn on the personal level and having management support, enough resources, creating digital well-being areas, establishing mentorship as an organizational value, spreading motivation and enthusiasm about the importance of the topic.