Who can participate?
There are two ways to participate in the Lute FASSN program.
- Colleagues offering support* are PLU faculty and staff volunteers who have gone through difficult life experiences and are willing to meet with PLU faculty and staff going through similar experiences. Colleagues offering support don’t need to be experts in counseling or to have completely overcome their battles; they simply need to be willing to share their experiences and offer support to others who may be newer to the issue. They are not experts and have not received specific training—they are volunteering their time and their lived experience to help others.
- Colleagues seeking support are PLU faculty and staff who are going through difficult life experiences and are looking to be connected with someone who has a similar or related experience. Mentees may also opt to meet to co-mentor one another if they share a common experience and no mentors for that issue are available.
*We use the colleague offering support language because it best illustrates the general heart and purpose of the program. However, we see the roles as fluid; colleagues offering and seeking support can learn from each other. The colleague offering support does not need to be a wise sage who has all the answers or has it all together. We avoided the term “mentors” so as to reduce the pressure to know it all; we prefer to think of them as supporters, cheerleaders, encouragers, co-travelers, etc.