Journal of Gerontological Social Work
ISSN: 0163-4372 (Print) 1540-4048 (Online) Journal homepage: http://www.tandfonline.com/loi/wger20
The Value of Mentoring: An Interview with Rose Dobrof, DSW Tobi A. Abramson PhD & Nora O’Brien-Suric PhD To cite this article: Tobi A. Abramson PhD & Nora O’Brien-Suric PhD (2016): The Value of Mentoring: An Interview with Rose Dobrof, DSW, Journal of Gerontological Social Work, DOI: 10.1080/01634372.2016.1151254 To link to this article: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/01634372.2016.1151254
Accepted author version posted online: 10 Feb 2016.
Submit your article to this journal
Article views: 9
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Full Terms & Conditions of access and use can be found at http://www.tandfonline.com/action/journalInformation?journalCode=wger20 Download by: [RMIT University Library]
Date: 18 March 2016, At: 21:57
The Value of Mentoring: An Interview with Rose
cr ip
t
Dobrof, DSW Tobi A. Abramson, PhD
us
Nora O’Brien-Suric, PhD The John A. Hartford Foundation
M an
Contact: [email protected]
ed
Those of us who have been working in the field of geriatrics and gerontology for two decades or more have had the benefit of being mentored by some of the great leaders. Those great leaders
pt
are now either retiring or have passed away leaving us their legacy and the important task of becoming the next generation of mentors. Rose Dobrof was such an important leader in the field
ce
of social work and aging and the interview, conducted in 2012 that follows, sought to capture, in her own words, the contributions and lessons she has received from others and the wisdom in her role as mentor.
Ac
Downloaded by [RMIT University Library] at 21:57 18 March 2016
New York Institute of Technology
Q: How did you get into the field of aging? Rose: When we moved to NY, Mt. Vernon (we came from Indianapolis). I worked- I never didn’t work and I wanted to teach. I had a promise that I would get on the faculty at Columbia
1 1
the next year. The one client group with whom I hadn’t worked and who I knew would be important was old people. I had a very well-connected neighbor (in the field of social work world) and I asked her whether she had any suggestions. She suggested that I go to the Hebrew
us
Rose: Presidents of Hunter College, such as Jacqueline Wexler was a very important mentor in my life. Very important. When I was a kid, I started volunteering in a community center in
probably my earliest mentor.
M an
Denver. Mrs. Heidi Carpenter was the Executive Director, (I called her mommy) I think she was
My sister, who was 17 months older than I, was a very important mentor in my life. She paved the way and she taught me how to manage. She was very, very smart and a natural born teacher
ed
and mentor.
pt
Bob Butler, was a very important mentor in my life in every way. Bob and I met in 1965. I guess
ce
it was when he was in Washington, DC. Oh, when he moved here (to New York City), it meant a great deal to me. He was probably – he and Jacob, Mommy Carpenter, and my sister were the most important mentors in my life.
Ac
Downloaded by [RMIT University Library] at 21:57 18 March 2016
Q: Who else, besides Jacob, were your mentors?
cr ip
t
Home and see Jacob Reingold. He hired me that day and that is how I got into the field of aging.
Q: You have been a mentor to so many of us over the years, how did you become a mentor? Rose: The question is when did we begin to use the word mentor. I don’t know when we began to use the word ‘mentor’. I didn’t consider myself a mentor. I considered – I loved social work as
2 2
a profession. I loved the field of aging and it was important to me to encourage younger people to come into the field. As I said, I did not think of it as mentoring. I thought of it as helping.
t
Q: Was the field pretty empty for young people to come into the field ?
cr ip
Rose: There was a terrific need for people to come into the field of aging. The profession was in
us
on the totem pole of professions. There was no question about that. The field of aging was very low, but mainly I felt I was helping the field, the profession – in many ways the field more than
M an
anything else, because the profession was in pretty good shape. Aging was –there was just nobody in aging.
Q: How do we get emerging professionals to want to be in the field of aging?
ed
Rose: Very interesting question. Salaries. Prestige. Social workers are like other people –they want sufficient salaries -which have been slow in coming. The prestige of both the profession
pt
and the field of aging.
ce
Q: What can we do as mentors, or as upcoming mentors, to encourage people to come into the field?
Ac
Downloaded by [RMIT University Library] at 21:57 18 March 2016
pretty good shape. I may be idealizing the past, but certainly the social work profession was low
Rose: Recruit. Reach out actively when you see someone who looks promising. Participate in
lots of organizations. Participation in NASW (the National Association of Social Workers).
Recruitment. You serve as a colleague, but also as an example.
3 3
Q: For you, what have been some of the benefits of being a mentor to all of these wonderful people?
cr ip
t
Rose: They are so numerous and so profoundly important. A sense of satisfaction when I see
someone like Nora (OBrien-Suric) for example. A sense of making a contribution that is
us
M an
Q: What have been some of the challenges for you as a mentor?
Rose: You have to stay on your toes, intellectually- in terms of your understanding of the field. You have to be able to stay ahead of the person you are mentoring. There are differentials in the
ed
way you feel toward the people coming up in the field.
You have to take pride in their accomplishment, but not credit for their accomplishment and you
pt
really have to be careful about that. There are, I think, too many mentors who take too much
ce
credit and that you really must not do. Then there are mentees who you do not like. That happens.
Ac
Downloaded by [RMIT University Library] at 21:57 18 March 2016
important for the field and for the future. The future is very important.
Q: What do you do then? Rose: It happened once only. She abandoned me before I abandoned her. It didn't work. Q: What makes the mentorship relationship work?
4 4
Rose: You have to be on top of things if it is going to be a good mentor. You have to have commitment to the profession and the field – number 1. Number 2 – staying up on new knowledge and new fields, new fields and new agencies. You have to be ready to acknowledge
cr ip
t
failure. It does happen. You don’t love everyone you mentor. You have to remember it is collegial.
us
mentoring?
M an
Rose: VERY, but that’s me. I am from the West and I tend to be what some people feel is unprofessional. I get involved, close, loving. I say again one of the most important things is to not take credit for their successes and equally not to blame yourself unless there is real blame – real reason for blame for the failures.
ed
Q: For us, the upcoming mentors, what do you see as our challenges?
pt
Rose: Morale. Maintaining your morale and your belief in the profession and the field -Being
ce
able to be disappointed and not fall apart at the seams because sometimes you are disappointed. Sometimes you are disappointed. Sometimes the relationship isn’t good or the mentee doesn’t do well or the mentee finds another mentor. That happens and you have to be careful to not let that
Ac
Downloaded by [RMIT University Library] at 21:57 18 March 2016
Q: You are still close to so many of your mentees, how important is the informal part of
become a narcissistic wound. Q: What are the joys? Rose: The joys… oh… the close collegial relationship. Their successes. Getting to know their
extended families and becoming a part of their lives. Not every mentor does that. I probably tend
5 5
to establish closer personal relationships with mentees whom I really like. There are some mentors who do not believe that you should do this.
t
Q: What are some of the gaps you see in mentoring or in our professional world of aging?
cr ip
Rose: We need more period. We need, I think, more recognition of the mentor and the mentor’s
us
mentors who are committed to the profession, to the future, to the people for whom they work. Q: How do we encourage people to become mentors and can we teach people about becoming
M an
a mentor?
Rose: Number 1 –by example. A happy mentor can be like honey. Emphasize its importance and the satisfaction. Mentors need to know the ropes of the profession and the field.
ed
Q: What do emerging professionals need from us?
pt
Rose: They need a mentor. They need good examples. They need to be able to look at senior
ce
professionals and admire them and admire the work they do. Q: How do emerging professionals find mentors? Rose: Work with agency executives and very solid professionals in the agencies. You have to
Ac
Downloaded by [RMIT University Library] at 21:57 18 March 2016
role. More recognition of its importance in the lives of young professionals. We need more
connect and sell the value of mentors. Q: What other advice can you give us upcoming mentors?
6 6
Rose: Don’t do it unless you have real commitment to the future and to the, usually, younger people who are coming into the profession. Be patient. You have to recognize that your mentee is a learner, a junior person in the profession. That person needs your support as much as the
cr ip
t
content of your mentoring or teaching. You can’t be threatened and that sometimes happened.
us
Rose: I didn’t think I was mentoring. I was doing what people had done for me. I had very good mentors when I was young and just coming into the field. There were people who were so kind,
M an
unthreatened, loving to teach, wanting new people in the field, enthusiastic about their work and about teaching new young people from their experience. That was very important in solidifying and I remain eternally grateful to the people who were my mentors.
Q: How important is it that a mentor be able to open doors for mentees through their
ed
connections in the field?
pt
Rose: Very important that mentors use their relationships to help the young person. I was so
ce
fortunate in that respect because they helped. Access to a system – they gave me that. That is very important.
Q: We want to thank you for taking the time to talk to us about mentoring. You are a treasure
Ac
Downloaded by [RMIT University Library] at 21:57 18 March 2016
Q: Any words to summarize your insights, experiences, advice, any last pearls of wisdom?
to us all.
Rose: I got more than I gave. That is the other thing that I think is important- that the mentor recognizes fully and emotionally how much they get from what they do. It is one of the most satisfying roles professionally and I love it! Thank you.
7 7
This article is a call to action for each of us to take responsibility to mentor an emerging or less experienced colleague and for the junior colleagues to step forward to seek out more experienced colleagues for mentorship. It is our responsibility to pay it forward. And to honor one of our
cr ip us M an ed pt ce Ac
Downloaded by [RMIT University Library] at 21:57 18 March 2016
t
great leaders in geriatric social work education and practice – Rose Dobrof, DSW.
8 8
ISSN: 0163-4372 (Print) 1540-4048 (Online) Journal homepage: http://www.tandfonline.com/loi/wger20
The Value of Mentoring: An Interview with Rose Dobrof, DSW Tobi A. Abramson PhD & Nora O’Brien-Suric PhD To cite this article: Tobi A. Abramson PhD & Nora O’Brien-Suric PhD (2016): The Value of Mentoring: An Interview with Rose Dobrof, DSW, Journal of Gerontological Social Work, DOI: 10.1080/01634372.2016.1151254 To link to this article: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/01634372.2016.1151254
Accepted author version posted online: 10 Feb 2016.
Submit your article to this journal
Article views: 9
View related articles
View Crossmark data
Full Terms & Conditions of access and use can be found at http://www.tandfonline.com/action/journalInformation?journalCode=wger20 Download by: [RMIT University Library]
Date: 18 March 2016, At: 21:57
The Value of Mentoring: An Interview with Rose
cr ip
t
Dobrof, DSW Tobi A. Abramson, PhD
us
Nora O’Brien-Suric, PhD The John A. Hartford Foundation
M an
Contact: [email protected]
ed
Those of us who have been working in the field of geriatrics and gerontology for two decades or more have had the benefit of being mentored by some of the great leaders. Those great leaders
pt
are now either retiring or have passed away leaving us their legacy and the important task of becoming the next generation of mentors. Rose Dobrof was such an important leader in the field
ce
of social work and aging and the interview, conducted in 2012 that follows, sought to capture, in her own words, the contributions and lessons she has received from others and the wisdom in her role as mentor.
Ac
Downloaded by [RMIT University Library] at 21:57 18 March 2016
New York Institute of Technology
Q: How did you get into the field of aging? Rose: When we moved to NY, Mt. Vernon (we came from Indianapolis). I worked- I never didn’t work and I wanted to teach. I had a promise that I would get on the faculty at Columbia
1 1
the next year. The one client group with whom I hadn’t worked and who I knew would be important was old people. I had a very well-connected neighbor (in the field of social work world) and I asked her whether she had any suggestions. She suggested that I go to the Hebrew
us
Rose: Presidents of Hunter College, such as Jacqueline Wexler was a very important mentor in my life. Very important. When I was a kid, I started volunteering in a community center in
probably my earliest mentor.
M an
Denver. Mrs. Heidi Carpenter was the Executive Director, (I called her mommy) I think she was
My sister, who was 17 months older than I, was a very important mentor in my life. She paved the way and she taught me how to manage. She was very, very smart and a natural born teacher
ed
and mentor.
pt
Bob Butler, was a very important mentor in my life in every way. Bob and I met in 1965. I guess
ce
it was when he was in Washington, DC. Oh, when he moved here (to New York City), it meant a great deal to me. He was probably – he and Jacob, Mommy Carpenter, and my sister were the most important mentors in my life.
Ac
Downloaded by [RMIT University Library] at 21:57 18 March 2016
Q: Who else, besides Jacob, were your mentors?
cr ip
t
Home and see Jacob Reingold. He hired me that day and that is how I got into the field of aging.
Q: You have been a mentor to so many of us over the years, how did you become a mentor? Rose: The question is when did we begin to use the word mentor. I don’t know when we began to use the word ‘mentor’. I didn’t consider myself a mentor. I considered – I loved social work as
2 2
a profession. I loved the field of aging and it was important to me to encourage younger people to come into the field. As I said, I did not think of it as mentoring. I thought of it as helping.
t
Q: Was the field pretty empty for young people to come into the field ?
cr ip
Rose: There was a terrific need for people to come into the field of aging. The profession was in
us
on the totem pole of professions. There was no question about that. The field of aging was very low, but mainly I felt I was helping the field, the profession – in many ways the field more than
M an
anything else, because the profession was in pretty good shape. Aging was –there was just nobody in aging.
Q: How do we get emerging professionals to want to be in the field of aging?
ed
Rose: Very interesting question. Salaries. Prestige. Social workers are like other people –they want sufficient salaries -which have been slow in coming. The prestige of both the profession
pt
and the field of aging.
ce
Q: What can we do as mentors, or as upcoming mentors, to encourage people to come into the field?
Ac
Downloaded by [RMIT University Library] at 21:57 18 March 2016
pretty good shape. I may be idealizing the past, but certainly the social work profession was low
Rose: Recruit. Reach out actively when you see someone who looks promising. Participate in
lots of organizations. Participation in NASW (the National Association of Social Workers).
Recruitment. You serve as a colleague, but also as an example.
3 3
Q: For you, what have been some of the benefits of being a mentor to all of these wonderful people?
cr ip
t
Rose: They are so numerous and so profoundly important. A sense of satisfaction when I see
someone like Nora (OBrien-Suric) for example. A sense of making a contribution that is
us
M an
Q: What have been some of the challenges for you as a mentor?
Rose: You have to stay on your toes, intellectually- in terms of your understanding of the field. You have to be able to stay ahead of the person you are mentoring. There are differentials in the
ed
way you feel toward the people coming up in the field.
You have to take pride in their accomplishment, but not credit for their accomplishment and you
pt
really have to be careful about that. There are, I think, too many mentors who take too much
ce
credit and that you really must not do. Then there are mentees who you do not like. That happens.
Ac
Downloaded by [RMIT University Library] at 21:57 18 March 2016
important for the field and for the future. The future is very important.
Q: What do you do then? Rose: It happened once only. She abandoned me before I abandoned her. It didn't work. Q: What makes the mentorship relationship work?
4 4
Rose: You have to be on top of things if it is going to be a good mentor. You have to have commitment to the profession and the field – number 1. Number 2 – staying up on new knowledge and new fields, new fields and new agencies. You have to be ready to acknowledge
cr ip
t
failure. It does happen. You don’t love everyone you mentor. You have to remember it is collegial.
us
mentoring?
M an
Rose: VERY, but that’s me. I am from the West and I tend to be what some people feel is unprofessional. I get involved, close, loving. I say again one of the most important things is to not take credit for their successes and equally not to blame yourself unless there is real blame – real reason for blame for the failures.
ed
Q: For us, the upcoming mentors, what do you see as our challenges?
pt
Rose: Morale. Maintaining your morale and your belief in the profession and the field -Being
ce
able to be disappointed and not fall apart at the seams because sometimes you are disappointed. Sometimes you are disappointed. Sometimes the relationship isn’t good or the mentee doesn’t do well or the mentee finds another mentor. That happens and you have to be careful to not let that
Ac
Downloaded by [RMIT University Library] at 21:57 18 March 2016
Q: You are still close to so many of your mentees, how important is the informal part of
become a narcissistic wound. Q: What are the joys? Rose: The joys… oh… the close collegial relationship. Their successes. Getting to know their
extended families and becoming a part of their lives. Not every mentor does that. I probably tend
5 5
to establish closer personal relationships with mentees whom I really like. There are some mentors who do not believe that you should do this.
t
Q: What are some of the gaps you see in mentoring or in our professional world of aging?
cr ip
Rose: We need more period. We need, I think, more recognition of the mentor and the mentor’s
us
mentors who are committed to the profession, to the future, to the people for whom they work. Q: How do we encourage people to become mentors and can we teach people about becoming
M an
a mentor?
Rose: Number 1 –by example. A happy mentor can be like honey. Emphasize its importance and the satisfaction. Mentors need to know the ropes of the profession and the field.
ed
Q: What do emerging professionals need from us?
pt
Rose: They need a mentor. They need good examples. They need to be able to look at senior
ce
professionals and admire them and admire the work they do. Q: How do emerging professionals find mentors? Rose: Work with agency executives and very solid professionals in the agencies. You have to
Ac
Downloaded by [RMIT University Library] at 21:57 18 March 2016
role. More recognition of its importance in the lives of young professionals. We need more
connect and sell the value of mentors. Q: What other advice can you give us upcoming mentors?
6 6
Rose: Don’t do it unless you have real commitment to the future and to the, usually, younger people who are coming into the profession. Be patient. You have to recognize that your mentee is a learner, a junior person in the profession. That person needs your support as much as the
cr ip
t
content of your mentoring or teaching. You can’t be threatened and that sometimes happened.
us
Rose: I didn’t think I was mentoring. I was doing what people had done for me. I had very good mentors when I was young and just coming into the field. There were people who were so kind,
M an
unthreatened, loving to teach, wanting new people in the field, enthusiastic about their work and about teaching new young people from their experience. That was very important in solidifying and I remain eternally grateful to the people who were my mentors.
Q: How important is it that a mentor be able to open doors for mentees through their
ed
connections in the field?
pt
Rose: Very important that mentors use their relationships to help the young person. I was so
ce
fortunate in that respect because they helped. Access to a system – they gave me that. That is very important.
Q: We want to thank you for taking the time to talk to us about mentoring. You are a treasure
Ac
Downloaded by [RMIT University Library] at 21:57 18 March 2016
Q: Any words to summarize your insights, experiences, advice, any last pearls of wisdom?
to us all.
Rose: I got more than I gave. That is the other thing that I think is important- that the mentor recognizes fully and emotionally how much they get from what they do. It is one of the most satisfying roles professionally and I love it! Thank you.
7 7
This article is a call to action for each of us to take responsibility to mentor an emerging or less experienced colleague and for the junior colleagues to step forward to seek out more experienced colleagues for mentorship. It is our responsibility to pay it forward. And to honor one of our
cr ip us M an ed pt ce Ac
Downloaded by [RMIT University Library] at 21:57 18 March 2016
t
great leaders in geriatric social work education and practice – Rose Dobrof, DSW.
8 8
