Transformative Self-discovery: Reflections on the Affect of Becoming an Advisor

Abstract

Learning to become an advisor requires a lot of commitment and personal strength because as you learn to help others find their own problems, so do you, the advisor-trainee, discover your own problems and challenges. As your advisees experience moments of self-doubt and insecurity, so do you, often mirrored in the question, “Will I ever become a good advisor?” Good advisors persevere through their struggles and, like their own advisees, they soon learn to find the joy in the self-discovery process. Finally, they emerge from the learning process having been transformed. We call them ‘advisors’ but the significance runs far deeper. Whether by accident or by design, the process of becoming an advisor is almost a mirror-image of the process the advisee undergoes as they too learn to transform themselves(Kato & Mynard, 2016). The new advisor has not only gained a deep understanding of themselves and how they overcame their struggles, they have also gained a deeper understanding of their advisees’ struggles. No longer abstract, the deep connections formed between advisor and advisee are now dynamic and almost tangible. The advisees may go on to graduate and leave school, but the new advisors remain, ever ready to advise and guide the incoming students in the next academic year.