If you're a student from a big city moving to a country town to study, one of the more intimidating challenges is trying to find a way to enter community life.
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That challenge is one facing medical students from the The University of Melbourne’s Rural Clinical School, who come to Ballarat to study at the hospitals here.
In order to assist the students to get the most from life in regional Victoria, the Medical Education Research Team at the Rural Clinical School have devised a Community Mentor and Engagement Program.
Research assistant with the Department of Rural Health Rebecca Caygill says the program is about making the students’ lives about more than just study.
She says while the level of contact is up to the students – it can be about just having the occasional coffee, or participating in sporting or other community events – the mentors can benefit from having a relationship with the students as well.
“Some of them like sharing home-cooked meals, and another I know participates in a orchestral program. It’s up to the student and the mentor to to develop a natural relationship,” say Ms Caygill.
The students participating in the program are in their second year of medicine, and in most cases they are new to the towns they will be living and working in.
The program has run successfully in Shepparton and Wangaratta in the past two years and is expanding to Bendigo and Ballarat campuses.
People interested in being a community mentor should contact The University of Melbourne Department of Rural Health on 5823 4564 or 5823 4596.
