letter / Email exchanges

Different modes of exchanging:

This programme is enormously flexible. On the trial programme we had people exchanging emails, text, voice notes and postcards. You can even mix and match your methods according to what works for you and your partner. Below are some suggestions of how it can work for letters and for emailing. Feel free to try our your own ideas and combinations of exchanges.

EXCHANGE OF LETTERS:

1)    Agree on roughly the length of letter you want to exchange. 

2)    Write each other a letter in the role of the mentee – i.e write about the things you want to work on, write out your questions and concerns, your challenges. Keep your hand moving. Be prepared to be surprised by what you write. In other words, use the act of writing the letter as a kind of creative exercise in itself. 

3)    Once you have received each other’s letters, write back in the role of the mentor. Write reflecting on what you read/ received  - what you understood, what stood out to you. 

4)    Once you have received these, send each other a postcard, stating your point of gratitude, your intention for the coming week and your wish for your partner. 

If you are a secret stationary addict (like me!) then you can use this is as a brilliant excuse to go out and buy a new folder, so as to keep all your letters and postcards in one place. At the end of the exchange, you may each want to post your mentee letters and postcards back to each other, as they will form a good record of your work and progress over the weeks.

EXCHANGE LETTER-BY-EMAIL:

Each person should create a document that is their document. This could be one document for the whole exchange or you could start a new document each week. Name it e.g. ‘Matilda Week 1’ 

This document will contain:

1) The mentee’s initial letter 

2) The mentor’s response to the initial letter

3) The mentee’s response to the mentor’s response.

4) The mentee’s appreciation, intention and wish.

Since email is so fast you could put in an extra exchange between 3) and 4) - one other moment for the mentor to respond, briefly, but that is up to you and up to the mentee and what they want/ need.

So ALL of the above will live together in one document as a record of your exchange within the roles, one way round. 

There will be a parallel document, with the roles the other way round.

There is also space for letters and live exchange to work alongside each other - i.e. if you wanted to fit in one phone call at some point you could do that.