Unlocking Support: The Mentor’s Role in Co-Creating Natural Support at the Workplace

In this webinar, you will learn about how the use of an in-house mentor can enhance natural support and workplace inclusion. You will be introduced to recent research about what a mentor is and what mentors themselves report as positive, but also challenging, aspects of the role. The concept of Workplace Inclusion Competence will be presented, and you’ll gain insight into why it’s important for this competence to be developed at the organizational level and as collective learning processes within the company. The lecture will also highlight the positive consequences of transitioning from a formal collaboration between an employment specialist and an employer to instead embrace co-creation with a mentor.

Tonje Sannes has a master degree in international social work from Nord University, Norway. She has also studied sociology at UC Berkeley, California, and philosophy at the University of Oslo, Norway. After several years of working as an employment specialist, she now works at the intersection of research and the field of practice with research dissemination, courses and lectures. Through her job at the Work Research Institute at Oslo Metropolitan University, Norway, she develops and gives courses on inclusion skill competence and Supported Employment. She also works on assignment for the Norwegian Administration of Labour and Welfare. She has extensive experience in giving lectures in various arrangements, including at conferences such as the 12th European Conference on Supported Employment, EUSE, in Lisbon, Portugal, the 13th European Conference on Supported Employment, EUSE, in Amsterdam, Netherland, and the world conference on Supported Employment (WASE) in Vancouver, Canada, in 2023.