The Six Areas

Fahrenheit speaks often about the six areas that comprise a person: spiritual, physical, mental, emotional, professional/educational and relational. Each of these areas are important, needed and necessary talking points in a mentoring relationship. Mentors can help meet those needs by addressing these six areas.

The goal of addressing all six areas is to help a mentee to have balance in their life. Each of the six areas directly impacts the others. What we feed grows. If focus is put on one of the areas and neglects the other five, there is imbalance. To gain a fuller understanding of the six areas, you can find individual episodes on the Real Life Mentoring podcast.

Spiritual

When we say spiritual, we are referring to a person’s relationship with God. A trusted mentoring relationship can be an authentic place to talk about faith. Here, honest conversations can take place about how faith impacts other areas of our lives.  

The mentor can have a deep impact of a mentee by having real conversations about their journey with God. People want to know that faith is authentic. Authentic faith doesn’t deny challenges in your life, it gives you a place to take them. When a mentor speaks honestly and openly about their faith, a mentee may open up about their own. In fact, a mentor may have the privilege to be the first one to introduce a mentee to genuine faith in God. To find out more about how a mentor can engage in this area, check out our podcast Real Life Mentoring.

Physical

When we say physical, we are referring to a person’s physical body. This includes our five senses. When considering the physical, here are a few topics a mentor can discuss with a mentee: body image, unhealthy habits, genetics, food and fitness, sex and sexuality, abuse, self-care. To find out more on the physical component of who we are, check out the Real Life Mentoring podcast.

Mental

When we say mental, we are referring to a person’s thoughts and their thought life. The mental can include our memory, recall, imagination, perspective and our interpretation. Because the mental is so complex, taking time in this area is needed in a good mentoring relationship. A mentee may struggle with sharing in this area for a variety of reasons. They may not like addressing what they have struggled with in the past. It may be too difficult to revisit some painful memories. The goal is not to counsel in this area. The goal is to help bring freedom in their thought life. Things that fall under this category could include: memories (good and bad), role of social media, anxiety, depression, positive mental health.

If a mentee is having mental difficulty, mentors are usually not equipped to handle the complexities of mental health. The best way to serve a mentee in this area is to refer them to a professional. Your presence in the process will be an invaluable support.

Emotional

Emotions need addressing, both the healthy and unhealthy. A mentor can help a mentee grow in the area of emotions by first addressing them.

A mentor can help give a mentee language for how they are feeling. This may require some patience. This may also involve some good questions on the part of the mentor. Since the goal is to help guide a mentee toward balance in their lives, addressing emotions that may be too big or too small is a first step toward balance. In order to start a good conversation about emotions, a mentor can ask questions to help identify emotions like:

  • Which emotions make you nervous?

  • Which emotions are difficult for you to express in front of others and why?

To find more content on the emotional component of people, check out our podcast Real Life Mentoring.

Professional and Educational

In this area, we address a mentee’s profession or if they haven’t entered the workplace, their education. This is such an important area to talk about because adults spend a good majority of their time at the workplace or in school. Discussing workplace or educational challenges may actually provide strategies toward helpful solutions for a mentee. Some areas for discussion include: education, life skills, job training, job transition, job or educational satisfaction, workplace relationships. Our podcast, Real Life Mentoring is an excellent source for more information on how to discuss this topic as well as others. 

Relational

We are created for relationships. A biblical worldview says that God created man and desires a relationship with him. At the core of humanity, Fahrenheit believes that people thrive when they are in relationship with God and others. However, relationships can be the greatest source of strength or the greatest source of pain. While healthy relationships build stability, unhealthy relationships can impact a mentee on a variety of levels. Talking about relationships can include the following: God, family, friends, colleagues, community (city, town), citizen of a country. To find out more about the complexity of relationships, check out the Real Life Mentoring podcast.