Chapter 15: A LatCircle: Supporting Academic and Social Wellbeing Through Effective Virtual Mentoring of Latinx Scholars

Traditional mentoring aims to facilitate the growth and learning of mentees and protégées to create a safe context for achievement, developing independence, decision-making, and problem-solving skills. In this chapter, critical mentoring aims to also include the positive impact on the mental health and wellbeing of both the mentor and protégée. Six Latinx educators came together from isolated geographical distance to report on a successful virtual mentoring circle, coined the LatCircle. Sections within the chapter describe the emergence, organization, and functioning of the LatCircle for building wellbeing, the necessary wisdom, commitment, and capacity for meeting the challenges of public and higher education. Each member shares their testimonio to entail aspects of more than feeling good or just functioning well, but how the LatCircle promoted mental health, built resilience, and helped each member’s wellbeing flourish within various higher and public education organizational settings.