Preparing for your first conversation
How to describe a situation in five minutes so the remaining fifty-five are useful.
Resources
Things worth reading before, during and after a conversation.
Short practical resources drawn from what mentors say most often — how to prepare, what to ask, and how to make a single conversation actually change something.
Guidance works better when both sides prepare a little. These resources are written from the recurring patterns in our conversations: what people wish they had asked, what they wish they had said earlier, and what they did afterwards that made the difference.
We publish deliberately little and only what we have seen work. Everything here is free, and none of it is a substitute for a conversation with someone who knows your specifics.
New resources are added as the mentor network grows. If you want a guide on something specific, write and ask.
How it works
- Listen. You describe the situation in your own words — no forms full of jargon.
- Understand. A mentor who has lived something similar asks the questions that clarify the real decision.
- Guide. Options, trade-offs and what usually happens next, from decades of practice.
- Refer. Anything clinical, legal, financial or otherwise regulated goes to our Professional Panel.
Available now
Questions worth asking a mentor
The six questions that consistently produce the most useful answers.
For parents of students
How to raise a course or career disagreement without ending the discussion.
For first-time founders
A short list of numbers to know before any mentoring conversation.
For families in business
Framing a succession conversation so nobody arrives defensive.
For new mentors
Listening before advising, and how to say 'this is beyond me' well.
“Come with the real question, not the polite version of it. Everything else follows.”
Ask for a specific guide, suggest a topic, or request permission to reuse these materials in your school, college or organisation.
Anubhav Setu is not a clinical or emergency service. Our mentors are experienced adults who share perspective within their competence; they are not positioned as psychologists, doctors, lawyers or financial advisers. Regulated matters are referred to qualified professionals on our panel.