Patient Group Mentoring Programme 2024-25

We are thrilled to announce the return of the Patient Group Mentoring Programme!

Applications open 18th March – 15th April.

What is the purpose of the programme?

Beacon’s patient group mentoring programme provides an opportunity for rare disease advocacy groups to be paired with an experienced mentor over the course of a year

Strong patient groups are crucial when it comes to rare diseases. Not only do they connect with and support isolated patients, but they can also be a driving force when it comes to research and campaigning for patients’ interests.

Ensuring individuals who run patient groups – mostly patients or parents themselves – have the appropriate skills, knowledge and confidence to achieve their goals is therefore of utmost importance.

The programme helps patient groups get established, build their capacity and streamline their work in order to improve patient support services, implement new projects and/or increase their involvement in research.

By encouraging communication across mentoring pairs, it also aims to build a more unified rare disease community that works together for mutual benefit.

Applications are now open for mentors and mentees!

Mentors

You don’t have to be a part of the rare disease community to become a mentor, as long as you have applicable skills that could help a patient group leader.

Our mentees need support in a wide range of areas including charity management, communications, fundraising, life sciences and many more. If you believe you have something to offer the rare community – we want to hear from you!

Mentees

We welcome all patient group leaders who think they would benefit from the programme to apply to be mentees, no matter what stage your patient organisation is at or where you are based.

If you are a motivated leader with clear goals and vision, the mentoring programme could be exactly what you need to take your organisation to the next level.

You can find out more information on who is eligible in our FAQ tab!

With thanks to our sponsors

Community Fund logo
Illumina logo