W2W Mentor’s Pocket Guide

Quick reference for W2W mentors

Prototype for clinical review. This quick-reference guide supports peer mentoring. It does not replace a mentee’s care team, provide medical advice, or direct treatment. Clinical details should be reviewed and updated by the W2W gynecologic oncology team before use.

Why this pocket guide exists

Gynecologic cancer care is changing rapidly—and thankfully, many W2W mentors have been cancer-free for years. This pocket guide reconnects us with the foundations of our mentor training while helping us stay familiar with treatments and experiences that may be different from our own.

Use it as a quick refresher before connecting with a mentee: to feel grounded, recognize the language she may use, listen with confidence, and offer support without stepping into the role of her medical team.

Save this guideKeep W2W handy: add it to your Home Screen

Open w2w.pkt.guide on your phone, tablet, or computer, then follow the steps below. There is no account to create and nothing to install from an app store.

iPhone or iPad · Safari

Tap Share (the square with an up arrow), scroll down, choose Add to Home Screen, then tap Add.

iPhone or iPad · Chrome

Tap Share beside the address bar, choose Add to Home Screen, then tap Add.

Android · Chrome

Tap the three dots beside the address bar, choose Install app or Add to Home screen, then follow the prompts.

Computer · Any browser

Open w2w.pkt.guide. To save it, click the bookmark star or press Command-D on a Mac or Ctrl-D on Windows.

Can’t find “Add to Home Screen”? You may be in a Private or Incognito tab. Copy the guide’s link, open a regular tab, and try again.

W2W mentoring guidelines

🤝 The W2W core mission

We pair gynecologic cancer patients with trained survivor volunteers to share personal experiences, listen carefully, and build a safe environment of trust, thoughtful optimism, and empathy.

📋 Rules of the road & expectations

  • Bi-weekly check-ins: Connect with your active match at least once every two weeks to remind her you are there.
  • Interaction logging: Report a quick summary of every touchpoint—date, method such as text or call, and approximate duration—to the coordinator.
  • No firm cutoffs: Matches ebb and flow naturally. If a relationship quietly dissolves as treatment ends, view it as a success: she has found her footing.
  • Our community: Gather for support meetings, socials, and educational presentations covering medical updates and skills such as stress management, coping, and nutrition.

👂 Active listening & communication

  • Pay attention and show it: Give undivided attention. Use silence deliberately; it can help a woman open up.
  • Defer judgment: Let her finish before responding. Listen to understand—not to correct, compare, or solve.
  • Tell your story succinctly: Keep your diagnosis summary brief so it does not overwhelm your mentee or shift the focus away from her.
  • Ask what she needs: “Would it help most if I listened, shared part of my experience, or helped you write down a question for your care team?”

🔒 Essential boundaries

DO: Offer companionship and realistic hope; speak from your own experience; set personal limits; protect confidentiality; take care of your emotional well-being; encourage questions for the clinical team.
DON’T: Give medical advice—even if you have a medical background; interpret test results; recommend or discourage treatment; speak with a mentee’s physician; make promises; or hold private conversations in public hallways or elevators.
The first-time vs. recurrence bridge

🟢 First-time diagnosis: grounding & pacing

Mentees may feel shell-shocked and look for a “finish line.” Focus on one day at a time and normalize the flood of paperwork, fear, waiting, and loss of bodily control.

You might say: “You do not have to understand or solve everything today. What feels heaviest right now?”

🔴 Recurrent diagnosis: grief work & stamina

Mentees may feel angry, frightened, or betrayed by their bodies. The expectation of a quick finish line is gone. Avoid “You beat it once, you can beat it again.”

You might say: “It is incredibly unfair that you have to lace up your boots to do this again.”
Clinical reference updates
The modern shift

Care increasingly relies on molecular profiling—tumor features such as mismatch-repair status—along with stage, pathology, prior treatment, and the individual patient.

Immunotherapy

Some patients receive drugs such as pembrolizumab (Keytruda) or dostarlimab (Jemperli), sometimes with chemotherapy or another targeted medicine.

  • What they may experience: fatigue, itching or rash, diarrhea, cough, or other new inflammatory symptoms.
Mentor validation point: A “different” treatment can still be demanding. Encourage prompt reporting of any new or worsening symptom to the care team; immune-related effects can require timely attention.

Oral targeted therapy

Some women take an at-home medicine such as lenvatinib (Lenvima), often in combination with immunotherapy.

  • What they may experience: cumulative fatigue, blood-pressure changes, diarrhea, appetite changes, mouth soreness, or tender hands and feet.
Mentor validation point: A daily pill is still cancer treatment. Validate the lack of “off days” and encourage symptom tracking and early contact with the care team.

When to hand it back to the care team

If a mentee asks what a symptom means, whether she should change a medicine, or whether a treatment is right for her, help her contact her oncology team. For urgent or severe symptoms, follow the program’s escalation process and emergency guidance.

Medicine changes quickly. Drug examples are included only to help mentors recognize language they may hear—not to suggest treatment.