Group Mentoring: A Study of Mentoring Groups in Three Programs

In an effort to provide more youth with mentors, mentoring programs are implementing several promising new approaches. This report describes the strengths and challenges of group mentoring-an approach that is gaining popularity. Findings suggest that group mentoring is reaching youth and volunteers who are unlikely to participate in traditional one-on-one mentoring, and that the approach may provide youth with important benefits, especially the development of social skills. On the other hand, mentoring groups vary widely in their size, structure and focus, and in the extent to which they foster strong mentoring relationships and benefits for youth. Implications for the mentoring field and for future research are discussed

The Role of Risk: Mentoring Experiences and Outcomes for Youth with Varying Risk Profiles

This report presents results from the nation's first large-scale study to examine how youth's levels and sources of risk may influence their mentoring relationships and the benefits they derive from participating in mentoring programs. More and more, mentoring programs are being asked to serve young people who are considered "higher risk." And while mentoring has a strong research base generally, until now relatively little has been known about programs' capacities to serve and produce benefits for these youth.Funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, the study involved more than 1,300 youth, drawn from seven programs serving young people in Washington State. Oversight and support for the project were provided by Washington State Mentors. The study looked closely at the backgrounds of participating youth and their mentors, the mentoring relationships that formed, the program supports that were offered, and the benefits youth received -- and examined how these varied for youth with differing profiles (i.e., levels and types) of risk."The Role of Risk" describes the study's methods and findings and considers their implications for practitioners and funders. Overall, the study's results suggest that mentoring programs can benefit youth with a broad range of backgrounds and characteristics. The findings also highlight the importance of youth risk in shaping match experiences, and suggest that programs should do more to tailor training and support based on the specific risks youth face

The Role of Risk: Mentoring Experiences and Outcomes for Youth with Varying Risk Profiles (Executive Summary)

This summary highlights key findings and implications from the nation's first large-scale study to examine how youth's levels and sources of risk may influence their mentoring relationships and the benefits they derive from participating in mentoring programs. More and more, mentoring programs are being asked to serve young people who are considered "higher risk." And while mentoring has a strong research base generally, until now relatively little has been known about programs' capacities to serve and produce benefits for these youth.Funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, the study involved more than 1,300 youth, drawn from seven programs serving young people in Washington State. Oversight and support for the project were provided by Washington State Mentors. The study looked closely at the backgrounds of participating youth and their mentors, the mentoring relationships that formed, the program supports that were offered, and the benefits youth received -- and examined how these varied for youth with differing profiles (i.e., levels and types) of risk."The Role of Risk" executive summary describes the study's methods and findings and considers their implications for practitioners and funders. Overall, the study's results suggest that mentoring programs can benefit youth with a broad range of backgrounds and characteristics. The findings also highlight the importance of youth risk in shaping match experiences, and suggest that programs should do more to tailor training and support based on the specific risks youth face

What Evidence is There that Mentoring Works to Retain and Promote Employees, Especially Diverse Employees, Within a Single Company?

Mentoring programs are increasingly prevalent in corporate America. Research has shown that 70% of Fortune 500 companies have some form of mentoring program. While mentoring programs can have a variety of objectives – such as promoting and improving diversity, helping new hires adjust to new roles, or developing high potential employees – it is not always clear that mentoring programs achieve their objectives, particularly those related to promotion and retention. In reviewing relevant research and company initiatives, we can see that mentorship programs – when properly implemented – do offer benefits for diverse populations. Key success factors for diversity-focused mentoring programs include (1) the seniority of the mentor, (2) whether the mentor and protégé match in certain key personality attributes and (3) whether a mentee’s direct supervisor is involved in the program

Artists as Mentors: A Mid-Career Art Educator Rekindles Her Artist Self

A mentoring relationship between a mid-career art educator and a late-stage artist, is facilitated through the art educator\u27s action research and life story narrative which is key in learning and sharing the artist’s philosophy. The author uses narrative inquiry and Deleuze\u27s sense and event to represent the affective knowing of IG learning and demonstrates psychosocial benefits of mentoring

An evaluation of specialist mentoring for university students with autism spectrum disorders and mental health conditions

Mentoring is often recommended to universities as a way of supporting students with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) and/or mental health conditions (MHC), but there is little literature on optimising this support. We used mixed-methods to evaluate mentees’ and mentors’ experiences of a specialist mentoring programme. Mentees experienced academic, social and emotional support, although subtle group differences emerged between students with ASD and MHC. The quality of the mentee-mentor relationship was especially important. Mentors also reported benefits. Thematic analysis identified that effective mentoring requires a tailored partnership, which involves a personal relationship, empowerment, and building bridges into the university experience. Mentoring can effectively support students with ASD and/or MHC, but this is highly dependent on the development of tailored mentee-mentor partnerships

It takes a village to break up a match: a systemic analysis of formal youth mentoring relationship endings

BACKGROUND Although early closure of formal youth mentoring relationships has recently begun to receive some attention, more information about factors that contribute to premature endings, and how those factors interact, is needed so that empirically-based program practices can be developed and disseminated to prevent such endings and to ensure that youth reap the benefits mentoring can provide. OBJECTIVE This qualitative interview study applies a systemic model of youth mentoring relationships (Keller in J Prim Prev 26:169–188, 2005a) to the study of mentoring relationship endings in community-based mentoring matches to understand why these matches ended. METHOD Mentors, parents/guardians and program staff associated with 36 mentoring matches that had ended were interviewed about their experiences of these relationships and their understanding of why they had ended. Thematic analysis of the interview transcripts and mentoring program case notes for each match followed by systemic modeling of the relationships yielded three major findings. RESULTS A strong mentor–youth relationship is necessary but not sufficient for match longevity. The mentor–youth relationship, even when relatively strong, is unlikely to withstand disruptions in other relationships in the system. Agency contextual factors, such as program practices and policies and staffing patterns, have a critical role to play in sustaining mentoring matches, as they directly influence all of the relationships in the mentoring system. CONCLUSION These findings highlight the importance of considering not just the mentoring dyad but also the parent/guardian and program context when trying to prevent match closures. They also point to several program practices that may support longer mentoring relationships.Accepted manuscrip

Peer mentoring to secure student placements

Purpose This paper describes a case study where student peer mentors were employed to motivate and assist undergraduates to secure optional professional placement positions. Design/methodology/approach The paper describes the reasons for establishing the project and the recruitment of mentors. It outlines a survey of students who had not undertaken placements the previous year to try to identify the activities that would be most effective on the part of the mentors. It then describes the mentoring that was conducted. The mentors, together with the placement co-coordinator, devised support ranging from one to one mentoring, drop in ‘clinics’, online support through a social network and large group talks. It discusses the results of this work and evaluates the oral and written responses of both mentors and mentees. Findings Those mentees who took part in the mentoring were typically those who were already enthusiastic about placement opportunities. The majority of students did not take advantage of mentoring support either face to face or online. It was found that the mentoring scheme did not significantly affect the proportion of students seeking or securing placements. However, the mentors themselves gained tremendous benefits from the mentoring scheme in particular developing their communication skills and confidence. Research limitations A thorough survey of potential mentees was not carried out after the project to ascertain the reasons for their lack of engagement. Practical implications There are two separate implications of this project: 1) The mentoring scheme was valuable primarily for the mentors and not the mentees and 2) The level of support provided by the University is not the main factor in the low take up of optional placement opportunities. If such learning opportunities are felt to be sufficiently valuable for the student learning experience they need to be compulsory with appropriate support available – a mentoring scheme might then be of far more value to mentees. Originality/value There is very little published concerning the use of mentoring to facilitate work based learning. Furthermore most published work on mentoring is located in the ‘best practice’ school of pedagogical research where it is implicitly assumed that one must report on the success of an intervention. Frequently it is more valuable to examine more unexpected results of an intervention. This paper however shows much greater benefits achieved by the mentors than the mentees

Mentoring matters: findings from the APS College of Health Psychologists Survey

Mentoring has increased in popularity and perceived impact over the past few decades—across academic and professional contexts, however less is known about the benefits within the discipline of psychology (Canter, Kessler, Odar, Aylward & Roberts, 2011; Jackson et al., 2015). Mentoring is defined as ‘a form of professional socialization whereby a more experienced individual acts as a guide, role model, teacher, and patron of a less experienced protégé…to further develop and refine the protégé’s skills, abilities, and understanding” (pp.45; Moore & Amey, 1988), and typically focusses on earlier career professionals—from a developmental approach and based on the mentor-mentee relationship (Chaney, 2014). Mentoring can provide vast positive outcomes for both mentees (e..g,, retention and recruitment; development of career and professional identity) and mentors (e.g., increased knowledge and support, encouragement, recognition; prevention of burnout, a sense of ‘giving back’; Allen, Lentz & Day, 2006; Eby, Allen, Evans, Ng, & Dubois, 2008; Jackson et al., 2015; Nick et al., 2012; Ragins & Scandura, 1999; Shiry, 2006). Thus, mentoring warrants further development and evaluation within the psychology profession in Australia as a means to enhance professional membership, development and identity—across general and endorsed psychology areas and may have particular benefits for smaller sub-specialties (e.g., health psychology) to support needed workforce development and maintenance