Importance of Mentorship

Mentorship is instrumental in supporting personal growth, career strategizing, and mutuality (Kram & Isabella, 1985). As the research suggests, mentorship is a two-sided relationship, rendering it vital and significant. In the sphere of personal growth, mentorship offers psychosocial support, friendship, and collaboration, providing “the chance to express one’s personal and professional dilemmas, vulnerabilities, and individuality” (Kram & Isabella, 1985, p.120). As social psychologists have noted, individuals develop the self and their personality through a social nexus of relationships, including those of mentorship.

From a literature review conducted by the Mental Health Coordinating Council (2014), successful elements of a mentorship program include (1) a structural component: dedicated/protected scheduled times of meeting, (2) a relationship component: involvement of participant in the planning of the program, non-hierarchical relationship between mentors/mentees, conversational socialization, and focus on rapport building, and (3) a learning environment: creating a safe and supportive space for reflection and growth.

These elements have been endorsed by and integrated into the SEND IT ON program framework. Through our online weekly educational sessions, collaboration with global community members, and providing youth an active voice in program development, our program has been founded on the pillars of support, encouragement, and engagement. Ongoing training and workshops are also robustly supported in the literature for successful program enhancement, including effectiveness in maintaining matches, increasing mentor and mentee satisfaction, and increasing mentor and mentee perceptions on the quality of their relationship, which SEND IT ON implements (DuBois, Holloway, Valentine, & Cooper, 2002; DuBois,Portillo, Rhodes,Silverthorn, & Valentine, 2011; Kanchewa, Rhodes, Schwartz, 2014).

DuBois, D. L., Holloway, B.E., Valentine, J.C., & Cooper, H. (2002). Effectiveness of mentoring programs for youth: A meta-analytic review. American Journal of Community Psychology, 30, 157-197.

DuBois, D.L., Portillo, N., Rhodes, J. E. Silverthorn, N., & Valentine, J. C. (2011). How effective are mentoring programs for youth? A systematic assessment of evidence. Psychological Science in the Public Interest, 12(2), 57-91. doi: 10.1177/1529100611414806

Kanchewa, S.S., Rhodes, J.E., Schwartz, S.E.O., & Olsho, L.E.W. (2014). An investigation of same-versus cross-gender matching for boys in formal school-based mentoring programs. Applied Developmental Science, 18(1), 31-45.

Kram, K. E., & Isabella, L. A. (1985). Mentoring alternatives: The role of peer relationships in career development. Academy of Management Journal, 28(1), 110-132.

Nisbet, G., McAllister, L., and Heydon, M. (2014). A Peer Group Mentoring Framework for the Development of Student Supervisors. Sydney: Mental Health Coordinating Council.