Mentoring relationships have always been at the heart of Antioch New England’s PsyD program, and more recently, have evolved into a research interest for some of our faculty. A study conducted by professors Lorraine Mangione and Kathi Borden, with recent graduate (now adjunct faculty member!) Kate Evarts and colleagues from the University of Denver, leads off a special mentoring section of the journal Training and Education in Professional Psychology this month. Titled, Mentoring in clinical psychology programs: Broadening and deepening, the article reports the results of a survey of 290 current and former students from a wide array of doctoral training models, exploring their experience of mentoring and what they value most about it. Perhaps not surprisingly, mentoring – and the relational competencies it entails – emerge as a “common factor” in the professional trajectory of students across the spectrum of program and student characteristics. Respondents value both pragmatic and emotional support functions of mentoring, with graduates indicating the persistence of these influences beyond graduation. Asked specifically to address the role of cultural similarity or difference in the mentor-mentee dyad, respondents were able to describe advantages accruing from all combinations, provided that cultural identity was an available topic for discussion.
Please direct requests for copies of the article to Lorraine Mangione, at [email protected]
