Meet the Researchers: An Introduction to the Elements of Effective Practice for Mentoring
January 13, 2025
On January 13, 2025, MENTOR released the fifth edition of the Elements of Effective Practice for Mentoring™. Since 1990, this cornerstone publication has provided program staff with a suite of standards and recommended practices to support meaningful mentoring relationships helping to facilitate high-quality mentoring services. Our research team was led by MENTOR’s Senior Director of Research and Quality, Michael Garringer, and Research Manager Rachel Bennett; as well as Principal Researcher Dr. Carla Herrera of Herrera Consulting Group. A 16-person working group, composed of mentoring program practitioners, researchers, MENTOR Affiliates and members of MENTOR’s National board of directors brought varying levels of mentoring skills and cultural perspectives from communities around the country. The researchers involved with the project brought a wide range of expertise related to both program implementation and the factors that contribute to strong mentoring relationships.
Speaking to the significance of the product, Garringer said, “It’s likely the most comprehensive resource for developing and maintaining a good mentoring program for youth that I’ve seen in the field.”
Hear directly from our researchers about what makes this resource a valuable asset to the mentoring movement and mentoring field. The team sat down with our Director of Communications Kelsey Nelson to discuss the new free resource.
- What was the motivation that led you to being a researcher within the mentoring movement?
Mike: I totally stumbled into the mentoring research space 20 years ago. I had been working at an educational nonprofit in Oregon that had recently started doing mentoring-related work. They needed someone to quickly gather up information about what the research said about effective mentoring. I spent a lot of time reading a lot of practice literature about the things that program staff were doing to give these relationships a chance to thrive and grow over time. I became fascinated by the way in which the actions of program staff influenced the volunteer mentors they supervised and in turn, how that influenced what young people got from these program-created relationships. From there, I started digging more into what constituted good mentoring experiences, and how we might measure the “long tail” of these relationships. Fast forward to today where I’ve really enjoyed helping people find information and research wisdom that helps them do their work better. This is the essence of the EEPM, in a nutshell.
- What was your favorite part of working on the fifth edition of Elements of Effective Practice for Mentoring™ (EEPM)?
Carla: Working on the EEPM was one of my favorite projects of my entire career — and I’ve worked on a lot of them over the last few decades! Working with Mike Garringer and Rachel Bennett was a gift. They are such brilliant, thoughtful people — you can’t help but learn from them, especially when it comes to writing in a way that’s clear and accessible to practitioners. It was also a luxury to be able to take time to catch up on the mentoring literature in so many critical areas of practice. It is rare that researchers can take time to immerse themselves in such a wide range of topics within the field. I really enjoyed that!
- What parts of the project did you lead? What did you learn?
Carla: I led the writing of the research summaries for each of the 16 elements. Doing a deep dive into the mentoring literature confirmed for me that our field has so much fabulous research — both from more established researchers whose work has truly shaped the field, and from stellar, young researchers who are just making their way into mentoring. As much wonderful work is out there, there are areas we’ve studied, but still know so little about like how to match mentors and youth in a way that creates strong, effective matches. We also looked at how to engage caregivers in ways that strengthen the match, how to attract and retain volunteer mentors, and how to create effective mentor trainings. The last section of the EEPM provides the latest research on organizational health, which is an area we felt really needed highlighting. It also has the least amount of research supporting it and is a critical area for growth.
- Why is it important for a tool like Elements of Effective Practice for Mentoring™ (EEPM) to exist?
Rachel: A unique strength of the mentoring field is that it brings together professionals with a variety of training and professional expertise. In a room of mentoring folks, it is common to have educators, social workers, youth-development professionals, and psychologists around the same table – we’re a dynamic bunch! A tool like the EEPM gives our field a roadmap that leverages our collective wisdom and evidence-informed practices to break down the many factors needed to provide safe and effective mentoring to young people.
- How was the working group selected for this research project?
Rachel: Our focus forming the working group was to bring different expertise and perspectives together to ensure we wound up with a resource that had something useful to offer, regardless of what kind of mentoring program you’re running. We thought about the different models and settings where mentoring is happening and which of our colleagues could help us think through these different nuances. Members of our working group provided such invaluable insights and really anchored us throughout the process.
Want to access the tool? The EEPM can be accessed on our website. Printed copies will soon be available for purchase.