Creating a Mentoring Culture in Graduate Training Programs

Mentoring relationships can become life and career-altering developmental relationships that are transformative for mentees and the profession. Yet, many psychology training program graduates miss out on the evidence-based benefits of mentorship. In this article, we explore the persistent obstacles to mentoring relationships in graduate education and propose that the key to more and better mentoring resides in a program's culture, not merely its specific faculty or formal mentoring structures. We offer a blueprint for perpetuating a mentoring culture that includes a communitarian ethos, frequent growth-fostering interactions, and mentoring relationships which are more reciprocal and relational in character. We conclude with several recommendations for training program leaders designed to enhance a relationship-rich training environment. Public Significance Statement This article highlights the importance of robust developmental relationships during training in psychology and other professions. It makes an evidence-based case for creating relationship-rich mentoring cultures in training programs. The proposed model marks a significant shift from current approaches to mentoring during graduate training.