So You Want to Be a Mentor? Food for Thought from a Clinician's Casebook

Abstract

Clinicians have long been recognized as role models and ego ideals for their adolescent patients. Does adding a mentoring component augment the therapy? And does a mentoring relationship assist in the adolescent's maturational progress? In fact, can the therapist include mentoring functions as part of the therapist armentarium or is there a need to introduce an outside “mentor” figure and, if so, when? How do the roles of mentor and “therapist/role model” overlap, coincide or co-exist? And can the therapist become the mentor when the adolescent no longer requires psychotherapy? These questions are explored with examples from the author's adolescent group.