Entries by Jean Rhodes

“The mental-health crisis has changed academia forever.” Five ways peer mentors can help.

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By Jean Rhodes It is clear by now that the mental-health crisis has changed academia forever: its structures, its culture and the function it is expected to perform in American society. More than half of American college students now report depression, anxiety or seriously considering suicide. This is a problem that reaches across geography, race, […]

Mentors can be just as effective as professionals: Here’s how

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By Jean Rhodes Decades of research have shown that, with the right training and support, mentors and other paraprofessionals (defined by Durlak as “non-expert, minimally trained community volunteers, students, and helpers”) can deliver interventions just as effectively as professionals—if not more so—in ways that could help to bridge the substantial gaps in care and support. […]

A conversation (and important announcement) about mentoring and mental health

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by Jean Rhodes A growing number of youth who are referred to mentoring programs are struggling with mental health concerns, such as depression, anxiety, posttraumatic stress, aggression, or attention difficulties. Mentoring programs have an important role to play in addressing this growing crisis. Under the right conditions, formal mentoring programs, can shift toward being a […]

The Strength of Vulnerability: Surprising New Insights into Building Strong Mentoring Relationships

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By Jean Rhodes In a year in which words like ‘AI’ and ‘hallucinate’ dominated the public discourse, Merriam-Webster’s 2023 word of the year ‘authentic’  really resonated. This choice underscored both the enduring importance of genuine human connection and the value of authenticity in mentoring. In a recent study of helping relationships, perceived therapist genuineness was […]

Advancing Racial Justice in Mental Health Care: Implications for Mentoring Programs.

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by Jean Rhodes In a special issue of the Journal of Clinical Child & Adolescent Psychology, mentoring experts Noelle M. Hurd and Andrea S. Young, address the problem of racial injustice in the field of clinical child and adolescent psychology and more broadly. The collection of articles focus on the disparities faced by racially and […]

Nearly 40% of US children lack strong emotional bonds with their parents

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B. Rose Huber-Princeton In a study of 14,000 US children, researchers found that 40 percent lack strong emotional bonds with their parents—bonds that are crucial to success later in life. According to the report, published by Sutton Trust, children under the age of three who do not form strong bonds with their mothers or fathers […]

The top 30 mentoring movies of all time

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By Jean Rhodes To mark its 25th anniversary back in 2015, MENTOR: National Mentoring Partnership compiled the top 25 mentoring movies of all time. Since then, 5 additional movies that touch on themes of mentorship make the list. These include: “Soul” (2020) – This animated film from Pixar delves into mentorship through the story of […]

Want to Improve Mentoring Outcomes? Try These Two Ideas.

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By Jean Rhodes In a recent publication, Sam McQuillin and colleagues discuss two concepts that should become household words in mentoring: task-shifting and Just-in-Time Training (JITT). Together, they could help bridge the gap between the demand for and supply of effective mental health and educational services, especially in low-resource communities. Neither are new concepts. In […]

Taking stock of 22 years of mentoring research through 22 seminal studies

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By Jean Rhodes Citation: Hagler, M. A., Jones, K. V., Anderson, A. J., McQuillin, S. D., Weiler, L. M., & Sánchez, B. (2023). Striving for safety, impact, and equity: A critical consideration of AJCP publications on formal youth mentoring programs. American Journal of Community Psychology, 1–13.https://doi.org/10.1002/ajcp.12702 In an excellent new empirical review published in the […]

The hidden cost of student debt: Fewer opportunities for mentoring

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By Jean Rhodes, Tyler Hull, and Karthik Kristnan After a three-year pause, nearly 44 million federal student loan borrowers will soon be required to resume their monthly payments. Although much of the debate around student debt has centered on its sheer magnitude ($1.7 trillion), our new study sheds light on another, perhaps even more concerning […]