The New England PTTC Prevention Mentorship Program

Published:
November 24, 2020

The New England PTTC Prevention Mentorship Program is a unique pilot which answers one of the needs of the substance use prevention workforce in New England for the guidance of newer professionals, structured networking, and one on one assistance with the frameworks of prevention science. This program matches mentees with mentors from their state who have significant experience in the field and provides them with a comprehensive one to one model for peer learning. The program also bringing all mentors and mentees together several times a year to learn from each other and from content experts in the field in areas the cohort identifies as specific learning needs.  
 

Each month, mentees and mentors meet virtually to work on the professional development plan the mentee determines based on their work plans and deliverables. The mentor will help guide the mentee through real-time challenges, while also helping them navigate the prevention domains so each mentee is prepared by the end of the program to sit for the IC&RC Prevention Specialist Certification exam. Mentees and Mentors are matched by a variety of characteristics, but one important consideration in the matches is the prevention domains. Mentors who self identify strengths in certain domains are matched with mentees in their state who self identify needing most support in those areas. By matching the strengths of the mentors to the challenge areas of the mentees, we aim to build up mentees in the most effective way, preparing them to confidently take their certification exam.

 

Mentors and Mentees have individual work as well as work they complete together, self-reflecting and always checking in with their goals set at the start of the program, monitoring progress, and making adjustments to their partnership as necessary.

 

The program offers support to participants through a dynamic toolkit, designed to offer support to participants with a variety of learning and communication styles, and through our online hub in Basecamp. Here, participants can chat casually with the New England PTTC staff, or other members of the cohort. In pilot year two, when we anticipate the COVID 19 Pandemic will have subsided enough to allow travel, the cohort will meet in person rather than on the online hub.

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