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Abstract

Mentoring for wellbeing—the topic of this article matters in today’s professions. Interest in wellbeing is growing, calling for blueprints/models that can support the consideration of mentoring as a whole-person endeavor. Whole person mentoring embodies wellbeing, which establishes the rationale for the present work. The purpose of this practical qualitative study was to describe participant takeaways from two presentations delivered at the 2025 Mentoring Conference, University of New Mexico, with connections to mentoring and wellbeing literature. Data sources were (a) researcher reflective note taking and (b) transcription coding and analysis of participant responses. At the two sessions, 114 (of 150) attendees submitted written responses, some of whom orally shared them. Analysis of participant reflections revealed six themes that position mentoring for wellbeing as both conceptual and practical: (1) intentionality in mentoring, (2) developmental mentoring network awareness, (3) equity and accessibility, (4) mentoring practices for flourishing, (5) wellbeing as a pathway for holistic mentoring, and (6) theory translated into experien- tial action. Together, these findings demonstrated the potential for mentors and mentees to transform theory into lived, relational practices that support flourishing. Bold mentoring visions are likely to yield enlarged, varied, and inclusive networks that extend impact.

Keywords: High Quality Sustainable Mentoring Model for Wellbeing (HQSMM-W) framework, mentoring for wellbeing, PERMA model of wellbeing, SACEW model of mentoring, wellbeing