Mentoring can be traced back to the 1500s when, in the Greek myth of Odysseus, Ulysses appointed a wise man and valued friend named Mentor to care for his son Telemachus while he was fighting in the Trojan War Telemachus learned his most significant lessons about life and about becoming an effective ruler from Mentor. From this myth, qualities of a mentor have been described. These include coach, guide, protector, advisor, teacher, and friend (Roman, 2001).
Mentoring has been described as a process that helps an individual adapt to new and expanded professional roles. Mentoring involves a nurturing relationship between a mentor and a mentee. Mentoring occurs when a senior person (the mentor) provides information, advice, and emotional support for a junior person (the mentee) in a relationship lasting over an extended period of time and marked by substantial emotional commitment by both parties. The mentor takes an active role in the professional development of the mentee. “Inherent in the concept of mentoring is a personal, one-to-one, nurturing relationship between the mentor and the mentee” (Roman, 2001).
Mentoring has been an effective strategy in many disciplines, including all the health professions, to develop expertise and leadership within the profession. The traditional concept of mentoring involves a voluntary alliance between an experienced senior professional and a less advanced one, for the dual purposes
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