The Mentor team meet together for a 2-day in-person training each year. During this training, the mentors:

• Practice mentoring sessions for skill-building

• Discuss topics such as; virtual safety, active listening, trauma-informed mentorship, and ethical storytelling.

• Resources on adoption concepts, racial identity, and crisis response.

• Role-play and facilitation skill development

Mentors are also required to attend at least two practice mentoring sessions before facilitating their first session. During these practice sessions, mentors facilitate mock 1:1 and Lounge sessions with past and current AMS mentees. Practice sessions are offered every month for the first six months of a new mentor's tenure.

*adapted from Adrienne Maree Brown’s Emergent Strategies

• Radical acceptance. Treat all mentees with unconditional positive regard, fostering an environment of acceptance, respect, and support regardless of personal circumstances or differences.

• Inch wide, mile deep. Prioritize deep transformative work, in service of community, over broad surface-level work.

• There is always enough time for the right work.

  • Whoever comes is the right person: There is a conversation in the room that only these people at this moment can have. Find it.

  • Whatever happens is the only thing that could have: Stay grounded in the present moment. Do not get bogged down in "should have's" of the past.

  • When it starts is the right time: Be attentive to and prioritize the opportunities that present themselves over any predetermined agenda.

  • When it’s over it’s over: Respect each other's (and your own) time - always end on time and understand that non-closure is an acceptable stopping place.

Our Monthly Reflective Consulting groups provide mentors with a dedicated space to process their experiences, refine their approach, and deepen their understanding of adoptee-centered mentorship. Led by Spring Hecht, an MSW, LICSW with lived and professional expertise in adoption, these sessions offer professional guidance, research-based insights, and peer discussions on complex mentorship dynamics. Through case studies, ethical considerations, and reflective practice, mentors strengthen their ability to support adoptees with empathy, cultural awareness, and trauma-informed care. 

Full participation is required to maintain the high standards of our program and ensure ongoing growth.