Mentoring

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Applications open

Applications for the 2026 RANZCP Mentoring Program are now open until 30 January 2026.

Fill out the relevant form to express your interest in taking part in the program:

Program information

The RANZCP Mentoring Program is open to all trainees (Associate members), early career psychiatrists (up to three years post-Fellowship) and selected partial comparability SIMG candidates across both Australia and Aotearoa New Zealand.

Eligible applicants selected to take part are paired with an experienced College Fellow or Affiliate member, your mentor. It is expected you will meet with your mentoring partner monthly, from April - December.

As a mentee you receive:

access to supportive senior Fellows and Affiliate members outside of your immediate health service, workplace, or local work area
encouragement from senior College members
career guidance and advice
access to new professional relationships and networks
health and wellbeing peer support.

Places in the program are capped and will continue to be reviewed in future years.

Mentoring versus supervision

Mentoring is a personal and professional support system. It is different from, yet complementary to supervision. It exists outside of the usual performance reporting lines.

It is also distinct from coaching, which involves specific assistance towards a particular goal, for example passing an exam.

Become a mentor

All Fellows and Affiliate members of the College can apply to be part of the Program. As a mentor, you can offer trainees and early career psychiatrists non-supervisory support in a confidential, non-judgmental setting.

Being a RANZCP mentor provides you with the opportunity to:

foster the next generation of psychiatrists
support those who are interested in a future career in your subspeciality or interest area
introduce your mentee to other Fellows and Affiliate members
reflect on your own practice/experience
claim mentoring as an eligible CPD learning activity (category 4.7: College Activities)
expand professional development goals
stay connected or reconnect with College membership services and programs.

Express your interest in mentoring by contacting mentoring@ranzcp.org.

College support

All participants receive:

an 8-month structured program supported by the College
facilitated pairing and introductions
an optional introductory welcome dinner event or webinar
dedicated resources to set up mentoring partnerships for success
an opportunity to take part in the evaluation and continuous improvement process
the chance to expand your networks and build lifelong networks and partnerships.

Retirement conversations

Retirement Conversations is a stream of the RANZCP Mentoring Program designed to connect RANZCP members planning for retirement with currently retired members, to provide support and guidance.

Through the stream, members can gain valuable insight into retirement planning, making the transition to retirement and adjusting to life beyond a psychiatry career.

Retired members can also connect with each other through this stream.

Apply for Retirement Conversations below and a member of the College team will be in touch with next steps.

If you have any questions about the Retirement Conversations program, contact mentoring@ranzcp.org.

2025 RANZCP Congress Speed Networking

Mentoring FAQs

What can I offer a mentee?

Mentoring is an important career-based resource that exists outside of structured supervision and training requirements. While many trainees do want to discuss their training, many also want a mentor to help guide them in the next step in their careers. Our early career psychiatrist mentees are especially looking for mentors to assist with future career and family planning as well as achieving work and life balance.

How much time does it involve?

We recommend that mentors and mentees meet for 1–2 hours each month over the 8-month program, but this is something you can agree with your mentee. We take into consideration how much time you have available to mentor each month and look to pair you with a mentee with similar expectations. Around 3 hours' training and preparation time is required for mentors, with all materials and resources provided by the College.

How are we paired?

We complete a detailed process and every mentoring pairing partnership is carefully considered. Whilst we do ask for a lot of information from you when you apply, it does help us to make the best possible match with an appropriate mentee. We check for potential conflicts of interest, and give both the proposed mentor and mentee the opportunity to review the proposed partnership before we introduce them. We don’t make an introduction if an issue is raised. The program is run by a dedicated College team, with each application and pairing reviewed and supported throughout the program’s duration.

Can I mentor in my subspeciality area?

What is the role of the College?

We facilitate the initial mentoring pairing, provide training and resources, and to offer any support, if needed. The discussions between mentor and mentee are confidential. If you have any concerns for your mentee, or an issue with the partnership, we can assist.

What CPD hours can be claimed?

Mentors can record time spent mentoring under Section 4. Keep a record of your meetings as evidence for claims. Learnit modules completed for the Mentoring Program are automatically recorded on MyCPD.

My mentee hasn’t made contact with me

The RANZCP Mentoring program is mentee led. This means it is the responsibility of the mentee to initiate first contact with their assigned mentor. If you haven’t heard from your mentee, please contact the College mentoring team (mentoring@ranzcp.org). Our staff can then reach out to check if the mentee needs assistance.

My mentee needs additional support, what should I do?

Mentoring is not private psychotherapy. If your mentee is struggling, or you feel they need additional support outside the scope of your mentoring partnership, you can direct them to the Member Wellbeing Support Hub that includes a wide range of supports, information and options that may assist them. If they need coaching or training support, you can contact the College mentoring team (mentoring@ranzcp.org) and we can assist with what additional support they need.

Why do we need to do the Mentoring Partnership agreement?

The Mentoring Handbook is provided to give the mentee and mentor the tools to set up their mentoring partnership to make it as successful as possible. The Mentoring Partnership Agreement (MPA) is an important framework for establishing your goals and setting expectations for the partnership. We encourage you discuss the MPA with your mentoring partner at the beginning of your partnership, and then to take time to review it throughout the program.

Mentoring resources

These webinars provide you with further information to set your mentoring partnership up for success. Webinars are approximately 45 - 50 minutes long.

2025 Mentoring Program workshop webinar recording [member log-in required].

2024 Mentoring Program workshop webinar recording [member log-in required].

2023 Mentoring Program workshop webinar recording [member log-in required].

E-learning modules

Module 1: Introduction to mentoring [member log-in required].
This module is suitable for any psychiatry Fellow, Affiliate members or trainee interested in mentoring.

Module 2: Mentoring for mentees [member log-in required].
This module explores the role of the mentee in more detail to help you prepare for this role with confidence and focus, and to help you get the most out of the mentoring experience.

Module 3: Being an effective mentor [member log-in required].
This module explores the role of the mentor in more detail to help you prepare for this role with confidence and focus, and to help you get the most out of the mentoring experience.

Non-RANZCP mentoring opportunities

Dr JuMP Medical Mentoring (AU)

DR JuMP medical mentoring program supports rural and regional medical students and professionals in Victoria and border regional towns of Northern Victoria/New South Wales.

LINKS Mentoring Program – CRANAplus (AU)

The CRANAplus LINKS Mentoring Program focuses on encouraging career development and building capabilities in clinical leadership, decision-making, networking, and resilience during placements and recently gained employment.

Wāhine Connect (NZ)

Wāhine Connect is a community-developed and led programme for New Zealand women working in the health sector to promote the wellbeing and professional development through a structured mentoring partnership.

Contact

mentoring@ranzcp.org or 1800 337 448 (calling from Australia) or 0800 443 827 (calling from Aotearoa New Zealand).

The Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Psychiatrists has previously received Australian Government funding under the Specialist Training Program (STP) to deliver a component of this mentoring program.