Mentoring: an age old strategy for a rapidly expanding field. A what, why and how primer for the alcohol and other drugs field.

Mentoring is a well known strategy used in many different disciplines. However, while it does commonly occur in the alcohol and other drugs (AOD) field, it appears that little has been published to specifically address mentoring relating to AOD work. There is, however, a considerable amount of mentoring literature produced by disciplines that have significant potential to respond to AOD issues, including medicine, nursing, social work and education. This suggests a familiarity with the idea of mentoring and a readiness to view mentoring as a strategy for the AOD field. This paper is based on a monograph recently published by the National Centre for Education and Training on Addiction (NCETA) on mentoring in the AOD field. It is a synthesis of the mentoring literature from other disciplines, discussed in the context of AOD work. This paper addresses useful mentoring models for the AOD field and why it is an important strategy for development of the AOD workforce