Bridging the skills gap: Apprentice Assistant Practitioners (AAP) having an impact in Mental Health Care Services. Part 3: The Mentor experience

Understanding the relevance of the AAP role in mental health is important for future developments within mental health services. This third article in a series exploring the potential impact of AAPs in bridging the gap in mental health services, focuses on the experiences of the mentor role. Mentorship in the development of health service workers is crucial to ensure competent, confident and skilled staff at all levels. This small-scale study looks at the experiences the mentor in general and more specifically, the experiences of a small group of mentors supporting AAPs in mental health services. A questionnaire was sent to mentors at different stages of the AAPs journey and asked them to consider three broad themes; supporting the AAP, helpfulness of the AAP standards in mentoring and the impact of the AAP in mental health services. The results show a positive response in general from the mentors and the use of apprenticeship standards to focus the mentorship of the AAP as well as the potential benefits the Assistant Practitioner (AP) role has in both supporting services users and the service as a whole