Mentorship in Applied Sport Psychology: The Fluid Mentorship Model

The applied sport psychology field has created a niche for implementing services designed to enhance performance through mental skills training. Further, with the certification process of the Certified Mental Performance Consultant and the impending accreditation of graduate programs, the field is moving to increase systematic quality control. While minimum requirements have been established for didactic coursework, mentored experiences, and the qualifications of who can serve as an approved mentor, gaps exist in the theoretical and foundational grounding of professional mentorship. Many mentors may rely on consultation experience, experience as a mentee, or use intuition, or instinct to inform mentorship. The Association for Applied Sport Psychology had defined mentorship the same as supervision until a new definition was introduced in 2020, yet Association for Applied Sport Psychology’s language continues to borrow from the supervision literature to guide mentors with limited research on what mentors do in sessions and how they relate to mentees, provide feedback, and assess or evaluate competency. Further, there is no structured model of applied sport psychology mentorship that addresses the distinct differences between supervision and mentorship. This manuscript includes extensive literature on mentorship and supervision to create a unique model (Fluid Mentorship Model) to provide the infrastructure for the unique nature of the field of applied sport psychology and mental skills training. A sport, exercise, and performance psychology-specific mentorship model is proposed to serve as a foundation for educating mentors, practicing mentorship, and researching mentorship efficacy.