Mentoring toolkit

A trusted mentor can make a real difference in a young person’s life.

What is mentoring?

Mentoring is a positive relationship between an experienced mentor and a young person, who learns from them. It can open up conversations between adults and young people about alcohol and other drugs, which helps prevent or delay use.

Mentoring doesn’t always focus on alcohol and other drugs directly. It can strengthen the social, emotional, cultural and educational parts of a young person’s life, such as a sense of belonging, positive role models and connection to community, school and family. These are protective factors against alcohol and other drug harm; you can read more about them in prevention strategies.

Types of mentoring

Mentoring programs can be one-to-one or in a group, and can happen face-to-face or online (e-mentoring). Most are for young people aged 12 to 25, and they can be adapted for children as young as 7.

Mentoring can also happen outside formal programs:

• natural mentoring is when an older person a young person already knows takes on a mentoring role
• youth-initiated mentoring is when a young person finds a mentor within their own family, community or social network.

Mentoring programs in Australia

Local Drug Action Teams often build on mentoring programs that already exist. National and state programs include:

• Raise: trained volunteer mentors work one-to-one with young people aged 13 to 16, in schools and online.
• Big Brothers Big Sisters Australia: long-term, one-to-one mentoring for young people, with community-based, in-school, online and career-focused programs.
• Youthrive Victoria: mentors support young people from rural Victoria after school, through study, training, apprenticeships, careers and community leadership, in person or online.

How Local Drug Action Teams use it

Local Drug Action Teams use this toolkit to plan mentoring programs for young people in their community, often linking with programs and organisations that already exist locally. ADF’s Mentoring Module, developed and piloted with Local Drug Action Teams, guides them step by step through planning and delivering a program. Mentoring works well alongside peer support, sport and arts programs.

Where it fits in the LDAT program

Local Drug Action Teams use this toolkit as part of their Community Action Plan (CAP).

How Local Drug Action Teams are responding

• Logan youth mentoring program: the Logan Youth at Work LDAT runs mentoring at Substation33, south of Brisbane, where young people looking for work build confidence, life skills and safer choices.
• Goldfields women explore their greatness: the Goldfields Indigenous Housing Organisation LDAT held a cultural photoshoot and Explore Your Greatness workshops that built Aboriginal women’s confidence and connection to culture and community.
• Blue EDGE in Redcliffe: before-school fitness, life skills and mentoring from police and community volunteers, one of the programs on our community sport page.
• Project 8 in the Bega Valley: young people made a music video with professional creative mentors, one of the programs on our community arts page.

The full toolkit gives Local Drug Action Teams practical guidance, including:

• existing Australian mentoring programs LDATs can draw on, including ADF’s Mentoring Module
• guiding principles for program planning, mentor training and the mentor relationship
• considerations for planning and delivery, including partners, resources, accessibility, online mentoring and safety
• key activity and measuring success
• seven key steps, from consultation and recruitment to screening, training, matching, support and closing the match.

If you’re part of a Local Drug Action Team, you can use the full toolkit on the LDAT platform.

Last reviewed: 4 November 2026