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The Mentorship Model: Cultivating Resilience and Leadership in Palliative Care Pharmacy
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Key Takeaways
- Mentorship in pain and palliative care pharmacy enhances professional growth, resilience, and leadership for both mentees and mentors, benefiting organizations through recruitment and retention.
- Barriers to effective mentorship include limited access to mentors, time constraints, and geographic challenges, which can be mitigated by virtual mentoring and structured communication.
At the 2025 SPPCP Virtual Conference, Carolyn Hall, PharmD, BCPS, and Maria Felton Lowry, PharmD, BCPS, BCGP, presented a comprehensive and practical framework for pharmacy professionals to build effective, adaptable mentorship relationships.
As the field of pain and palliative care pharmacy continues to evolve, so too does the need for intentional support systems that foster professional growth, resilience, and leadership. Mentorship has emerged as one of the most impactful strategies to meet this need—particularly in a specialty that is both emotionally demanding and limited in workforce size. In a session at the 2025 Society of Pain & Palliative Care Pharmacists (SPPCP) Virtual Conference, Carolyn Hall, PharmD, BCPS, and Maria Felton Lowry, PharmD, BCPS, BCGP, offered pharmacy professionals a practical roadmap for creating, sustaining, and optimizing effective mentorship relationships.
Hall and Lowry discuss the benefits of mentorship for professional development and also address the barriers that often hinder success, particularly in the context of palliative and hospice pharmacy practice. With insights drawn from literature, real-world examples, and audience engagement, the session provided actionable strategies for individuals and institutions looking to implement or refine mentorship initiatives.
Why Mentorship Matters: Benefits for Mentees, Mentors, and Organizations
Mentor with a mentee in an office. Image Credit: © Jadon B/peopleimages.com - stock.adobe.com
Mentorship has clear value for all stakeholders involved. For mentees, the benefits are especially pronounced in pain and palliative care due to the field’s small, yet interconnected workforce. Mentees gain access to national networks, enhanced opportunities for scholarship, and exposure to varied clinical practices that may not be available locally. This connectivity is particularly important in a field where educational and training pathways are often less defined than in other specialties.
Mentors, too, experience significant professional and personal growth. Engaging in mentorship can sharpen leadership and teaching skills, renew passion for the profession, and foster collaborative opportunities.
“I can say without a doubt, as a mentor to numerous students, residents, and pharmacists, mentoring has made me a better clinician and a better educator,” said Lowry, assistant professor in the Department of Pharmacy and Therapeutics at the University of Pittsburgh School of Pharmacy, co-director of the Geriatrics and Palliative Care Area of Concentration, and the clinical director of pharmacy services with University of Pittsburgh Medical Center Palliative and Supportive Institute, during the SPPCP session.
At the organizational level, structured mentorship strengthens teams by supporting recruitment, retention, and the expansion of pharmacy roles in palliative and hospice care. Institutions can benefit from the transfer of knowledge, strategic growth of services, and cultivation of future leaders.
Common Barriers in Mentorship—And How to Overcome Them
Despite its value, mentorship in pain and palliative care faces numerous barriers. From the mentee perspective, challenges include limited access to senior mentors, geographic constraints, and difficulty discussing emotionally charged experiences. Mentors report struggles with time constraints, lack of protected time or institutional support, and the need to navigate differences in practice settings.
“There's a limited workforce, so for the particular type of mentorship that a mentee might be seeking, or from a mentorship standpoint, they might have just different clinical practices, or maybe a lack of a trained workforce to continue to provide the mentorship that [a mentee] is particularly seeking,” Lowry said during the SPPCP session.
Virtual mentoring offers one powerful solution, helping bridge geographic divides and expand access to expertise. However, Hall and Lowry emphasized that without clear structure and communication, even virtual mentoring relationships can falter.
Avoiding the “Swiss Cheese” Model of Mentorship
One of the most memorable metaphors from the presentation was the “Swiss cheese model” of failed mentorships, in which unclear expectations and shared responsibility for outreach result in inaction. Hall emphasized that when both parties assume the other will initiate contact, follow-up often slips through the cracks.
“The Swiss cheese model [is] where everyone's expected to reach out, everyone's expected to organize with each other, and then what happens in real life is that no one does it, so everything just falls through the holes,” Hall said during the SPPCP session. “A lot of this can be attributed to maybe poor communication or planning.”
Additionally, lack of commitment can be an issue on both sides, according to Hall. This might not be due to disinterest, but instead due to a lack of time or a general state of overwhelm with one’s work.
Personality differences can also be an issue, Hall explained. “If you don't mesh, that's a huge one,” Hall said.
Perceived or real competition can also challenge a mentee/mentor relationship.
“This can be if the mentee might be looking like they're going to surpass the mentor—things like that can happen and conflicts of interest can arise,” Hall said. “One of the biggest ones I'll also point out is maybe the mentors lack of experience. You've likely heard the phrase that you don't know what you don't know. Well, you also can't mentor on something if you aren't as familiar with it. This can be especially true in an area like pain and palliative care, where there can be a greater need for mentorship than the number of mentors we actually have available.”
Overall, some signs of failed mentorships can include:
- Lack of structure or scheduling
- Poor communication or mismatched expectations
- Low commitment from one or both parties
- Unaddressed personality or practice differences
- Lack of mentor experience or confidence
Addressing these challenges requires proactive goal-setting, clear communication norms, and a commitment to mutual accountability.
Characteristics of a Successful Mentee and Mentor
Both mentors and mentees play active roles in shaping successful relationships. Effective mentees are self-aware, proactive, open to feedback, and committed to growth. They should come prepared for meetings and take ownership of their development.
Successful mentors, meanwhile, must be experienced, empathetic, and willing to invest time and energy. Key qualities include:
- Active listening
- Humility and transparency
- Availability and reliability
- Willingness to share mistakes and lessons learned
- A passion for developing others
Mentors serve as teachers, guides, sponsors, and, occasionally, friends. Their effectiveness is grounded in modeling behavior, offering constructive feedback, and being emotionally present, which can be especially crucial in emotionally demanding specialties such as palliative care.
Building the Mentorship Relationship: Stages and Roadmap
Hall and Lowry introduced a 5-phase mentorship roadmap that aligns with the natural progression of mentor-mentee relationships:
- Initiation. This phase involves selecting a mentor, setting up the first meeting, establishing Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, Time-bound (SMART) goals, defining expectations, and setting communication norms.
- Relationship Development. Over months or years, trust and understanding deepen through regular meetings and iterative goal-setting. Mentees and mentors co-create action plans that address the mentee’s growth areas.
- Growth and Learning. This phase centers on knowledge exchange, skill development, and case-based discussions. In pain and palliative care, topics may include compassion fatigue, dealing with loss, navigating complex clinical scenarios, work-life balance, and leadership development.
- Evaluation and Feedback. Structured feedback helps both parties assess progress and make adjustments as needed. Mentors should feel empowered to offer direct, compassionate critique, while mentees should be receptive and reflective.
- Transition. As mentees gain confidence and autonomy, the relationship may evolve into a peer partnership. A successful mentorship is often marked by this transformation, rather than indefinite hierarchy.
Models of Mentorship: Flexibility Is Key
The presentation also reviewed various mentorship models, highlighting that effective programs may blend several approaches:
- Traditional (One-on-One): Formal, structured relationship between senior mentor and junior mentee.
- Peer Mentoring: Colleagues at similar career stages provide mutual support.
- Group Mentoring: One mentor guiding multiple mentees, ideal for maximizing limited expert availability.
- Reverse Mentoring: Juniors mentor seniors on emerging trends (eg, technology).
- Spot Mentoring: Short-term guidance on a specific issue or decision.
- Virtual Mentoring: Essential for expanding access beyond geographic or institutional limits.
Crucially, effective mentorship need not be confined to the pharmacy profession. Cross-disciplinary mentorship (eg, with physicians or social workers) can provide holistic perspectives, particularly valuable in interprofessional palliative care teams.
Creating a Culture of Mentorship: Programmatic Considerations
For organizations interested in formalizing mentorship, Hall and Lowry recommended several best practices:
- Tailor the program to institutional mission, resources, and size
- Use surveys to pair mentors and mentees based on compatibility
- Provide training for both mentors and mentees to clarify roles and expectations
- Ensure leadership support for protected time and program visibility
- Establish metrics for program evaluation (eg, publication output, career advancement, feedback scores)
According to Hall and Lowry, programs would also benefit from emphasizing feedback training and conflict resolution to prepare participants for common relational hurdles.
Looking Ahead: SPPCP’s Mentorship Commitment
SPPCP is supporting mentorship opportunities through its own program in its inaugural year. Resources, including the mentorship roadmap and topic guides, are available on the SPPCP website. These tools are designed to empower members to initiate and sustain meaningful mentoring relationships.
Conclusion
Mentorship is an essential tool for advancing the field of pain and palliative care pharmacy—supporting not only the individual growth of mentees and mentors, but also broader institutional development. The SPPCP session led by Hall and Lowry underscored the transformative potential of these relationships when they are intentionally structured, thoughtfully maintained, and rooted in mutual respect and accountability.
From outlining the challenges that can derail mentorship efforts to offering a detailed, 5-phase roadmap for sustained engagement, their framework provides pharmacy professionals with tools to foster successful mentoring experiences. By cultivating mentorship as a core component of professional culture, pharmacy leaders in pain and palliative care can build resilient networks, prepare the next generation of specialists, and elevate the quality of care delivered to some of the most vulnerable patient populations.
