National Mentoring Month – January

The Quiet Power of Walking Alongside Someone

Mentoring is often described in terms of guidance and growth. But for many women, mentoring begins somewhere much simpler. It begins with being seen. With being listened to. With someone choosing to walk alongside you without trying to control the direction.

National Mentoring Month celebrated on 5th of January, offers an opportunity to reflect on the power of these relationships — particularly for women rebuilding their lives after harm.

When Trust Has Been Broken

For women who have experienced abuse, trust is rarely automatic. Advice can feel intrusive. Authority can feel threatening. Being “helped” can carry memories of being controlled or dismissed.

In this context, mentoring cannot be rushed. It grows slowly, through consistency and respect. Through showing up without expectation. Through allowing silence as much as conversation.

Mentoring, at its best, does not tell women who to be. It creates space for them to rediscover themselves.

By and For Women

At Anah Project, mentoring is rooted in shared understanding. Women supporting women. Experience meeting experience. This does not mean stories must be identical, but that there is recognition — of fear, of resilience, of complexity.

For women from Black and minoritised communities, mentoring can be especially powerful when it honours identity rather than asking women to leave parts of themselves at the door. Culture, faith, language, and lived experience all matter.

Being mentored by someone who understands these layers can reduce isolation and restore confidence in one’s own voice.

Small Moments, Lasting Impact

Mentoring is rarely dramatic. It happens in conversations that feel ordinary. In questions asked gently. In reassurance offered without pressure.

It might look like someone encouraging you to trust your instincts again. Or reminding you that uncertainty does not mean failure. Or simply sitting with you while you work out what comes next.

These moments accumulate. Over time, they help women move from surviving to imagining something more.

Mutual Growth

Mentoring is not one-sided. Those who mentor are also changed by the relationship. Listening deepens empathy. Walking alongside someone sharpens awareness of how systems, culture, and inequality shape women’s lives.

In this way, mentoring strengthens communities, not just individuals.

The Power of Staying

On this National Mentoring Month, we honour the quiet power of staying. Staying present. Staying curious. Staying alongside women as they rebuild trust in themselves and the world around them.

Mentoring does not promise answers.
It offers something just as valuable.

You do not have to do this alone.