If you know someone in recovery, or if you are in recovery, take advantage of National Mentoring Month 2025 to prioritize social support and mentorship for them. Mentoring under the National Mentoring Month 2025 specifically focuses on filling what is called the mentoring gap, providing stable mentorship relationships and opportunities to youth in need. That said, you can help others in recovery no matter their age.
What is National Mentoring Month
Every January, there’s an opportunity to celebrate and participate in National Mentoring Month. This is a chance to provide supportive relationships for those in need, usually youth or younger individuals.
Studies indicate that one out of every three people in the United States turns 19 without ever having had a mentor. This is referred to as the mentoring gap. National Mentoring Month 2025 aims to promote relationships and activities that help fill this gap.
Why Socialization and Mentorship Matters
Studies have found that being lonely is worse for your body than obesity and air pollution, increasing your risk of premature death by 26%.
When you prioritize being around people you trust, people with whom you are comfortable, it provides a sense of safety. Your brain actually mimics or “mirrors” the behaviors and emotions seen in others, so you can learn how to socialize with your closest friends and family members.
To that end, it is important to pick people who are a good influence on you, as the six strongest relationships you have will influence how you think, how you feel, and how you act.
Other benefits of participating in National Mentoring Month 2025 include:
- Participation in a preventative strategy that can reduce community violence by serving as positive role models
- Opportunities to help young people who might be at risk of not graduating high school find a mentor who can improve their academic outcome and reduce things like absenteeism or school-related misconduct
- A chance to mentor foster youth and improve their peer relationships, mental health, educational attainment, employment, and housing stability down the line
Mentoring offers a practical approach to support individuals in need, with social support, improved academic support, the building of positive identity, and improved social and emotional relationships.
Overcoming Loneliness with Mentoring
When you prioritize helping others through mentorship, you can help them overcome loneliness. You can even help yourself.
Around 2019, psychologists began to categorize loneliness as a mental disease, with Western countries having the highest rates overall. Nearly 17% of the population considers themselves lonely on average, but this loneliness can be divided into social loneliness based on a limited quantity of relationships or emotional loneliness based on poor quality of relationships.
With the right type of mentoring, those who struggle with social or emotional loneliness can overcome the correspondingly higher levels of depression, anxiety, and negative thoughts. Loneliness is correlated with physical ramifications like high blood pressure, poor sleep quality, cognitive decline, and premature death.
However, focusing on building human connections, particularly deep connections that are not curated on social media or text messages alone but take place in a face-to-face setting, means giving someone an opportunity to overcome all of these feelings, especially when they might need it most.
Mentoring can take the form of non-profit programs, school-based programs, government-funded programs, or programs that are supported by religious institutions. You can even find programs in your local area through a variety of community resources like mental health and addiction treatment centers.
Help with Recovery at SDC
If you need help with your recovery or supporting someone else in theirs, Sequoia Detox Centers provides a range of programs for addiction treatment.
As part of National Mentoring Month 2025, we provide access to a full range of care, including outpatient and aftercare programs. A big part of our program focuses on offering clients the support they need when they need it at any level. With a range of program levels, those who are in recovery but perhaps have relapsed or find themselves in need of additional care can reach out for outpatient programs, support groups, and shorter IOPs.
If you want to help someone else during National Mentoring Month 2025 as a coach, support group leader, parent, spouse, or friend, call us at 1-866-824-0709 or email help@sequoiadetoxcenters.com.