The mentoring circle: Supportive relationships across generations A Whitehouse photo taken for former President Barack Obama's "My Brother's Keeper" mentoring program. January is Mentoring Month, January 17 International Mentoring Day — with the Martin Luther King Jr. holiday a day of service. (January is also Human Trafficking Awareness Month, underscoring one risk of a lack of positive mentoring and other adult presences in a young person’s life.) Supportive, cross-generational relationships help young people to develop socially/emotionally and academically—as well as adults to grow professionally and beyond. The original mentor appeared in the Odyssey, as the man to whom Odysseus entrusted his son’s education during the father’s epic journey. The common definition is “trusted counselor or guide.” Mentors can be formal—as through Big Brothers/Big Sisters—or informal, as teachers, coaches, ministers, kin or neighbors. Ideally in person, mentoring can also —even before COVID-19 contingencies— be virtual, as iCouldBe and others have shown. Formal mentoring generally entails a commitment of at least a year. Informally, mentoring can evolve over lifetimes.