For newly graduated nurse Melisa Veberič, moving from being a student nurse to a registered nurse was a daunting experience. Having an experienced nurse to turn to made all the difference.
“When you are a new nurse, there are many situations where you are not sure if you are doing the right thing or how to approach a clinical situation. It was very important to have someone with experience who I could talk to, ask questions and learn from”, Melisa explains.
WHO/Europe has launched a new mentorship toolkit for nurses, developed as part of its Nursing Action project, a multi-year collaboration with the European Commission.
The new WHO/Europe mentorship toolkit aims to help early-career nurses build confidence, develop their skills and feel supported as they transition from education into professional practice.
By strengthening that transition, the toolkit also aims to improve nurse retention and support a sustainable nursing workforce across the WHO European Region. The toolkit consists of a mentorship framework and two parallel courses, one for nurse mentors and one for early-career nurses.
The importance of having a mentor
Melisa and her mentor, Nataša Kreft, both live and work in Ljubljana, Slovenia. They are among 153 nurses who took part in the piloting of the new programme, bringing together mentors and early-career nurses from nine countries in the Region.
Each of the parallel courses consists of six modules designed to accompany the transition from education into professional practice.
For early-career nurses, the programme addresses areas including onboarding, psychological safety, reflective practice, clinical reasoning, professional development and long-term career sustainability.
Together, the two courses combine preceptorship and mentorship, teaching clinical skills and reasoning, while also offering ongoing support and reflection. That means an early-career nurse like Melisa gets both types of support from one trusted relationship.
Mentorship develops mentors too
For Nataša, who has worked as a nurse for more than 20 years and has mentored new nurses before, this course offered an opportunity to reconsider what mentorship means to her.
“As a mentor, I am clearer now in my goals: I aim to create a supportive and safe learning environment in which a new nurse can express concerns, ask questions, reflect on their own work and learn from experience”, she says.
The mentor course encourages experienced nurses to move beyond providing solutions. It includes tools for reflective dialogue, constructive feedback, clinical reasoning and supporting increasing autonomy, helping nurse mentors guide early-career nurses towards safe and confident independent practice.
That approach has changed how Nataša thinks about her own leadership.
“Through mentoring, I realized that leadership isn't just about organizing work, making decisions, and taking responsibility. It is primarily about the ability to recognize potential in others”, she explains.
For Nataša, mentorship is also a two-way process.
“When you help others grow, you grow yourself.”
Learning to ask for help
Melisa graduated in November 2025 and has been working in a surgical department for around 8 months. For her, one of the most important lessons from mentorship was understanding that becoming a nurse does not mean having to know everything immediately.
“Learning does not stop when you finish your education”, she says. “A mentor can give you a different perspective, share their experience and encourage you to develop in areas where you may not have confidence yet. It showed me that professional development is a continuous process.”
The experience has also changed how she communicates with patients and colleagues, and how she handles difficult situations at work. Most importantly, asking questions now feels like part of learning, not a sign of weakness.
Building supportive environments for nurses
The experiences of Melisa and Nataša highlight a key principle of WHO/Europe’s mentorship approach: supporting both sides of the mentoring relationship.
The parallel courses equip mentors and mentees with shared understanding, language and tools and encourage them to participate together to strengthen reflection, dialogue and their mentoring relationship.
That matters because the transition from student to practice is often an intense period. Having tools to navigate it can support a new nurse's mental health and well-being and help them feel more in control in moments that might otherwise be overwhelming.
“A mentor provides support, encouragement and another perspective”, she says. “I think this can help other new nurses become more confident and feel that they are not alone at the beginning of their career.”
And Nataša has an equally important message for experienced nurses considering becoming mentors:
“Be human, be professional and be brave.”
Strengthening retention through the Nursing Action project
The Nursing Action project, launched in September 2024 and funded by the European Commission's Directorate-General for Health and Food Safety under the EU4Health programme, aims to develop evidence-based solutions to increase the supply of nurses and improve their retention within the European Union.
Working with national health authorities and nursing associations across the European Region, WHO aims to retain the existing nursing workforce and increase recruitment by making the profession more attractive to younger generations.