The purpose of this phenomenological qualitative study was to explore the extent to which mentorship of new special education teachers working in high need, urban schools incorporated instruction of a teachers' own social and emotional learning competencies and how these teachings impacted new special education teachers' job satisfaction and retention. Participants of the study included new special educators teaching within high need schools in New York City and the mentors who worked with this population of teachers. A teacher's own social and emotional learning competencies is an important component of new teacher success, but research has been limited in how mentorship can support teachers in this way. Using Moustakas' heuristic process in phenomenological analysis to extract common themes across the collected data, this study explored how mentors worked with new teachers to develop their own social and emotional learning competencies. It helped determine how these practices benefited new special educators, including their effects on retention in the field. The study found that new special educators who received social and emotional learning supports from their mentors within their first years of teaching reported greater job satisfaction and more positive thoughts on staying in the teaching profession as compared to those new teachers who did not receive the same supports. The findings also indicated that, of the five social and emotional competencies, self-management was deemed the most effective SEL support provided by mentors. These findings can guide teacher trainings, school districts, schools, and mentors, to refine how to best assist new special education teachers working in high need, urban schools. It can inform best mentorship practices in social and emotional learning and lead to more effective, happier teachers who stay within the special education teaching profession. Keywords: mentor, mentee, social and emotional learning, teachers' social and emotional learning, new teacher, teacher induction, special education teacher, high need school, professional development, self-awareness, social-awareness, responsible decision-making, self-management, relationship skills. [The dissertation citations contained here are published with the permission of ProQuest LLC. Further reproduction is prohibited without permission. Copies of dissertations may be obtained by Telephone (800) 1-800-521-0600. Web page: http://www.proquest.com.bibliotheek.ehb.be/en-US/products/dissertations/individuals.shtml.]