Becoming a mentor is not a permanent, unconditional state. Standing with FlowState Divers is maintained, and it exists at any given time in one of three statuses - Active, Sustaining, or Inactive - each carrying different privileges and different obligations. This page sets out what each status means and how a mentor moves between them.
Active Status
An Active mentor is a mentor in good standing, currently authorised to teach at the tier and within the curricula they are credentialed for, and to represent FlowState Divers in that capacity. Active status is not granted once and assumed thereafter - it depends on continued compliance with the renewal cycle, requalification cycle, insurance requirements, and quality standards set out elsewhere in this document.
Only an Active mentor may conduct FlowState Divers training, issue an evaluation record, or otherwise act in any capacity that depends on current mentor authority. A mentor who has fallen out of Active status, for any of the reasons described below, does not retain these privileges regardless of how long they previously held them.
Sustaining Status
A Sustaining mentor is a mentor who has chosen to step back from actively teaching, but who wishes to remain connected to FlowState Divers - retaining their credential history, participating in internal mentor communication, and receiving organisational updates, without the ongoing obligations that come with active teaching authority.
Sustaining status exists for exactly this circumstance: a mentor who is not currently teaching, for personal reasons, a temporary pause, or simply a season of life where active mentoring isn't practical, but who has no interest in fully disengaging from the institution and community they've been part of. A Sustaining mentor does not teach, does not hold current teaching authority, and is not represented to the public as currently available to train divers - but they remain a mentor of FlowState Divers in every other meaningful sense.
Moving into Sustaining status requires maintaining basic good standing - a current mailing address on file, outstanding obligations settled, and participation in the minimal renewal requirements that apply to this status specifically, distinct from the full Active renewal cycle.
Inactive Status
An Inactive mentor is a mentor who is not sanctioned to represent FlowState Divers in any capacity, does not participate in internal mentor communication or receive organisational benefits, and has ceased paying the obligations tied to active membership. Inactive status typically results from a mentor failing to complete required renewal or requalification within the applicable window, or choosing to disengage from FlowState Divers entirely rather than moving to Sustaining status.
An Inactive mentor must return any FlowState Divers mentor credentials and materials that identify them as a currently authorised mentor, and may not represent themselves as one until reinstated.
Moving Between Statuses
A mentor may move from Active to Sustaining, or from Active directly to Inactive, depending on their own circumstances and choices. Movement back into Active status from either Sustaining or Inactive is possible, but is not automatic - it requires demonstrating that the standard this document holds Active mentors to is still genuinely met, not simply that time has passed. The specific requirements for reinstatement scale with how long a mentor has been away from Active status and which status they are returning from - a brief period in Sustaining status typically requires less to reverse than an extended period in Inactive status, where a more substantial reconfirmation of currency and competence is warranted.
Why Three Statuses, Not Two
A simple active-or-nothing model would force every mentor stepping back from teaching, for any reason, into a full and final departure from FlowState Divers - discarding a relationship and a body of credential history that a temporary pause doesn't actually warrant losing. Sustaining status exists to hold that middle ground honestly, while still drawing a clear line around who is currently authorised to train a diver under our name. Only Active status confers that authority. Everything else is a designation about where in the mentor's relationship with this institution they currently stand.