Creating a more accurate narrative (see Explicit mentalization) is not the ultimate goal of MentalizationBasedWork.

Feelings have to be felt in order to be brought under a degree of conscious control. In order for this to arise, a relational context must be created in which it is safe to explore one's own mind in the mind of another. The development of mentalizing in the context of a secure attachment relationship normally fosters capacities for Affect Regulation.

The concept of mentalized affectivity points to the relation between mentalizing and affect regulation. Mentalizing effectively entails simultaneously feeling and thinking-about-feeling, and is a precondition for affect regulation, both at the level of the individual and at the level of the family system. The creation of a safe environment within the family for all its members is a precondition for this process to be initiated. Feeling recognized as an individual creates an analogue of the secure base experience and permits the activation of associated mental models with confidence to experience distress knowing that it will not overwhelm or permanently dysregulate one's capacity to function.

Mentalizing the Affect is a key capacity that the KeyWorker must use in MentalizationBasedWork, and fostering this capacity in the young person and family members is an aim in therapeutic work. In AMBIT this is additionally something that workers take responsibility for fostering in each other, using Rituals and Disciplines such as Thinking Together.