This is an analogy to explain the mentalizing principles of distance-supervision (including "real-time" peer-to-peer supervision) in AMBIT.

We know that Mentalization is hard to sustain in high-affect "pressurised" environments. Imagine the KeyWorker were a deep sea diver entering the pressurized and challenging world of the client; other team members (or a supervisor in a more formal sense) should see themselves acting (and we emphasise that these are often pro-active actions) as a support team on the dive boat above, pumping an "air supply" down to their colleague. In the case of AMBIT, that "air" is the capacity to mentalize.

There is nothing new in the use of a person (or a flexible Reflective Quorum, or a MetaTeam) that is, a person or people who are distant from the immediate pressure and affect to help with thinking in high pressure situations.

Ideally, such people are well-known to the KeyWorker (we refer to one of the Core Features of AMBIT, which is that we seek to produce a Keyworker well-connected to wider team); remember that Mentalization arises out of, and is most powerfully supported or recovered in the context of a relationship that provides a Secure Base.

Using flexible mobile techniques - including technologies such as mobile phones, or mobile video-conferencing, and very clear, disciplined procedures (see Thinking Together) explicitly aims to support practitioners to regain or maintain this capacity.

A related analogy is the Ripples in a Pond.