The title is a quote from TS Eliot - "East Coker" from the "Four Quartets". The purpose of this page is to discuss the ways of, and reasons for discussing the ENDING PHASE right from the beginning of work.

There are two main reasons for doing this:

1. Avoiding "stickiness"

In considering the dilemmas about engaging with a worker or a team, there are many ways to mentalize a young person's experience and behaviour.

Just as there may be a fear that a worker or a team may prove not to be really interested or caring enough (a very good reason to avoid engagement), another potentially off-putting experience for a young person is the counter-fear: that this relationship might prove to be too adhesive, that a team or a worker might try to "take over"; even that engaging with them might have more in common with joining a cult, than getting real help... though these ideas may seem outlandish to the well-intentioned worker, they would constitute good reasons for avoiding constructive engagement.

This is one reason to bring the ENDING of the relationship into conversation very early on in the process of engagement.

2. It is a helpful context for Broadcasting Intentions.

Equally, consideration of the Ending (and the intended outcomes of the therapeutic tasks) is in ways an example of a healthy form of Teleological thinking - it supports the worker in their effort to broadcast their intentions...

In a more formal way, this is an opportunity to use discussion of user-defined treatment outcomes to help clarify and develop shared plans (this is part of the process of Active Planning, which is one of the Core Features of AMBIT.) What is required is discussion about

"Of course, we won't be working together for ever, in fact the average length of time young people work with our team is X months... If I can share what's in my head it is this: I would like to know the kinds of things that we would have to see as different, changed, when our paths part, so that you would think 'Yep, meeting up with them wasn't always easy or fun (but bits were!), but it definitely helped me get to HERE which is better than how things were when I was THERE...' "